Dengyun Temple

　　Dengyun Temple is situated at the foot of Zijingshan Mountain in Liuan Village, Shancheng Town, Nanjing County. Established in the fifth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1740), it was built by the Qing-era monk Ziyun. The temple faces northeast and is spread over an area of approximately 3,000 square meters, with a construction area of 890 square meters. It follows a three-courtyard layout, centered around the main hall supported by through-tenon columns, surrounded by narrow-style courtyards. The outer structure includes a rear corridor, left and right wing rooms, and a front surrounding wall. Stone pillars on the sides are inscribed with rules: “First prohibition: No coffins or urns may be temporarily placed around,” and “Second prohibition: Beggars are not allowed to stay even for a short while.” The temple still preserves stone steles from the Qianlong and Jiaqing eras of the Qing Dynasty. In 1983, Dengyun Temple was designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit by the Nanjing County People’s Government.

　　The front hall of the ancient Dengyun Temple is the Guanyin Hall, which houses the Goddess Guanyin and the Eighteen Arhats; the middle hall enshrines deities such as the Birth Goddess and Master Ziyun; and the rear hall is the Hall of the King of Hell (Yanluo Dadi), featuring statues of the King of Hell, the Earth Store Bodhisattva, and the Public Grandfather. Inside the Hall of the King of Hell, there are two stone pillars intricately carved with coiling dragons that are strikingly lifelike. The roof ridges are adorned with sculptures of a pair of qilins playing with a ball and a pair of dragons playing with a pearl. Many other parts of the structure are decorated with colorful ceramic cuttings depicting figures, operatic scenes, flowers, and animals — all exquisitely beautiful and uniquely ornate. The temple is lavishly decorated, with richly carved window patterns and finely detailed wooden beams. The entire temple, with its red walls and green tiles, shines in resplendent glory. A Bagua (Eight Trigrams) design is inlaid in front of the temple, and to the right stands a century-old banyan tree beside a pavilion named “Fusui Pavilion.” The surroundings are lush with dense foliage that blocks out the sky, renowned for their serene atmosphere.

　　Dengyun Temple holds four temple fair events each year. On the lunar calendar dates of the eighth day of the third month (birthday of the King of Hell), the twenty-ninth day of the sixth month (Feast of All Souls), the nineteenth day of the seventh month (birthday of the Public Grandfather), and the eighteenth day of the ninth month (birthday of the Goddess Guanyin), the temple conducts festive activities including opera performances and Taoist rituals. Devotees from various places gather here, creating a lively atmosphere. Especially on the birthday of the Goddess Guanyin, stages are set up for opera performances, drawing even larger crowds. The temple glows with tall red candles and clouds of incense. Many Chinese people from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas also make special pilgrimages to Dengyun Temple to pray for peace.