An office lady walking past the frontal wall of Daci Temple.

This segment seen here actually has the designs of a "yingbi" or "shadow wall", in traditional Chinese architecture a stand-alone wall shielding the main gates of a house from the street. However it's now joined with the rest of the boundary walls.

i suspect that the temple used to occupy a much bigger space in front but the construction of a road corroded its territory. Entering the temple ground would prove my suspicion: this segment of wall is in line with the gates of the front hall.

An interesting myth surrounding the "shadow wall" is that evil spirits would see their own shadows reflected in the wall and be scared off. But of course functionally, the wall denies outsiders peeks into the house even when the gates are open.

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This post is late because we spent the night at Wanyun's house playing mahjong and watching the World Cup. Yesterday must be my lucky day! i "hu"-ed for the first time and won $26.80 from betting on a draw between Germany and Argentina as well as two total goals. :p