Zhang Liang Temple (Chinese: 張良廟) also called the Shrine of Liuhou ( 留侯祠), is situated at the southeast of Zibo Mounatin (紫柏山), Liuba (留壩) County, Hanzhong (漢中), Shaanxi (陜西), China. According to the local legend, Zhang Liang (張良) retired here in his late years.
Zhang Liang (3rd century BC – 186 BC) was a strategist and statesman who lived in the early Western Han (漢) dynasty, he contributed greatly to the establishment of the Han dynasty.
Reputedly founded at the end of the Han dynasty, the temple was ruined in wars during the end of the Ming (明) dynasty and rebuilt in 1683 during the Kangxi (康熙) era of the Qing (清) dynasty.
There are many sentences with rich poetic flavor in the couplets in Zhang Liang Temple. All schools of Chinese calligraphy are displayed in the near 100 stone tablets and cliff inscriptions in the temple.
There is a hill at the southwest of the temple, tourists can climb along the stone steps to the top of the hill.
On the top of the hill stands a pavilion named Book Transmitting Tower (授書亭) in memory of Huangshi Gong (黃石公), a deity who gives Zhang Liang a secret book. Built with marbles and Nanyang Jade, the pavilion looks extraordinarily elegant.
In 1839, an abbot of Daoism expanded the construction of Zhang Liang Temple and opened it to outsiders. Having over 150 rooms and 6 big courtyards, the temple became the biggest Taoist temple in the Hanzhong area at that time.
