Sanyuan Palace () is a

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called church (building), churches), Hindui ...

dedicated to

Three Great Emperor-Officials The Three Great Emperor-Officials () are three of the highest Celestial Deities of Taoist religion, and subordinate only to the Jade Emperor The Jade Emperor or Yudi ( or , ') in Chinese culture, traditional religions and myth is one of the ...

and is located in

Yuexiu District Yuexiu District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China, located west of the Tianhe District and east of the Liwan District. It is the commercial, political and cultura ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

History

It was established in the

Nanyue Kingdom Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was establishe ...

, at that time it was called "Bei Miao" (). The temple gradually fell into disuse after the kingdom was collapsed. In the second year of the age of Daxing of

Emperor Yuan of Jin Emperor Yuan of Jin (; 276 – 3 January 323), personal name Sima Rui (司馬睿), courtesy name Jingwen (景文), was an emperor of the Jin dynasty and the first emperor of the Eastern Jin. His reign saw the steady gradual loss of Jin territor ...

, Nanhai governor

Bao Jing Bao Jing (鮑靚, 260?–330 CE) was a Daoist '' xian'' ("transcendent; 'immortal'") best known for having been a disciple of the transcendent master Yin Changsheng from whom he received the ''Taixuan Yin Shengfu'' (太玄陰生符, Yin Sheng's ...

revived the temple for his daughter

Bao Gu Bao Gu ( Chinese: 鮑姑, 4th-century), was a Chinese Taoist physician. She is the daughter of accomplished Taoist practitioner and governor Bao Jing and the wife of Ge Hong who is the author of ''Baopuzi''. She is also known as one of the f ...

to cultivate

Tao ''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other phil ...

while providing medical services to the locals and renamed the temple as "Yuegang Yuan" (). During the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

, it was converted into a Buddhist temple and renamed "Wuxing Temple" (). During the reign of

Wanli Emperor The Wanli Emperor (; 4 September 1563 – 18 August 1620), personal name Zhu Yijun (), was the 14th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1572 to 1620. " Wanli", the era name of his reign, literally means "ten thousand calendars". He was t ...

, the temple was converted back to a

Taoist temple A Taoist temple (, also called ''dàoguàn'' and , is a place where the Tao is observed and cultivated it is a place of worship in Taoism. Structure and function can vary according to the Taoist school the temple belongs to. For example, ''guà ...

and renamed "Sanyuan Palace". The temple was dedicated to

, with another smaller shrine dedicated to

. In 1700, in the period of

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...

, Master Du Yangdong () became the abbot of the temple and extended the temple. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated go ...

, the

red guards Red Guards () were a mass student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized and guided by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 through 1967, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a Red Guard le ...

fanatically smashed up the statues of the deities and valuable cultural relics, then forcefully occupied the temple. All religious activities were abruptly stopped and the temple was closed down. In July 1982, Guangzhou People's Government reopened the temple and restored it as the status of Taoist temple. It was fully restored by 1990. In December 1989, it was listed as a municipal culture and relics site.

Cultural relics

* The stone statue of

Guanyin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. Sh ...

, dated to

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

. Many other valuable cultural relics were destroyed during the Sino-Japanese war and cultural revolution.

References

Bibliography

* {{coord, 23, 8, 15, N, 113, 15, 29, E, display=title, region:CN_type:landmark Religious buildings and structures in Guangzhou Yuexiu District Taoist temples in Guangdong Tourist attractions in Guangzhou