Changchun Taoist Temple

Located outside the great eastern gate of Wuchang, Wuhan City, the Changchun Taoist Temple adjoins Huhelou in the west and Baota of Hongshan in the east, where the surroundings are quite beautiful. This area used to be covered with green pines, so it was called "island of pines". During the reign of Genghis Khan, Emperor Taizu of the Yuan dynasty, patriarch Qiu Chuji of the Dragon Gate Sect of the Complete Perfection Tradition came here and built a temple to cultivate Dao. As his literary name was "eternal spring", the name was called "Changchun Taoist Temple" by people of later generations. The temple became the most famous Daoist temple in Hubei. It had several hundred houses, several thousand devotees, and a large quantity of pilgrims. In the first Xianfeng year of the Qing dynasty (1851), the Changchun Taoist Temple was destroyed in wars. In the third Tongzhi year (1864), He Hechun, the master of the sixteenth generation of the Dragon Gate Sect of the Complete Perfection Tradition came here from Mt. Wudang. He managed to rebuild the Changchun Taoist Temple in the style of the Ming dynasty.

Standing in the north and facing south, the Changchun Taoist Temple is built against the mountain. The whole temple tires upon tires upward. There are five layers in depth and four parallel courts on both sides. Worshiped in the shrine of the hall is a gold-decorated sculpture of the Supreme Venerable Sovereign. There are several murals in the hall, among which two pictures, namely "Laozi Went West Out of the Hanguguan Pass" and "Laozi Preaching the Book of Dao and its Virtue ", are very striking. Behind this hall is the Hall of Seven Perfect Ones. This hall is the main hall of the Changchun Taoist Temple. It is the place for Daoists in this temple to recite scriptures daily and hold important religious activities. On the left side of this hall is the Merit Shrine. Above the shrine is the famous "Encountering Immortals Bridge", where lucky people are said to be able to meet immortals. On its left is the Hall of Patriarch Lü, where Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals is worshiped. On the two sides of the hall there are buildings, such as Laicheng Tower and the library of Daoist scriptures. The topmost place of the Changchun Taoist Temple is the Hall of the Three August Ones. It worships the ancestors of the Chinese nationality, namely Taihao Fuxi, the Yan Emperor Shennong, and the Yellow Emperor 12 Xuanyuan.