Zhuangzi Temple

Zhuangzi Temple

Zhuangzi Temple is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a cultural tourism site.

Zhuangzi Temple is situated in Qiyuan Town on the north bank of the Wu River in Mengcheng County. Zhuangzi (369–286 BC) and Mencius (372–289 BC) were contemporaries, with Zhuangzi being three years younger. His given name was Zhou and courtesy name Zixiu. According to Records of the Grand Historian, "Zhuangzi was a man of Meng, named Zhou. Zhou once served as an official in the lacquer garden of Meng," but soon chose a life of seclusion. Zhuangzi dedicated his life solely to scholarship and never pursued official rank. Though his family was poor, he lived a carefree and unrestrained life: states such as Chu, Liang, and Qi all invited him to serve as an official, with the king of Chu even offering him the position of prime minister, which he firmly declined. He loved fishing and often cast his line by the Pu River (today’s Qian River) in his hometown (the site of Zhuangzi’s Fishing Platform still remains along the Qian River in Lüwang Town, Mengcheng). When his wife passed away, he drummed on a basin and sang. Upon waking from a dream, he pondered whether he had dreamed of becoming a butterfly or if a butterfly had dreamed of becoming him. In his mind’s eye, he could soar ninety thousand li on the wind, traveling north to the Northern Sea and south to the edge of the sky. As Yi Zhongtian put it, Zhuangzi lived a life that was brilliant, fulfilling, and free-spirited.

Zhuangzi Temple was first built in the first year of the Yuanfeng era during the Song Dynasty (1078). At that time, Wang Jing, the magistrate of Mengcheng County and Secretary Clerk, felt that after over a thousand years, Zhuangzi’s hometown had yet to establish a memorial site in his honor. Thus, he raised funds from various sources to construct the temple and invited his friend Su Shi to write a commemorative text. Su Shi composed “Record of the Zhuangzi Temple,” which reads: "Zhuangzi was a man of Meng, who once served as an official in the lacquer garden of Meng. More than a thousand years have passed without a temple being built in Meng, so the county magistrate and Secretary Clerk Jing initiated the construction of this temple and sought a written record..." This temple was built on the former site of the lacquer garden in Qiyuan, east of the old county government office on the north bank of the Wu River. Its main structures included the Carefree Hall, the Dreaming Butterfly Tower, and the Fish-Watching Terrace. Annual worship ceremonies were held without interruption. “Record of the Zhuangzi Temple” is included in The Complete Works of Su Dongpo. Here lies a question: why was the temple built in Mengcheng only a thousand years after Zhuangzi’s time? As we know, Zhuangzi lived in the late Warring States period, and just 80 years after his death (206 BC), the Western Han Dynasty began. The Han Dynasty adopted the policy of "suppressing the hundred schools of thought and elevating Confucianism alone." Although Emperor Wu of Han showed interest in Daoism, it was mainly for Huang-Lao longevity techniques, while politically he still upheld Confucianism. By the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Daoism flourished, and Laozi’s status was solidified within Daoism. Although Zhuangzi was also posthumously revered as a patriarch by Daoists, his standing was far below that of Laozi. During the Wei and Jin dynasties, Zhuangzi gained significant fame due to his unconventional outlook on life, profound cosmic philosophy, and philosophy of nothingness, which were embraced by the metaphysical school of thought at the time. However, due to social turmoil, the practice of building temples for notable figures had not yet become widespread, and thus no memorial site for Zhuangzi was established. The Tang Dynasty only worshipped Laozi, not Zhuangzi. Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty (998–1022) revered Daoism, leading to a nationwide boom in the construction of Daoist activity sites. In the eighth year of the Yuanfeng era of Emperor Shenzong of Song (1078), the year of Shenzong’s passing, his mother, Empress Dowager Gao, who was from Xiaojian in Mengcheng, assumed regency on behalf of her young grandson, Emperor Zhezong. Empress Dowager Gao’s background and the intelligent move by County Magistrate Wang Jing to build Zhuangzi Temple at this time met the needs of historical development, aligned with contemporary social trends, and also carried meanings of loyalty and celebration toward Empress Dowager Gao.

