Zhōuzhì

Zhouzhi lies at the northern foot of the Qinling, where mountain streams descend toward the Wei River plain. Its celebrated Daoist sanctuary, Louguantai, stands southeast of the county town beneath the Zhongnan Mountains. Tradition tells that the sage Laozi taught the Daodejing here to the pass official Yin Xi, who had built a tower to observe the heavens.

The sanctuary flourished under the Tang and was repaired and expanded in later dynasties. Its halls, terraces and inscriptions attracted scholars and pilgrims; among the surviving monuments were works associated with the Tang calligrapher Ouyang Xun and the Yuan artist Zhao Mengfu. The scripture terrace and shrines of the Ming and Qing maintained the memory of Laozi's teaching among the wooded foothills.