Handan Huangliang Dream

The Huangliang Dream Lvxian Temple, located in Huangliangmeng Town, 10 km north of Handan City, Hebei Province, is one of the largest and best-preserved Taoist temples in northern China. It was first built in the Song Dynasty and underwent large-scale restorations in the Ming, Qing Dynasties, and in 1984. This ancient architectural complex covers an area of 13,000 square meters, with over 180 halls and rooms. It was built based on the legend "The Story of the Pillow" (Zhenzhong Ji) by the Tang Dynasty writer Shen Jiji, and is commonly known as Lusheng Temple. The idiom "Huangliang Dream" originates from here. Legend has it that the scholar Lu Sheng met an immortal and had the dream of the golden millet (Huangliang Dream) at this very place. The existing buildings are in Ming and Qing architectural styles. Lvxian Temple faces south and covers an area of 14,000 square meters, with a building area of over 6,000 square meters. The main axis consists of the screen wall with the inscribed stone carving "Penglai Fairyland", the Alchemy Room, the Bagua Pavilion, the Noon Gate, the Bell and Drum Towers, the Zhongli Hall, the Lüzu Hall, and the Lusheng Hall. The Lüzu Hall is covered with a hipped roof with glazed tiles. Inside the hall are statues of Lü Dongbin and child attendants, with five inscribed poems carved on the walls on both sides. In front of the hall there is a worship hall and a moon terrace, flanked by the Queen Mother Hall on the east and the King Father Hall on the west. There are many plaques inside Lvxian Temple, most of which are damaged and unclear. Some are still faintly legible, such as a poem inscribed by the Jin Dynasty poet Yuan Haowen for Lvxian Temple: "Living and dying are not the same body; who knows who is false and who is true? Today's poet in Handan is still a person in the Huangliang Dream."