Actually, seen from afar, the stone-made yellow gate or Pai Lou(牌楼), dependably called in Chinese, is eye-catching. When we get to the Shan Men(山门, the Gate of Taoist Temple or Buddhist Temple, which is a humble alternative of Taoists and Buddhists in China to call the place they live in), we will see the exterior wall of Taoist temple painted in yellow color with four Chinese Characters”抱朴道院” written by the regular style of Chinese calligraphy. the whole wall built along the landform of the location looks like a flowing yellow Long(龙, a divine creature of China, different from Dragon of the western, unluckily, many unqualified Chinese translators translated it into the evil dragon. Actually it is another holy and respectable immortal living on heaven with fairies. And it is symbol of luck and auspiciousness). Hence it widely boasts The Wall of Long, which is an important scene of Baopu Taoist Temple. By the way, the entrance ticket price is 5 Yuan per person, and it is surely cheap too much compared to the entrance price of Leifeng Pagoda.

The main hall of Baopu Taoist Temple is Ge Xian Dian(葛仙殿, Hall of Ge Xian) , and later, Ge Hong became an immortal and his statue was set in center of Hall as a god for pilgrims to worship. The statue of Ge Hong was at middle, and two sides are two other God’s statues. The huge and life-like statues make the visitors serious and deferential. The cushions set in front of the statues are for kneeing and praying of pilgrims. And a lot of the furniture in hall are donated by pilgrims like the traditional and exquisite desk, which is quite impressive and carved with the donators or pilgrims’ name. The whole hall is quite large and decorated fairly well. The gates are the traditional style of wooden and well-carved gates. The breath-taking roof of the hall is quite unforgettable in fact, which is decorated magnificently and built in line with the theory of Taoism. The yard is not large but is a perfect place to appreciate the architectures.

Another impressive feature of Baopu Taoist Temple is the innumerous tablets in different sizes with Chinese calligraphic characters. The east side of main hall is Hong Mei Ge(红梅阁, Red Plum Pavilion)and Ban Xian Tang(半闲堂, Half Leisure Hall), in which the statue of Ci Hang Zhen Ren (慈航真人, an important immortal in Taoist immortal system, actually is Kwan-yin in Buddhism, because Kwan-yin is the jointly-believed god in Taoism and Buddhism based on their shared part of theory)was served. Two sides of Ci Hang Zhen Ren are the statues of Treasure God and Learning God, and if you are eager to earn more money, you had better pray Treasure God for treasure, and if you want to get progress in study or academics, you had better pray Learning God for progress in study. Also there is a house named Bao Pu Lu(抱朴庐, House of Baopu) nearby. Three traditional buildings are constructed exquisitely and belong to the garden-style architecture in southern China. In Red Plum Pavilion, there is the wooden gallery, and the images themed with Li Hui Niang(李慧娘, a homeless but beautiful woman separated from her family due to the war and was forced to be a singing and dancing girl in Jia Sidao’s mansion, the story mentioned in details below) is quite remarkable. The surrounding scenic spots are Stele of Ge Xian An(葛仙庵碑), Shuang Qian Quan(双钱泉, Double Coins Spring), Lian Dan Tai(炼丹台, Platform of Refining Immortal Medicament) and ChuYang Tai(初阳台, Initial Sunrise Platform, where Ge Hong used to stay for watching sunrise. Annually, on Oct.1, it is the best time to appreciate the sunrise on Chu Yang Tai, and some scarcely-seen view is available at dawn). Stele of Ge Xian An was made in reign of Emperor Shenzong in Ming Dynasty, and the calligraphic style of inscriptions is simple and brief, and the content is also beautiful, which records Ge Hong’s biography and the experiences of Ge Hong building Taoist temple and refining the immortal medicament as well as the things of constructing Taoist buildings in different dynasties, what’s else, some Taoist ceremonies were also written. Shuang Qian Quan in the yard is welcomed by the visitors, because the water of the spring is quite sweet and good for health and longevity. The building of Ban Xian Tang is the traditional building playing the role of dining room, where visitor can have the Taoist-style dishes but not free of charge. Through the dining room, visitors get to a tranquil and well-constructed path, along which visitors can easily and quickly walk to another famous site---Baochu Pagoda, what should be highly mentioned is that there are also plenty of surprising scenic spots on the way to Baochu Pagoda. If visitors are careful, the trip on the route to Baochu Pagoda will be quite interesting.

Incidentally, another interesting scene of Baopu Taoist Temple is its couplets. There are a lot of large-size couplets and tablets in it, and each of them has the different but profound meaning indeed. In many scholars’ eyes, they are considerably valuable. We also collect some part in Chinese. If you get interested, please do further reading.