Yaowang Temple

(Image source: Internet)

Yaowang Temple (also called Emperor Zhaohui’s Palace), about 25 kilometers away from Jiaozuo city, is one of the oldest wooden architectures of Yuan Dynasty so far existing in Henan province. The temple was named after Sun Simiao, a great traditional Chinese medical doctor widely acclaimed as China's King of Medicine, who practiced medicine and wrote books here for more than 20 years. According to the records on steles, Yaowang Temple, firstly built during the reign of Emperor Zhenghe in the Northern Song Dynasty (1111-1117 AD), presented a large-scaled splendid sight in the south of Taihang Mountain. There are two 1000-year-old trees inside the temple. One is a cypress---Yaowang cypress, also called platycladus, and another is a locust tree consisting of two trees but sharing the same root system. The locust tree, which takes more than two people to encircle it, still looks luxuriant. This temple was among the seventh batch of constructions that received the title of National Cultural Relic Protection Unit in 2013.