Changli Han Wengong Temple

Changli Han Wengong Temple

The Changli Han Wengong Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Changli is the ancestral home of Han Yu, the foremost of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song dynasties. Since the Yuan Dynasty, the Han Wengong Temple, dedicated to the “Sage of Literature through the Ages,” has been built near the Yuan Ying Temple Pagoda in the county town. In 2006, two editions of the *Genealogy of the Han Family* discovered in Hanying Village, Changli County, provided strong evidence that Changli was indeed Han Yu’s ancestral home. This deep connection with Han Yu has endowed Changli with a richer cultural heritage, and the Han Wengong Temple at Wufeng Mountain is still regarded as the spiritual center of Changli’s literary tradition. Historically, at least four Han Wengong Temples have been built in Changli. As early as the late Yuan Dynasty, a temple commemorating Han Yu was constructed near the Yuan Ying Temple Pagoda in the county town, which was later relocated to the northeast corner of the town. In the spring of the 14th year of the Chongzhen reign during the Ming Dynasty, Fan Zhongwan advocated for the construction of the Han Wengong Temple at Wufeng Mountain. The current Han Wengong Temple was rebuilt in 1987. On March 5, 2001, it was designated as a key cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hebei Province