Quyuan Temple - Yangtze River Attraction

Since the original construction of the Quyuan Temple in the year 820, it has undergone several renovations during later ages. In 1080, the Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty (960-1279) honored Quyuan as 'Qinglie Gong' thus the temple was renamed as 'Temple of Qinglie Gong'. However, the construction of the Gezhouba Water Control Project in 1976 made the Yangtze River level ascended and the 'Qingliegong Temple' was moved to Xiangjiaping, 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) away from the Zigui County. 'Quyuan Temple', as it changed, was opened to the public in 1980 and took on a new look.

Old Structure

The whole Quyuan Temple was built in a peculiar style, with the front door most outstanding. There are 3 memorial gates, 5 pillars, and 3 copings, colored in red, white and green, which shows a great originality. Besides, there are some complimentary words written by famous Chinese people to Qu Yuan to praise his loyalty and reputation.

Quyuan’s Statue

On the middle place of Quyuan Temple stands the bronze statue of Qu Yuan. He slightly lowers his head, frowning, leaning forward a little, and remaining uncorrupted, from which you could see his strong patriotism and loyalty without anyone can shake.

Quyuan’s Cenotaph

It is also the Quyuan’s tomb moved together with Quyuan Temple. In this 120 square meters wide place, the tomb is solemn with some animal carvings on it and a incense burner at the middle for worshiping of people coming in. in front of the tomb are stone pillars with some couplets praising the deeds and contribution of Qu Yuan. Furthermore, there is a carving writing about the rebuilding of Qu Yuan’s tomb, which tells people the whole life and immortal spirit of this great minister.

Exhibitions of Quyuan

On the flat ground of Quyuan’s bronze statue is the memorial hall of Qu Yuan, where display a series of pictures, paintings, poems, music, calligraphic works, diverse versions of the famous poem “Li Sao”, and so on, and a stone statue of Quyuan sculpted in Ming dynasty. Visitors could clearly know about the legendary life of Qu Yuan and his influence to the ancient China.

Because of the Three Gorges Project, parts of the Zigui County will become submerged when the new dam and reservoir are completed. In November 2006, the Quyuan Temple began its move to the new site-the Fenghuang Mountain in the east of the new Zigui County. It is reported that the new temple is five times larger than the original size. Except for the tomb and the steles that were kept from the original temple, the pavilions and halls are newly built in archaized style. Quyuan Temple together with the ancient buildings on Fenghuang Mountain is attracting increasing numbers of visitors, as new Zigui becomes ever more famous.

Tips:

To commemorate Qu Yuan, the Chinese traditional and famous Dragon Boat Festival on Chinese lunar May 5th was formed by people, on which day, boat racing is held on Yangtze River at the section of Quyuan Temple to commemorate this great patriotic poet in ancient China. if you are interested in the boat racing, you could visit the Quyuan Temple on that festival.