The Temple Built Beside the Dam

A short distance from the great irrigation works usually credited to Erlang Shen's mythic ancestry stands the temple most directly tied to that claim: the Erwang, or Two Kings, Temple at Dujiangyan in Sichuan, built into the hillside overlooking the river-splitting engineering project traditionally attributed to the Qin dynasty official Li Bing and his son. The temple, rebuilt many times after fire, flood and earthquake damage across its long history, honours father and son as the historical figures behind the flood control system that still irrigates the Chengdu plain, and popular tradition folds Erlang Shen's divine, three eyed, dog accompanied persona into that same family, treating the god of folk legend and the engineer of documented history as aspects of one lineage rather than as separate figures who happened to share a concern with water.

An annual festival held at the site around the anniversary of the dam's ceremonial opening of its floodgates draws large crowds and continues rites of thanksgiving to the two kings that long predate any interest in Erlang Shen's exploits against Sun Wukong. The site is a rare case of a folk deity's legend and a documented, still functioning piece of ancient infrastructure sharing the same physical address.