The White Cloud Temple
★★★★
Taoist Temples
No. 9 Baiyunguan Street, Xicheng District, Beijing
Description

Baiyun Temple is a famous Taoist temple in Beijing and the ancestral home of the Quanzhen Sect of Taoism. When you come here, you can visit the quaint Taoist buildings, burn incense and worship, and experience unique activities such as touching the stone monkey and hitting the money hole to pray for yourself and your loved ones. Every year in the first month of the year, Baiyun Temple also holds a traditional temple fair, which is very lively. Baiyun Temple is a Taoist courtyard composed of many buildings. The entire Taoist temple courtyard is more than 300 meters deep and more than 200 meters wide. After entering, you can walk to visit the buildings, experience activities, burn incense and worship one by one. The general play time is about 2 hours. Baiyun Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty and has a very glorious history. During the Yuan Dynasty, Taoist Master Qiu Chuji, the Taoist master of Changchun, practiced Taoism here and presided over Taoism in the world. The Taoist temple has been renamed and abandoned for thousands of years. Today's buildings were mainly built in the Qing Dynasty. The buildings in the temple are basically arranged symmetrically according to the traditional Chinese central axis. On the central axis, there are more than a dozen temples, including the screen wall, archway, mountain gate, Wofeng Bridge, God of Wealth Hall, Jade Emperor Hall, Qiu Zu Hall, Sanqing Siyu Hall, etc., which can be visited from outside to inside. The buildings here are all antique, and Taoist gods and famous figures such as Sanqing and Qiu Daochang are enshrined in them. You can burn incense and worship them. There is also a well-known activity in the temple at Wofeng Bridge - hitting the money hole. There is a huge copper coin under the bridge. Tourists buy small copper coins and put them into the money hole of the big coin. If they hit it, they will have good fortune. Buying small copper coins costs about 10 yuan for 50 coins. In addition to the buildings on the central axis, there are three other places to visit: the West Courtyard, the East Courtyard and the Back Garden. The West Courtyard enshrines well-known Taoist gods such as the Eight Immortals and Lu Zu. In addition, there is a statue of a horse in the courtyard. It is said that if you touch a certain part of the horse and then immediately touch the corresponding part of your body, you can get rid of the pain in that part. You can give it a try. In the East Courtyard, there are some ancient temples such as Luogong Pagoda, Sanxing Hall, Cihang Hall, Zhenwu Hall, etc. Among them, Sanxing Hall is dedicated to the three gods of fortune, wealth and longevity, and is also the focus of tourists' worship. After visiting the East and West Courtyards, you can go to the back garden. The back garden has elegant green plants, pavilions and towers. The environment is very exquisite and quiet, and you can have a good time. During the Spring Festival every year, temple fairs will be held in Baiyun Temple. There will be many traditional art performances, and you can also buy small items and snacks with the taste of old Beijing. It is very lively and you can come here to visit.