A Tour to Zhang Fei Temple

Zhang Fei Temple – Mysterious Legend

In the countryside of Yunyang County, an old man standing by the Yangtze River, singing a famous poet in front of the running river in the hot June. The poetry he singing was written by a famous governor named Zhang Penghe in the Emperor Kangxi Period of Qing Dynasty. It was written to thank the famous general Zhang Fei for his manifestation to ensure him a good journey. There is a fantastic and beautiful tale said that once Zhang Penghe passed through Zhang Fei Temple on his way back to his hometown to visit his relatives. He talked wildly that he would not worship Zhang Fei since they were in different fields. Zhang Fei was angry with him and blowed him a strong contrary wind and put him about 30 kilometers away, and the ship could not go on for three days. Finally, Zhang Penghe prepared a lavish sacrifice and went to worship Zhang Fei, then there came a friendly wind, and he backed to his hometown safely. The grateful poetry written by Zhang Penghe is still on the stone wall of the Zhang Fei Temple.

Zhang Fei Templ – Story about Its Origin

Zhang Fei Temple also named Zhang Huanhou Temple was built to memorize Zhang Fei. In order to revenge for his brother Guan Yu, Zhang Fei given hard military orders to his subordinates Zhang Da and Fan Jiang. The two planed to join Dongwu and cut Zhang Fei's head while he was sleeping for drunk. On their way to Yunyang County they heard that Wu had made peace with Shu, so they threw Zhang Fei's head into the river in a panic. But Zhang Fei's head was salvaged by a fisherman. Zhang Fei visited the fisherman in his dream, asked him to carry his head till he couldn't carry it anymore and then built a temple there for him. There is a saying goes that Zhang Fei's head is in Yunyang County while his body is in Langzhong County. According to the historical records, Zhang Fei Temple was built in the end of Shuhan, it can be traced back to the Emperor Xuanhe Period in Song Dynasty. Thousands of years if has been noted for its special construction, profound cultural connotation and good combination of natural and human landscapes.

Zhang Fei Temple – Removed for Three Gorges Project

Now, due to Three Gorges Project, Zhang Fei Temple had been removed to the upstream. It has had westward 32 kilometers. The old Zhang Fei Temple had been removed to the new place for about 10 years. How is the biggest and the oldest "migrate" of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area? I made a tour to Zhang Fei Temple.

We shipped from the south shore of the new town of Yunyang County and arrived at the Zhang Fei Temple port across the Yangtze River. We got off the ship and climbed the stairs up to the temple. The road to the temple is steep and narrow. There are a lot of peddlers standing along the two sides of the road. Since it was a pretty hot summer all the visitors were sweatiness.

To the middle of the mountain we saw the new Zhang Fei Temple standing there. The new Zhang Fei Temple and the new town of Yunyang County face each other across the river. The inscription of "Jiangshangfengqing" and "Zhengqihaoran" in front of the temple are the same as the old. Since the new temple was rebuilt as the old one, its landscape and culture environment almost the same as the old one. The new Zhang Fei Temple transferred more than 4500 cultural relics and 127 ancient and well-known trees safely. Totally removed 0.131 million building elements, 193 wooden carvings, and 178 stone carvings to the new temple. The main palace, the side palace, the Jieyi Pavilion, the Zhufeng Pavilion, and the Cuckoo Pavilion formed the enormous and distinctive ancient buildings. There are many flags with a big Zhang flying outside the temple. Step into the temple you can see a lot of famous wood engravings and scrolls of calligraphy and painting. The building in the temple is pretty specious and it is also famous for its specious and spare calligraphies, paintings, and carvings.

Zhang Fei Temple - Sculptures, Tablets and Wooden Carvings

There are hundreds of stone sculptures, stone tablets and wooden carvings in Zhang Fei Temple. The cultural works through the past ages could be tracked back from Ming and Qing Dynasties to Han and Tang Dynasties and were made by celebrities. The following are the most famous works: Yan Zhenqing's "Zhengzuowei Post", Su shi's "Ode to the Chibi", Yue Fei's writing of Zhuge Liang's "Setting Out", Huang Tingjian's "Ode to the Orchid of Han Boyong", and Zheng Banqiao's poetry and painting. There are also wooden carvings and paintings of Liu Yong, Zhang Boshan, Zhao Xi, Guo Shangyuan, Zhang Chaoyong, and Liu Anzhen.

Zhang Fei Temple – Bronze Statues

Step up the steep stairs to the second floor; first you can see the sculptures of the Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. They were sworn brothers. They looked as natural as they were living and present a tremendous enthusiasm. Most of the paintings and sculptures there were made by the celebrities. You can see white labels of introduction everywhere. They were rebuilt displayed as the old ones. The bronze statue of Zhang Fei is on the third floor. Since the clay statue of Zhang Fei in the old temple could not be removed entirely. The sculptor made the new bronze statue of Zhang Fei as the old one. The statue looks as if thinking of the steady of the country and its people. There are four sculptures of Zhang Fei in four periods. The sculptures themes are: whip Du You, release Yan Yan, the Changbanpo Battle, and murdered in Langzhong County.

The board "Lifuhanding" was hung on the statue. Visitors tied the red cloth bow to the rails in front of the statue to pray for safety. The people worshipped Zhang Fei as god, especially the boatmen and fishermen, they would burn incense and offer sacrifice for him on his birthday and every festival. It is said that Zhang Fei made its power felt several times. He made Zhang Penghe to worship him and also prevent Zhang Xianzhong marching into Sichuan province with his one foot in the river and the other in Yunyang county town in the end of Ming Dynasty. Since then Zhang Fei became famous on the Yangtze River and a guard to protect the ships on the river.

Review to the Tour to Zhang Fei Temple

Once, Zhang Fei sent Zhang Penghe 30 kilometers away by blowing a contrary wind. Now, Zhang Fei was removed 30 kilometers away from its original place. Xiao Minpo- a poet and the head of Yunyang County wrote a poetry goes that once the civil official worshiped the military general, then blowed him a friendly wind; now the wind on the river is much more slow, but the military himself was removed 30 kilometers away. The poetry presents the great changes brought by the time and praised the people's enthusiasm of transform the world.

The sun was sheltered by the cloud and bending in the west. Looked into the distance, the mountains were so far and clean, and breeze blowing gently on the river. As time is limited, we could only give a hurried and cursory glance at Zhang Fei Temple and finished our tour hastily. Farewell to Zhang Fei Temple and get off the hill, the sunlight fell on the river through clouds looked very magnificent. It also turned to be very cool. Some of the visitors said that maybe it was the power of Zhang Fei. And there was also someone said that neither Zhang Fei's head nor body was removed to the new temple, so it shouldn't be the power of him. The peddlers alongside the road light up with pleasure since their business was was very good. The boatmen on the river smiled gradually. Though the old temple was removed to the new place, the body of Zhang Fei couldn't be found anymore, Zhang Fei cares a lot for his people as usual.