During the TianShun era of the Ming Dynasty (1457–1464), Zhuangzi Temple was submerged by floodwaters. In the eighth year of the Wanli era (1580), Magistrate Wu Yiluan rebuilt the temple at the eastern gate of the county town. The reconstructed Zhuangzi Temple was grand in scale and quite magnificent. It featured the Carefree Hall, the Dreaming Butterfly Tower, and the Rolled Canopy, each with three rooms, three rooms for Daoist lodging, and a fishpond bridge. To the left was the Dreaming Butterfly Tower, and to the right was the Fish-Watching Terrace. The Carefree Hall stood in the center, housing a statue of Zhuang Zhou, and was used for worship ceremonies every spring and autumn. In the fifth year of the Chongzhen era (1632), Magistrate Li Shifang renovated the Carefree Hall, added the Five Smiles Pavilion, turned a pond into the Zhuangzi Haoshang Fish-Watching Garden, and personally wrote “Record of the Reconstruction of Zhuangzi Temple,” which was inscribed on a stele erected inside the temple. A stone tablet over ten feet tall was erected at the entrance, engraved with the four large characters “Hometown of Zhuang Zhou.”

Today, the Zhuangzi Temples from the Song and Ming dynasties are no longer extant, with only Su Shi’s “Record of the Zhuangzi Temple” surviving.

On June 28, 1995, the Mengcheng County Committee and County Government undertook the third reconstruction of Zhuangzi Temple at the site of the Song Dynasty temple, commissioning the renowned ancient architecture expert Zhang Yuhuan from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to serve as the chief designer. Covering an area of 52 mu, with a total floor space of 10,866 square meters, the entire temple complex consists of the temple building group and the Wanshu Garden. The central axis runs through the complex, placing the main structures along this line in a symmetrical layout with front halls and rear sleeping quarters. Architectural volumes gradually rise from front to back, with clear hierarchy, proper order of precedence, and multiple layers of gates. After entering the main gate, there are three more gates—the Ancient Balance Gate, the Zhuangzi Gate, and the Han Watchtower Gate. Only after passing through these three gates can one see the Carefree Hall (main hall). In front of the main hall are side gates and moon gates on the east and west, forming a prelude to entering the Zhuangzi Temple’s main hall, drawing visitors in step by step. The Wanshu Gardens on the east and west embody nature and offer a wild, rustic charm. This design plan surpasses the scale of Zhuangzi Temples built in previous dynasties.

The reconstruction of Zhuangzi Temple was carried out in two phases. The first phase of construction included the Han-style wall, walls of the east and west Wanshu Gardens, the Grand Three Gates, the screen wall, the mountain gate, and the Carefree Hall, which have now been largely completed. The second phase includes the Ancient Balance Gate, the Pu Pond, the Five Smiles Pavilion, the Fish-Watching Terrace, the Fish-Watching Bridge, the Dreaming Butterfly Tower, the Nanhua Scripture Pavilion, and the east and west stele corridors.

Address: Intersection of Provincial Highway 203 and Provincial Highway 305, Qiyuan Office

Phone: 0558-7772355

Zhuangzi was a great thinker, philosopher, and literary figure of China’s pre-Qin period. A native of Meng in the State of Song during the Warring States period (present-day Mengcheng County, Anhui), he was a principal founder of Daoist doctrine. Together with Laozi, the progenitor of Daoism, they are jointly referred to as “Lao-Zhuang,” and their philosophical system is honored in academic circles as “Lao-Zhuang philosophy.” His representative work, the allegorical Zhuangzi, was revered by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang as the Nanhua Scripture. Zhuangzi himself was honored as the Nanhua Real Person, and his works have inspired numerous interpretations, including famous chapters such as “Free and Easy Wandering” and “On the Equality of Things.” Zhuangzi advocated the unity of heaven and humanity and a life of tranquility and non-action.

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