Tao Gong Temple

Tao Gong Temple

Tao Gong Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Anhui Province.

Tao Gong Temple is located in Dongliu Town, 26 kilometers from the county seat. Also known as Tao Jingjie Temple, it sits on Bie Shi Mountain in Dongliu Town, Dongzhi County. It was built in the early Song Dynasty to commemorate Tao Yuanming, a great literary figure and poet of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Tao Yuanming, whose given name was Qian and courtesy name Wuliu Xiansheng, was posthumously honored with the title Jingjie. He was a native of Chaisang, Xunyang (present-day Jiujiang City), Jiangxi Province. In the autumn of 406 AD (the second year of the Yixi era of the Eastern Jin Dynasty), he became the magistrate of Pengze County. After serving for just over eighty days, when an imperial inspector arrived requiring him to dress formally and bow, Tao Yuanming sighed, “How can I bow and scrape before petty officials for a meager salary of five pecks of rice?” He then resigned from his post, returned to his hometown, and lived in seclusion in the countryside, devoting himself to reading and growing chrysanthemums. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the area now known as Dongliu was part of Pengze County. Legend has it that after resigning, to avoid entanglements with local officials, Tao Yuanming took a boat to Dongliu, where he lived in seclusion and grew chrysanthemums. As a result, many legends about Tao Yuanming cultivating chrysanthemums have been passed down in Dongliu, along with the heritage site known as the “Chrysanthemum Garden.”