De'an Chan Temple

Commonly known as Laoye Temple, De'an Chan Temple was first built in 1927 and is located on the western outskirts of Taonan City. The temple complex consists of the Mountain Gate, Main Hall, Rear Hall, Side Halls, Bell Tower and Drum Tower. The overall layout is well-structured with buildings arranged in neat order. The temple suffered several destructions throughout history. It was reconstructed with the approval of the Baicheng Municipal Government in 1996 and renamed to its current title. Now the temple covers a land area of 6,592 square metres with a construction area of 865 square metres. There is one main hall together with three other halls: the Ksitigarbha Hall, Guanyin Hall and Kalan Hall. Two dormitory buildings stand on the east and west sides respectively. Inside the temple stands one bronze Buddha statue that is 2 metres tall and weighs one tonne, plus more than ten bronze Buddha statues one metre in height.

According to legend, in 1927, Zhang Haipeng (nickname Pockmarked Zhang), the garrison commander of Taonan, had a strange dream. He saw Guan Yu sitting on horseback with a broadsword in hand, shouting to him: "Third Brother!" Zhang Haipeng immediately mounted his horse with a gun and galloped westward following Guan Yu. They stopped right near the present site of De'an Chan Temple, which was then just a stretch of wild grassland, and the horse refused to move forward any further. He was deeply amazed after waking up. Soon the rumour spread that Pockmarked Zhang was the reincarnation of Zhang Fei.

To repay Guan Gong for revealing his previous life, Zhang Haipeng resolved to build a Guan Yu Temple at the very spot shown in the dream for lifelong worship. Merchants and ordinary local residents pledged to donate money and materials to support his act of loyalty and righteousness.

The real story, however, was quite different. Zhang Haipeng was originally a bandit. He served as the military governor of thirteen counties in Guandong and later became a traitor running errands for Japanese imperialists. To whitewash his disreputable background, he fabricated this bizarre story to pretend to be a pious philanthropist.

By pure coincidence, Wu Junsheng, then Military Governor of Heilongjiang Province, heard the story during his military inspection tour in Taonan and had a dream that same night. In the dream, he turned into a golden-winged roc sitting beside Buddha Sakyamuni, then descended to the mortal world to enjoy endless incense offerings from believers. When General Wu talked about this dream casually, Zhang Haipeng and others hailed it as an auspicious omen that the governor would soon receive a major promotion. They then expanded the planned Guan Yu Temple into a Guan-Yue Temple, enshrining both Guan Yu and Yue Fei. This was meant to show their fraternal bond with General Wu as well as their professed wholehearted devotion to the nation.