Baiyunguan Temple is located 1,500 meters southeast of the Muxidi subway station and is the biggest Taoist temple in Beijing. First built in 741 AD, this well-preserved temple has a long and interesting history. One of Beijing’s annual Spring Festival ‘temple fairs’ takes place here every year. The Baiyunguan temple fair usually starts from Chinese New Year's Day and lasts 18 days – the longest temple fair in the city. Vendors from all over the country come here to show and sell their regional foods, handmade art and crafts, and special Spring Festival products; local performers will put on traditional shows of Peking opera, acrobatics and lion dances, as well as modern entertainments. Don’t miss this chance to experience a real Beijing way of celebrating the Spring Festival! RMB 10 park entry fee.
Established in 793 AD during the Tang dynasty, this is one of Beijing's few Taoist Temples, replete with long-haired monks. Unless you're claustrophobic, visit during the Spring Festival when good-natured worshippers throng the grounds to burn incense and leave prayer tags to the deities. The home of the Chinese Taoist Association and a Taoist clinic with three medically licensed priests and ten herbalists, White Cloud Temple is peaceful the rest of the year. Early religious Taoism evolved from an interest in alchemy and the search for the elixir of life. It is distinct from Taoist philosophy and provided a sense of spirituality that Confucianism lacked. Pantheons of deities, including manifestations of philosopher Laozi, are worshiped. Because of Taoism's tendency towards mysticism, its temples became breeding grounds for secret societies.
