Meso

It is said that after Emperor Zhenwu achieved the Great Way and was elevated to the Heavenly Palace by the Five Dragons, Emperor Jade bestowed upon him the title of the Supreme Deity of the Northern Pole on the Jade Terrace. Therefore, people regarded the Qiongtai of Wudang Mountain as the fiefdom of the Great Emperor Zhenwu and worshipped it with great reverence. Qiongtai Temple was called "Qiongtai Palace" in the Yuan Dynasty and was renamed the temple in the Ming Dynasty. It is divided into three architectural units: the Upper Taoist Temple, the Middle Taoist Temple and the Lower Taoist Temple on Qiongtai, and is one of the largest Taoist temples among the thirty-six temples on Wudang Mountain. The three Taoist temples of Qiongtai each have very pleasant names. The upper Taoist temple is called "White Jade Turtle Terrace", the middle Taoist Temple is called "Purple Mountain Qiongtai", and the lower Taoist temple is called "Jade Joy Terrace". Historically, 24 Taoist temples were built between the Three Views, taking advantage of the undulating mountain terrain. The temples were connected by pavilions and Bridges, which is why there is a saying that when walking between the Three Views, "you won't see the sky when you go out and your shoes won't get wet when it rains." This shows that the architectural scale of Qiongtai Taoist Temple at that time was grand and wonderful. However, after hundreds of years of time and wars, the buildings of Qiongtai Taoist Temple have been severely damaged. The current Shangguan Temple only retains the ruins and stone-carved turtles and snakes, which is currently the largest stone-carved "Xuanwu" discovered on Wudang Mountain. The lower part of Qiongtai Temple only has a dilapidated main hall and a few Taoist rooms remaining. It is said that Xiaguan was the place where Taoists of Wudang Mountain spent their old age, so the tombs and pagodas of Taoists can be seen everywhere on the nearby slopes. The best-preserved part of the entire Qiongtai Taoist Temple is the Zhongguan that we see now.