Shifangyuan Taoist Temple in Luquan

Shifangyuan Taoist Temple in Luquan

Shifangyuan Taoist Temple is located south of Xingfu Bridge in Luquan City, Hebei Province. According to the county annals: “Jinque Palace, also known as Shifangyuan, is located outside the west gate… In the seventh year of the Kangxi reign (1668), Magistrate Tang Yi, Taoist Tang Guo?, and Zhang Zhigui built it.” However, in recent years, cultural relics experts discovered that the decorative eaves tiles on the back wall of the Temple’s Yuan Chen Hall are from the Yuan Dynasty, suggesting that the temple may have been originally built during the Yuan Dynasty. The name “Shifangyuan” is derived from the Taoist concept of “Shifang Conglin” (Ten Directions Monastery), representing the ten directions: east, south, west, north, heaven, earth, southeast, northeast, southwest, and northwest. Within the temple grounds are structures such as the Doumu Hall, Dragon King Hall, Ancestral Master Hall, Four Saints Hall, Shifang Hall, Medicine King Hall, and Five Elders Hall.

The temple complex faces south and is situated on a north-south axis. The entire structure stretches 135 meters from north to south and 32 meters from east to west. It is a traditional four-courtyard ancient architectural complex. The buildings feature rigorous design, grand scale, and a well-arranged layout of varying heights, making it the largest Taoist architectural complex in Luquan City and a rare example in Hebei Province. The temple's layout follows traditional Chinese principles of central symmetry and multi-courtyard depth, creating a solemn, mystical, and serene ceremonial atmosphere. It also reflects the serious, methodical rational spirit of Taoist culture and the Taoist pursuit of stability, self-discipline, and tranquility in aesthetic psychology.

The temple has a north-south axis along which its main structures are arranged. From north to south, these are: 1. A three-arched gate with yellow-glazed tile roofing in the style of a memorial archway. 2. The Three Gods Hall, a three-bay building with a single-eave gable and hip roof covered in grey tiles, featuring a front eave. 3. The Lingguan Hall, with yellow and green glazed tiles, a five-ridge hip-and-gable roof, and surrounding corridors. Its corridors are supported by 24 square stone pillars, each inscribed with couplets on the front—unfortunately, these were chiseled flat during the Cultural Revolution. 4. The Jade Emperor Hall, which now has a flat roof but was originally a through-style hall with a double-eave roof and surrounding corridors. It was modified to a flat roof in the 1950s, then restored to its original style after the Taoist Association moved in during 1997. 5. At the southern end is the main Doumu Hall, spanning five bays. Two ancient pine trees once stood in front of the hall, one of which has since died.

On either side of the central axis are the east and west wing rooms. The west wing, from north to south, includes: the Dragon King Hall (3 bays), the Ancestral Master Hall (6 bays), and the Four Saints Hall (5 bays), totaling 14 bays. The northern part of the Four Saints Hall has a stone staircase leading to the rooftop. The east wing, from north to south, includes: the Shifang Hall (3 bays), the Medicine King Hall (6 bays), and the Five Elders Hall (5 bays), also totaling 14 bays. All are topped with single-eave gable and hip roofs covered in grey tiles. The Five Elders Hall has an external single-eave gable and hip roof, but the interior features a beamless vaulted ceiling, commonly referred to as a “beamless hall.” The beamless hall is the best-preserved ancient structure, with walls over half a meter thick that keep it cool in summer and warm in winter. It currently serves as a classroom for the Hebei Taoist College. In front of the Medicine King Hall stands a robust Tang Dynasty cypress tree over 1,000 years old. Nearby, a wintersweet tree planted during the Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong era, around 300–400 years old, displays vigorous vitality. Between the Medicine King Hall and the Five Elders Hall, a small doorway leads to a west-side courtyard. This courtyard originally had nine rooms on the west side, three on the south side, and a connecting gate dividing it into northern and southern sections. The southern section had a well, and the south room also functioned as a through-style hall with corridors, linking to the southern back courtyard. The entire complex covers nearly 5,000 square meters.

Transportation Guide

Address: West Section of Taipinghe South Road, Luquan City, Hebei Province (south of Xingfu Bridge)

Transit: Take Tourist Bus 5 within Shijiazhuang City to the Luquan Cultural Center, then walk 200 meters west to the south side of the road.