Download Dongzhu Temple leaflet

Dongzhu temple
Detailed description of building
8
7
Folklore Temple
Yuyuan Taiji Astrology Village is famous among China’s first
batch of famous historical and culture villages. It is the
China’s folk culture village, China’s civilized village and the
historical and culture protection area of Zhejiang Province.
The ancient architecture complex of Yuyuan is among the
second batch of National Intangible Culture Heritages.
Yuyuan village is located in southwest of Wuyi county, it is
20km away from Wuyi downtown, and 45km away from
Jinhua downtown. It was first built in Song Dynasty, and Liu
Bowen, the founding adviser of Ming Dynasty, designed and
renovated this village according to the celestial astrology
arrangement. The village has seven wells that correspond to
the Big Dipper, which is an important constellation in Taoist
astrology. Also, the 11 mountains that surround the village
plus the village itself represent the 12 palaces of the zodiac.
There are 760 families and 1830 villagers in the village,
which is one of the largest habitations for Yu Family in China.
In the village, there are 1072 ancient buildings dating back to
Song-Yuan-Ming-Qing Dynasty, which cover 34,000 square
meters, including fork houses, ancestral halls, stores,
temples, libraries etc. In the ancient buildings, wood carving,
title carving and stone carving are exquisite and delicate.
4
3
5
9
2
1
6
10
Legend
1. Entrance
2. Front hall
3. Main hall
4. Rooms for statues of gods or the Buddha
5. Room for land guardian
6. Yuan Meng building (2nd floor)
7. Room for Guan Yin
8. Kitchen
9. Abstinence room
10.Bridge “dream of gods”
Dongzhu Temple has over 700 years of history. Two rivers
converge outside this building.
There is a myth about the temple. It is said that there used
to be an old man who guarded the mountain. One day he
had a dream about a little naked boy swimming in the pool.
The next morning, he found a two foot long piece of wood
floating in the water. Strangely, the wood kept rotating in
the water, even though there was no wind. The old man told
the villagers about the wood. A village elder said that he had
dreamt the same dream. The old man decided to take out
the wood. When he touched it, it had a fragrant smell. He
found that it was eaglewood. The villagers thought this wood
had been endowed with magic from the spirits. So they
decided to build a temple in which to keep the wood.
The second reason is that Yuyuan used to suffer from floods.
So the villager built this temple to worship Libing, a famous
minister who created a flood-control system in the Qin
Dynasty.
According to legend, if you have a nice dream when you
sleep in the temple, the dream will come true within the
next year. So travellers on their way to Beijing to take the
Imperial Examination chose to stay in the temple for the
night, rather than in a comfortable hostel.
Court 2
Court yard house 1
Incense Burner
La
Village Map
Land Gods
Yang Jianmaternal uncle
Of Chenxiang
God Chengxiang
Temple entrance
Painted wood carving
Guayian Bodhisattva
Hall