A general's temple, taken apart and rebuilt thirty-two kilometres east

The temple stood on the south bank of the Yangtze under the northern foothills of the Feng Fei Mountains, facing Yunyang across the water. It was built for Zhang Fei, a general of the Three Kingdoms period, and it stood for seventeen centuries while dynasties added to it: a great hall with a colossal statue, the Jieyi Tower, and pavilions to Du Fu, who lived in the temple for two years. The compound covered 2,000 square metres. The river flooded it more than once, and what stood at the end had been repaired under the Tongzhi and Guangxu emperors.

Local tradition holds that Zhang Fei's head is buried here, and the temple at Langzhong the rest of him. The legend of the building's money is stranger: the gold that paid for it is said to have been fished out of the river together with the general's severed head, after two of his own men killed him. The temple was known for three things together, text, calligraphy and carving, and its collection of steles and woodblocks ran back to the Tang and Song. Su Shi's two odes on the Red Cliffs were among the pieces saved. In November 2001 it became a national key cultural relic site.

The temple stood between 130 and 160 metres above sea level. The reservoir would reach 175, so the whole complex was taken down and rebuilt between 2002 and 2003 on the principle of repairing it as it was, at a new site opposite the new town of Yunyang and 32 kilometres east of the old one. The statue and the carved gates travelled with it. Panshi Town, where it now stands, is a short crossing from the county seat. The old site is under water, and the ground it stood on is part of the reservoir bed.