Nanshan Temple

Looking north from Xiongzhen Pass of Nan'ao Island, bright orange glazed tile roofs stand out vividly amid the lush green woods of the ancient town Shen'ao. This striking building is the newly renovated ancient Buddhist temple, a county-level cultural relic protection site — Nanshan Temple.

Nanshan Temple sits south of the ancient city at a scenic spot named "Solitary Carp Facing the Morning Sun". It backs onto Golden Hill and faces Meihua Village. Towering ancient trees surround the compound, with clear spring water gurgling in gullies and sweet well water, creating a secluded, elegant sanctuary.

The temple was founded in the late Ming Dynasty, expanded from a small shrine dedicated to the God of Fire. During the Qing Dynasty, a monk residing here possessed unparalleled martial arts prowess: he could leap across upturned roof eaves, soar ten metres through the air, and even sit cross-legged atop the sharpest rock peak of Stone View Mountain. He passed down his kung fu skills to a wealthy young man from Shen'ao Town, yet vanished without a trace right after teaching him the boxing routine Eight Drunken Immortals.

The ancient monastery endured cycles of ruin and restoration. On the third day of the first lunar month in 1918, a catastrophic earthquake reduced nearly the entire temple to rubble, leaving only the main gatehouse intact. Four years after the quake, two Buddhist nuns from Qihaiyan on the island, Master Xiuche and Xiujie, made a solemn vow to rebuild the temple. Accompanied by their disciples and supported by donations from devout believers, they laboured for five years amid the ruins and completed reconstruction in 1927. They painstakingly restored the front courtyard chambers, the central Buddha Hall, and side wing rooms, reviving the temple’s glory.

During the Cultural Revolution, all nuns were expelled and the temple abandoned, overgrown with weeds. After 1978, relevant policies were implemented, breathing new life into the ancient site. With generous donations from believers at home and overseas totalling over 4 million yuan, large-scale reconstruction work was carried out.

The entire temple complex is grand and solemn, featuring exquisite architectural craftsmanship: painted beams and carved rafters, gracefully upturned flying eaves, and glazed tiles shimmering in brilliant colours.