Legend of Zhangfei Temple

Legend of Zhangfei Temple - Background

During the period of Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei (lord of Shu Kingdom) and Sun Quan (lord of Wu Kingdom) united to resist Cao Cao (lord of Wei Kingdom). Shu Kingdom and Wu Kingdom cooperated and beat Wei Kingdom in the Chibi War and laid foundation for similar strength of the three kingdoms.

Then Liu Bei settled in Western Chuan (Sichuan Province) and left his senior general Guan Yu to guard Jingzhou (a strategic site in Hubei Province). Guan Yu was too arrogant and underestimated the enemies. He refused to implement the correct strategy - "unite the Wu Kingdom to oppose the Wei Kingdom" - of Zhuge Liang (the military counselor of shu Kingdom). In 219 A.D, he arbitrarily led the troops to attack Fancheng, thus making his rear in Jingzhou weakly defended. As a result, Sun Quan took the chance and attacked Jingzhou. The strategic place-Jingzhou of Shu Kingdom was in danger. Guan Yu rushed to retreat and escaped to Maicheng.

Legend of Zhangfei Temple - Details

This bad news spread to Western Chuan and all were shocked. Hearing this, Zhangfei was very grievous and indignant. He swore to revenge for Guan Yu. Eaten up with grief, Zhangfei ordered that the soldiers make white flags and white armor (in China, to dress in white means to lament for the dead) in three days and go out to fight Wu Kingdom. And anybody against it would be severely punished.

Two of his subordinates - Fan Jiang and Zhang Da opposed the arbitrary decision and then they were whipped as the punishment. Time was very pressing and the task was impossible to complete. So Fan Jiang and Zhang Da conspired to kill Zhangfei. They stabbed a knife into Zhangfei's body when Zhangfei was sleeping. Then they cut off his head and went to Wu Kingdom for shelter.

When Fan Jiang and Zhang Da escaped to the bank of Yangtze River with the head of Zhangfei, they got on the boat prepared in advance and floated down the river to go to Wu Kingdom. When they arrived at Yunyang, the two heard that Shu Kingdom and Wu Kingdom had settled the dispute peacefully. So they threw the head into the river and escaped into the Daba Mountain.

Head of Zhangfei floated to the Tongluo Ferry at the south bank of Yunyang and was refloated by a fisherman. When the fisherman learned that it was the general of Shu Kingdom-Zhangfei's head. He respected Zhangfei's loyalty, bravery and uprightness very much. So he and other villagers built a temple to honor Zhangfei and buried his head there.

So there is a saying that Zhangfei's head is in Yunynag while his body is in Langzhong.