Zhongyue Miao

About 5km (3 miles) east of Dengfeng on the road to Zhengzhou, this is the largest Daoist temple in Henan Province, and one of the oldest dating from before 110 B.C. Today's complex dates from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). In the courtyard after the Chongsheng gate (Chongsheng Men) are four 3m-high (9 3/4-ft.) Song dynasty iron guards originally cast in 1064 with weapons in their hands, but these were supposedly sawed off during the Cultural Revolution. Just before the central gate (Lingji Men) is a rather unusual 1604 stele with carvings of the five sacred Daoist mountains: Song Shan stands in the middle, Tai Shan in the east, Heng Shan Bei in the north, Heng Shan Nan in the south, and Hua Shan in the west. The temple's central hall, the impressive golden-roofed, double-eaved Zhongyue Dadian, resembles the Forbidden City's Taihe Gong and has a statue of the god of Song Shan.

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