Hongdao Temple

Hongdao Temple, originally named Huazu Temple and also known as Mengshan Temple, is located atop Mengshan Mountain at an altitude of 657 meters within Youfangdian Township, Jinzhai County. During the Chenghua era of the Ming Dynasty (1465–1487), it consisted of only a few thatched cottages. According to the Fifth Revised Genealogy of the Hong Family’s Chongjing Hall, in the sixth year of the Chenghua era (1470), three brothers from Leping, Jiangxi—Hong Qi, Hong Fa, and Hong Jia—migrated to Nanxi in Jinzhai. Hong Jia, also known as Haiqing, failed the imperial examinations three times and thus entered the temple to devote himself to Taoist practice and the study of medicine. Thanks to his exceptional medical skills and ability to cure illnesses, he was revered by locals as the “Second Coming of Hua Tuo.” Hong Jia was a devout Taoist who worshipped Huazu, and embraced the Three Pure Ones. Today, Hongdao Temple is an officially approved religious site by the provincial religious affairs bureau. Above the main hall’s entrance hangs a marble plaque newly inscribed with the name “Hongdao Temple.” The front hall enshrines Huazu at the center, with Hong the Taoist Priest on the left and the Earth Store Bodhisattva on the right; the rear hall features Guanyin Bodhisattva at the center, flanked by the Three Ladies of Heaven on the left and the Medicine King on the right. The Three Pure Ones Hall houses statues of the Three Pure Ones at its center, with a plaque bestowed by Emperor Qianlong inscribed with the words “Attain the Power of Freedom” hanging above.