The Zhang Cifang 张次房

Zhang Cifang lived in the mid-Yuan Dynasty.

His courtesy name was Shaoyin, and his Taoist title was Daoist Yungu (Daoist of the Cloud Valley).

He was originally a Taoist priest at Meixian Guan (Meixian Temple) in Linchuan. During the Zhiyuan era (1264-1294) of the Yuan Dynasty, he accompanied the Heavenly Master Zhang (a title for the leader of the Zhengyi school of Taoism) to the capital to have an audience with the emperor. He stayed in the capital to serve for several years, and later was officially appointed as "Chongdao Hufa Hongmiao Dashi" (a high Taoist title meaning "Venerable Dharma Master of Upholding Taoism, Protecting the Dharma, and Great Marvels"), "Jiangxi Daojiao Du Tiandian" (the chief supervisor of Taoism in Jiangxi Province), and abbot of two Taoist temples: Shengsou Wannian Gong (Palace of Eternal Longevity) on Fuyun Mountain, and Meixian Xuandu Guan (Xuandu Temple of Plum Immortal) in Fuzhou.

Xuandu Guan was originally built according to the system of the Tang Dynasty, with only a single statue of Xuanyuan (the legendary Yellow Emperor, revered as the ancestor of Taoism). By the mid-Song Dynasty, however, statues of the Heavenly Master were added, and the temple’s name was modified with additional titles. These changes were considered improper, disrespectful, and misleading, yet no one corrected them. Zhang Cifang made the decision to restore the temple to its original layout and structure following the system of the Tang Dynasty.