Xiangta Temple According to legend, Xiangta Temple is located on the east bank of Xiujin River, west of Tianjiazhai Village, southeast of the town seat, about 2.5 kilometers away from the town seat. It is well documented that Xiangta Temple began in the Han Dynasty. In 1975, the cultural relics department conducted a textual research and confirmed that the bricks at the old site of Xiangta Temple were relics of the Han Dynasty. It was not large in scale when it was first built. There were only five main halls and more than ten side rooms, and a courtyard. According to the original stele, in the seventh year of Emperor Yangdi's Daye (611 AD), on the 26th day of the second month, Emperor Yangdi ordered the expedition to Goryeo and ordered Yuan Hongsi, the general manager of Youzhou, to go to Donglai to build 300 warships. Officials supervised the project. On the 15th day of the fourth month, Emperor Yang issued an edict to establish Shandong Prefecture. Emperor Yang drove to the temporary palace in Shandong. All the civil and military officials who followed him were given houses. When they arrived in Langya County, Wang Bo and Meng Rang gathered a crowd of thieves with as many as 100,000 people, causing great harm to the people of Shandong. The officials of the county and prefecture were not used to fighting because of the long-term peace in the world. Every time they fought with the thieves, they were defeated. Only Zhang Xutuo, a native of Chang'an and the prefect of Qi County, was very popular among the people. He was brave and good at fighting. He led his troops to attack Wang Bo at the foot of Yishan Mountain. Wang Bo was lucky to win the victory and was not prepared for the soldiers. Zhang Xutuo led the soldiers to attack and kill Wang Bo, and defeated Wang Bo's people. Wang Bo gathered the remnants and tried to cross the Yellow River to the north. Zhang Xutuo chased him to Linyi and defeated him. Emperor Yang praised him greatly, promoted him to the second rank, and built a mansion for him. Zhang Xutuo declined politely and presented to Emperor Yang that he wanted to retire to his hometown. Emperor Yang asked, "Where are you going and what are you doing?" Zhang Xutuo passed by Xiangta Temple in Tianjiazhai when he was fighting against Wang Bo. He thought this place was very good, a place where nine dragons gathered, but the temple was too small, so he wanted to expand the temple. He said to Emperor Yang, "I passed by Xiangta Temple and saw its situation and shape, and I felt that it was my home." Emperor Yang thought that Zhang had no desire to fight for power and gain, so he allowed Zhang to retire to Xiangta Temple and rewarded him with "thousands of gold spears, silver rollers, and jewels", and gave him a thousand hectares of good land. He expanded ninety-nine rooms on the basis of Xiangta Temple, equipped with underground caves, and inherited the emperor's salary for generations. He also recruited skilled craftsmen from all over the country to design and build Xiangta Temple. Craftsmen from all over the country arrived one after another. Zhang Xutuo took off his official robes, put on cloth clothes, and took the name of "Ren'an" Taoist priest. He was responsible for supervising the construction of Xiangta Temple. It took eight cold summers and the temple was initially completed. This temple is huge and magnificent, with three floors inside and outside, and ninety-nine rooms. The first floor is the Ministry of Rites Hall, where pedestrians must pass through to burn incense. After the ceremony, they can enter the temple. The second floor is the Ministry of War Hall, where monks and soldiers practice martial arts. In the middle is a seven-story tower, several feet high, towering to the sky. There are a pair of stone tripods on the east and west of the tower, weighing more than a thousand pounds, for martial arts contestants. The third floor is the Buddhist Incense Hall, and the back hall is lined with Jade Emperor, Tathagata, Taishang Laojun, Eighteen Arhats and other gods. The two wings are the Sutra Pavilion. The Sutra Pavilion is peculiarly built, with a double door every three rooms, and a brocade curtain hanging down. There are two flying immortals painted on the curtain. There are mechanisms on the ground outside. When an official comes here, a monk or Taoist walks in front with an incense burner in his hand and steps on the mechanism, and two flying immortals come down from the curtain and roll it up. After entering, the window and curtain hang down and close as before. In addition to divination, Buddhism, and Taoism, the Sutra Pavilion also contains sutras, articles, military affairs, agriculture, geography, and other categories, totaling 31 volumes, more than 17,000 volumes. The books are beautifully and luxuriously bound, with jade as the axis, brocade as the end, and sandalwood as the box. The doors, windows, and curtains of the book pavilion are extremely precious and gorgeous. There are dozens of steles in front of the temple, and there are fortifications built underground to store treasures and discuss secrets. From the Sui and Tang Dynasties to the end of the Ming Dynasty, Xiangta Temple was prosperous and lasting. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty (1825), a candidate from Donghai went to Beijing to take the imperial examination. When he passed by this place, he found that the monks here were doing all kinds of evil, robbing men and women, and had connections with the government and bandits. After he passed the imperial examination and became the top scholar, he reported to the imperial court. Emperor Daoguang advised the top scholar to stop. The top scholar took advantage of the situation and sent soldiers to Tianjiazhai Xiangta Temple to capture all the monks one by one, tied them up in front of the village, buried them up to their necks in the soil, and used buffaloes to rake the monks to death. To this day, a piece of land in Tianjiazhai is called "Monk's Head" because there are more than a hundred smooth round stones in the land. It is said that the monk was raked to death here. After Xiangta Temple fell into decline, local residents believed that Xiangta Temple had underground fortifications and hidden gold and silver treasures. They dug and took soil around the temple year by year, and dug out the current large pond, but no treasure was found. (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.) (No pictures yet, welcome to provide.)