Yufeng Temple locates at the southern foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, 13 kilometers northwest away from the Lijiang Ancient Town. Yufeng Temple is a small lamasery, and one of the Scarlet Sect lamaseries of Lijiang. The temple shows a distinctive and conjunct architecture style of Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Taoism, and the local Naxi Dongba Religion, and plays a very important role in Naxi people.
Features of Yufeng Temple
Yufeng Temple was built in 1756, during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644 -1911). Yufeng Temple used to have nine courtyards, but now only the gate tower, the main hall and two courtyards have remained after the historical changes.
Yufeng Temple shows a quadrangle courtyard layout. The hall faces east, with a double-hipped roof. The hall is 16.3 meters wide and 12.6 meters deep. Upper eaves are brackets retainer, down eaves are arc-shaped. Four golden columns in indoor are carved with dragon patterns. The octagonal caisson ceiling on the top was painted with Buddha figures, and the painting has the Tibetan "Thangka" style.
Due to the cultural communications between different minorities and different areas during the Qing Dynasty, Yufeng Temple shows the compatible and harmonious features of the Naxi group. It witnessed the peaceful coexistence and syncretism of multinational cultures and religions.
Beautiful camellia tree
Though the temple is small, it was famous due to a camellia, which was rooted in the north courtyard. According to legend, the camellia was planted during the Ming dynasty Chenghua period (1465-1487). This big and old camellia tree has a history of more than 500 years, which is older than the Yufeng Temple. It was made by two different species of camellia through grafting, with 34 cm in diameter, 2 meters high, and 56 square meters of the crown area. It is the real “King of the Camellia Trees.”
Every year in late spring and summer, there are more than 20 batches of camellias opening successively, each batch has thousands of flowers, with a total of more than 20000 flowers. With the irradiation of the brilliant sunshine and the contrast of the green grassland, the whole blooming tree looks like the burning flames.