Guìxī

Guixi's religious landscape included Shangqing and Mount Longhu, the seat of the hereditary Zhang Celestial Masters. Their mansion served both as a residence and as a centre for conducting Daoist affairs. Recognition from the imperial court gave this local institution an influence reaching far beyond northeastern Jiangxi. In 1368, the Hongwu emperor conferred a new title on the forty-second master, Zhang Zhengchang, and supplied silver for repairing his residence.

Later Ming rulers continued this patronage. An imperial plaque was granted in 1467, and another rebuilding was ordered in 1485. In 1526, the Jiajing emperor sent the eunuch Wu You to work with Jiangxi officials on a substantial enlargement. The resulting complex included reception halls, residential rooms, an ancestral temple and ritual buildings. Guixi thus contained a household whose religious authority was expressed through court titles, official commissions and architecture, bringing dynastic government into a lasting relationship with the Daoist communities of the Longhu mountains.