Zhongling Temple

　　Zhongling Temple is one of the few remaining ancient Buddhist temples in Anhua County, having stood for over 280 years since its establishment. Legend has it that a wandering monk from Mount Nanyue once came here to beg for alms and saw a golden snake bathed in a Buddha’s halo coiled on the ground, signaling to him. The monk then divined the meaning, and the divination indicated that the snake was the incarnation of the Bodhisattva of Mount Nanyue, who instructed him to build a pilgrimage palace for Mount Nanyue on that very spot.

　　Understanding the sign, the monk bade farewell to the golden snake and spent years soliciting donations across hundreds of miles. After several years, he had gathered enough funds to break ground on the temple. It took another three years to complete the construction. The entire structure consists of a main hall and two connected auxiliary buildings. The main hall is a two-story octagonal building, commonly known as the Octagonal Pavilion. Topped with glazed ceramic tiles, it shines brilliantly from afar, with upturned eaves and a majestic presence befitting an ancient Buddhist temple. Up close, one can admire the intricately carved beams and painted rafters, with clouds of incense wafting through the air—truly a magnificent sight.

　　The entire complex blends harmoniously with the surrounding mountains and waters, possessing notable aesthetic value. It is said that the temple’s fortune-telling, vow-making, and incense-offering rituals are especially efficacious, attracting large numbers of devout worshippers. Every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival (the 15th day of the eighth lunar month), the site sees a peak in visitors and pilgrims coming to pay their respects. At that time, the place becomes packed with people, shoulder-to-shoulder and bustling beyond capacity. The sounds of temple bells, wooden fish, firecrackers, and monks chanting sutras fill the air incessantly, creating a truly otherworldly, Buddhist paradise atmosphere.