Xiangyun Dongyue Palace

At the eastern edge of Xiangyun's old town, along Gulou East Street, stands the Dongyue Palace. Established in 1573 during the first year of the Wanli reign, this Taoist sanctuary has quietly observed the passage of centuries. Its layout follows a strict classical order,a front gate leads to a central courtyard, flanked by exceptionally long wing rooms of seven bays, before reaching the main hall and a quiet rear courtyard.

Inside the main hall, five bays wide, the heavy timber of the column-and-tie wooden structure supports a single-eave hip-and-gable roof. Here, the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak presides over the community. In the long side wings, the atmosphere shifts. Visitors encounter the Ten Courts of Hades, where ancient artisans shaped raw clay into expressive, terrifying figures of Yama kings and underworld judges. The cold, textured clay of these sculptures served as a visual sermon on moral retribution, warning passersby of the consequences of their earthly actions.

The temple served as a practical civic anchor. A stone stele in the courtyard records local water management regulations from the Qing Dynasty, dictating how agricultural water from the surrounding mountains should flow to local fields and how the temple's own lands should be managed.

Today, the palace remains an active cultural site. Every year, on the twenty-eighth day of the third lunar month, the air fills with the scent of incense and the sound of prayers during the annual temple fair. Locals gather to seek blessings and honor the deceased, keeping a 450-year-old cycle of faith and community cooperation alive.