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Cao E Temple is located in Shangyu City, Zhejiang, a coastal province in eastern China. The temple goes back to the days of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220).Cao E (pronounced as heard without h and d) was the daughter of Cao Xu, a musician. Cao E lost her mother in her early years. On the fifth day of the fifth month in 143AD, a local ceremony was held to greet the god of tides. Cao Xu rode a ship on the river sailing against the tides coming in from the river mouth. He fell off the ship by accident and drowned. Weeping in grief, the 14-year-old Cao E walked along the river in search of her fathers body. She searched for 17 days and nights but her fathers body was nowhere to be found. In despair, the heartbroken daughter jumped into the river and died.

Her filial piety touched the hearts of the local people. She was buried near the river. Du Shang, the county magistrate, ordered a stone stele erected in honor of the daughter. The story of Cao E was reported to the court. She was officially designated as a pious daughter. In history, Cao E was designated six times by different emperors in different dynasties and her honorific title is 12 characters long, one of the greatest honors in feudal China.

First erected in 151AD, the 3,440-m2 temple in the 6,000-m2 compound is famous for a great variety of inscriptions contributed by artists and scholars over the past 1,900 years.

A great number of inscriptions come in the form of couplets that hang on walls and pillars and gate posts. Some inscriptions are carved on stone steles and monuments. These inscriptions reflect changes in calligraphic styles, scripts, engraving techniques over the past two millennia. Tall pillars in the temple gave scholars of yesteryear opportunities to write very long couplets. The longest one has 38 characters. Ninety-eight calligraphers in the dynasties of the Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) left their inky masterpieces here. There are sculptures in wood, brick and stone. Forty-two large frescos relate the full story of Cao E.

There have been ten stone steles in honor of Cao E over centuries in the temple. These steles were known as Cao E steles. The present one has the inscription created and handwritten by Cai Bian of the Song Dynasty. The earliest stone inscription contributed to the temple was by Cai Yong (133-192), a prominent scholar of history, classics, astronomy and music and a man of letters. His inscription is actually a riddle in eight characters. The format of the riddle is now known as the Cao E format. Wang Xizhi (301-361), an all-time calligrapher living in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, wrote an inscription in small regular script for the Cao E temple. The stone stele that bore the duplication of the inscription was stolen later. But a handwritten copy of Wang Xizhis inscription on a piece of silk is now in the collection of Liaoning Provincial Museum. All the inscriptions on the lost Cao E steles can be read in historical documents.

Though the temple looks like a gallery of calligraphy and memorial inscriptions, it is still a temple in honor of the pious daughter. A week-long ceremony is held at the temple in May every year in honor of the teenage girl. The ceremony starts on May 22nd and pilgrims come in from all over the country. Some visitors come from overseas. A poet comments that the significance of the temple goes far beyond Shangyu. Visitors are more than tourists. They come here to see a dream.

An elderly at Cao E village says that in ancient times a ritual in honor of Cao E took place in the village in the first month of year and that two ritual societies in the village hosted the occasion. Lanterns would be lit for five nights on end. □