Liuzi Temple occupies the heart of the old Lingling district, a walled complex of halls and courtyards dedicated to the Tang dynasty writer Liu Zongyuan, who was exiled to Yongzhou from 805 to 815 AD. The temple buildings date from the Song dynasty and have been rebuilt and restored several times since; the current ensemble is well-maintained and has a scholarly atmosphere appropriate to its subject.
The main hall contains a statue of Liu Zongyuan in official robes, surrounded by inscriptions from his Yongzhou essays. The courtyard has old stone tablets with calligraphic reproductions of key texts, and the surrounding Lingling old town area has a streetscape of Ming and Qing architecture that makes the area worth wandering beyond the temple gates. Admission is around ¥25; the temple is a quiet place even when Yongzhou has visitors, because most tourism in the region focuses on Fenghuang or Zhangjiajie rather than literary history.