Taoyuan Cave is located beside the Liuxiu Stream in Wuyi Mountain. As you enter the scenic area and follow the trail beside Squirrel Brook, which runs between Cangping Peak and Beilang Rock, you'll reach the entrance to Taoyuan Cave where a pile of boulders blocks the valley mouth. The brook suddenly disappears, but you can hear water running beneath the stones, suggesting you've reached an impasse. However, just a few steps further, you'll find a small cave opening between the rocks. The cave is extremely narrow, only allowing one person to pass at a time, and it's quite dark inside. After passing through the small cave, the brook re-emerges. It truly is a case of “when the mountains are exhausted and the water ends, there seems to be no path, yet when the willows grow dark and the flowers brighten, there appears another village.” (A poetic phrase that means things seem hopeless but then unexpectedly improve)
After crossing the stone bridge over the brook, you wind your way through several turns before coming to a stone gate. Carved on both sides of the gate are the couplet: “Happy that no woodcutter comes to watch the chess game again; Afraid that a fisherman might come asking for directions.” Legend has it that this couplet was written by a hermit based on a story where a fairy and a mortal once played chess here, and the woodcutter lost to the fairy.
Upon entering the stone gate, you feel as if you've entered a new world, indeed a “paradise within a cave.” Surrounded by peaks, to the south is Cangping Peak, to the north are the Three Respect Peaks, to the east is Yuban Rock, and to the west are Tianhu Peak and Beilang Rock. In the center lies a deep valley, approximately 20 mu (about 3.3 acres) in size. You see lush fields, crisscrossing paths, neatly arranged houses, peach gardens, stone pools, bamboo groves, and flowing springs, all of which are captivating. If you visit in the spring when the peach blossoms are in full bloom, dazzling like clouds and mist, it truly resembles the Peach Blossom Spring described by Tao Yuanming. Xu Xiake wrote in his travel notes: “Surrounded by four mountains, there are flat fields and winding streams in the middle, encircled by verdant pines and emerald bamboos. Chicken calls and human voices can be heard amidst the greenery.”
The Taoyuan Cave Daoist Temple was established during the Tang Dynasty's Tianbao period (742-756 AD), when legends of immortals attracted numerous scholars to live and practice here. Lady Kongs, Zhuangs, and Yes (later known as the Three Sovereign Empresses) came to cultivate in Wuyi together and later settled in Taoyuan Cave, developing it into a secluded haven. Peach trees flourished in the area. Confucian scholar Chen Shitang and hermit Wu Zhengli also lived here for cultivation and writing, while the Southern Sect's Fifth Patriarch, White Jade Toad, the real person, also took refuge in Taoyuan to refine alchemy.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the Liu Wenjian Shrine and San Yuan Nunnery were expanded, with statues of the Three Great Emperors and Liu Wenjian Gong among others. By the Ming Dynasty, the Taoyuan Daoist Temple had gained renown far and wide, becoming one of the main temples in Wuyi Mountain. At that time, the temple constructed halls such as the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, the Hall of the Three Sovereign Empresses, the Hall of the Three Officials, the Hall of True Wu, the Hall of the Empress, and the Merit Shrine. These halls covered more than two thousand square meters, attracting many high-ranking Daoists to reside there. A poem by Ming Dynasty poet Wu Shi about “Little Taoyuan Cave” reads: “…, at the source of the stream there's an ancient village, with two or three recluses; they don't avoid the world to escape Qin (ancient dynasty), but to cultivate their hearts and refine their spirits; they till and harvest their own fields in spring, without needing to ask for clothes or food; palm flowers fall when the wind blows, and medicinal plants are picked after the rain.” The temple fell into decline during the Qing Dynasty.
In 1990, the Taoyuan Daoist Temple was approved for public opening. In 1991, the resident Daoists renovated the interior of the main hall and carved statues of the Three Pure Ones using the precious northern Fujian wood, the Chinese yew. Each statue stands 2.15 meters tall, intricately carved. They also installed Chinese yew altars, bronze incense burners, candle holders, and religious items, resuming regular religious activities.
The reconstructed Taoyuan Daoist Temple covers an area of about six thousand square meters. The main hall consists of the Hall of the Three Pure Ones, the Jade Emperor Hall, the Lingguan Hall, and the gatehouse (central axis part). On either side are the Three Sovereign Empresses Hall, the Hall of True Wu, the Hall of the Three Officials, and the Scripture Pavilion. There are halls where Daoists conduct religious affairs and practice cultivation, as well as venues for nurturing Daoist talents and promoting Daoist culture.
West of Taoyuan Cave is a massive Laozi Rock statue, which was funded by the Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area Administration Committee with an investment of 230,000 yuan in 1996. It took six months for artisans from Hui'an, Fujian to carve it. The statue stands 16 meters tall, is 11 meters wide, and 10 meters thick, making it currently the largest Laozi Rock statue in the world (the most famous Laozi Rock statue in Quanzhou is only 5.1 meters tall), truly deserving of the title “Laozi is the first under heaven.” (Photographed by Li Fengsen, some text sourced from the internet)