Jiaxing Dacao Wang Temple

Jiaxing Dacao Wang Temple

Jiaxing Dacao Wang Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Jiaxing Dacao Wang Temple

Jiaxing Dacao Wang Temple is situated in Yuxin Town, Nanhu District, Jiaxing City, within the picturesque and historically rich water towns of the Jiangnan region, which are dotted with ancient sites. Originally built during the Northern Song Dynasty, it has a history of over a thousand years. The poet Jiang Xun once wrote: “Gazing upon ten miles of spring scenery in Jiangnan, I often roam outside Cao Wang Temple.” Legend has it that General Cao Bin, while pacifying Zhejiang, was unable to fulfill his mission in order to spare the lives of the local people. In the end, he resolutely took his own life to fulfill his duty. To commemorate him, the local people built this temple, hence the name Dacao Wang Temple. The temple complex is grand in scale, covering an area of over forty acres. As early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, it was already a famous tourist destination in Jiaxing. During the Ming Dynasty, there was a saying of “visiting Cao Wang during Qingming,” where pilgrims traveled hundreds of miles to attend the three-day temple fair. The Hongzhi-era “Jiaxing Prefecture Records” of the Ming Dynasty documented: “Every year in March, tens of thousands of worshippers—both locals and visitors—come here to offer incense.” To this day, the Qingming Festival and the temple fair on the second day of the eighth lunar month still draw massive crowds. Not only do devout worshippers from nearby villages gather here, but pilgrims and patrons also come from Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuxi, and Changshu. Merchants set up shops around the temple, turning it into a bustling market. By the Qing Dynasty, it had grown into a small town. Today, it is one of the main tourist attractions in Nanhu District.