Chongyang Palace stands at Zuanzhen, in the countryside of Huxian south-west of Xi'an, and it is the birthplace of one of the most influential religious movements in Chinese history. In the middle of the twelfth century a man named Wang Chongyang, who had spent his life in the examination system and in minor official service, withdrew from public life in this district, began to teach a reformed Taoism, and gathered a group of disciples who became known as the Seven Perfected. The order they founded, Quanzhen - the Complete Realisation school - spread across northern China within a generation and became the dominant form of Taoist monasticism, with a structure modelled on Buddhist monasteries.
The site
The palace is a working temple and a pilgrimage site rather than a monument. Its halls are of later date and have been rebuilt, and the courtyards hold the tombs of Wang Chongyang and of several of his disciples, marked by stone memorials. Nearby, in the village, is the pit that tradition calls the Tomb of the Living Dead, where Wang is said to have spent time in deliberate withdrawal before he began to teach - a site that illustrates the ascetic strand in the movement rather than contradicting it. Pilgrims come throughout the year, and the temple is busiest around the anniversaries of the founder and the festivals of the Taoist calendar.
The stele forest
The most valuable thing at the site is a collection of stone steles, moved here from across the district and set up in a hall and along the courtyard walls. They record imperial patents, land grants, temple histories and doctrinal texts, and several carry inscriptions in more than one script - Chinese alongside Mongolian and, in one case, an older script used by the Mongol court. Because the steles are dated, they are one of the best sources for the early institutional history of Quanzhen Taoism, and for the relationship between the order and the Yuan court that patronised it heavily.
Practical notes
The palace is about an hour and a half from central Xi'an by road, in Huxian, and is normally visited together with the Caotang Temple and the peasant-painting workshops in the same district. It charges a small admission and is open daily during daylight hours; the stele hall is the part that closes first, so go there before the courtyards. Dress modestly and avoid loud behaviour in the halls, since this is an active temple. Between the three sites, Huxian makes a full day out of the city, and there is very little public transport between them, so a car is effectively required.
