Xuan Miao Temple 玄妙观

So I was resigned to the fact that despite the best efforts of the government to make Guanqian Street in Suzhou an old street on par with the great old streets of China, it still can’t approach any of them. Not only that, for an old street to be old, you actually need something old. I was starting to think that there really wasn’t much to this street other than shopping. But lo and behold, I was greeted by the presence of a temple complex on one end of the street.

Xuan Miao Temple 玄妙观 Main Entrance

The Xuan Miao Temple 玄妙观 is a Taoist temple here in Guanqian Street. It is surprisingly old having been built in the year 276 A.D. It has also gone through a series of name changes starting from its establishment in the Jin Dynasty as Zhen Qing Temple. In the Tang dynasty, it was named to Kai Yuan Temple. In the Song Dynasty, Tian Qing Temple. In the Yuan Dyansty, it was named to Xuan Miao Temple, its current name. In the Qing Dynasty, it was named to Yuan Miao Temple to avoid the taboo of having the same name as the emperor Xuan Ye at that time. Finally, in the modern era it was renamed back to Xuan Miao Temple. We weren’t really interested in seeing the temple, though it is said to contain Taoist artifacts from the Song Dynasty. At least, I left feeling satisfied that at least that place was ancient.

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