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Jiming Temple is located in the northeast of Nanjing. It was first built in the Southern Tang (937-975) and then again in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). The surviving temple was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). With Xuanwu Lake to the back, Jiming Temple faces Purple Mountain to the east. Inside the temple grounds are the Guanyin Building, Huomeng Building, Jingyang Building and the Rouge Well. Legend has it that when the emperor of the Southern Tang, and his concubines, hid themselves in the well, in order to escape the enemy, the stains of rouge were left on the wall of the well, and hence its name. Behind the temple, there still remains a section of the old palace wall called Taicheng.
Jiming Temple was founded nearly 1,500 years ago during the Liang dynasty, when the emperor ordered the construction of "Tongtai temple" atop Jilong hill. Tongtai, which means "unity then peace" was a phrase borrowed from the Sanskrit Buddhist sutras. Since then, the temple has frequently changed names as portions of the temple were repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. During one such episode in the Chen dynasty, the Emperor hid with his favorite concubines inside one of the temple wells. As Sui soldiers smashed through the gates of Nanking, the Emperor and his concubines languished in the well until the walls of the well ran with red from the concubine's powdered faces. From that time, the well has been called the "rouge well" or "disgrace well."
None of the buildings are very old. A disastrous fire ripped through the temple in 1973, destroying all of the historic structures. Reconstruction began in the 1980s and was largely completed by 1989.
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