Dongyue Taoist Temple

The Dongyue temple is a fascinating temple that is incongruous with the modern buildings and high rises surrounding the temple on all sides.  The temple, built by Taoist monks, features a series of halls or “departments” around a big central courtyard. Each department contains life-size statues depicting a department chief metering out punishments for evil deeds (and less seldom rewards for good deeds). Some of the statues are quite disturbing, and visitors may leave the temple haunted by the images of humans with animal heads and demonic features. Outside each display is a placard briefly explaining the function of that department, some of which include the “Department for Suppressing Schemes”, “Department for Demons and Monsters”, “Department for Wandering Ghosts”, and the “Department for Implementing Fifteen Kinds of Violent Death”. 

 

The temple has had a tumultuous history and has been destroyed, rebuilt, expanded and renovated over the years. The somewhat macabre nature of Dongyue allows for a feeling of great contrast to many other temples in Beijing, so is definitely worth a visit.