Lotus and the creature Ao

The garden around the temple was quite impressive and very well kept. Also, it featured a statue of the creature Ao, the second character of the town's name BoAo. Here's the story about it:


The Legend of Boao
Long ago in Chinese legend, the youngest daughter of the Dragon King -- Ao Qin of the South China Sea, gave birth to a son named Ao. Although its birth was accompanied by a splendid chance for prosperity, Ao looked strange with a dragon's head, tortoise's back and kylin's tail.
This strange looking creature made the Dragon King angry and he wanted Ao and his mother to leave the island. The King blocked their return to the South China Sea by laying his jade belt across the entrance. This belt turned into the Jade Belt Beach that lies in front of Sofitel Boao today.
Having failed to persuade her father the Dragon King to accept Ao, the heartbroken daughter dragon changed herself into a mountain now called Longtan Ridge. Shocked at the loss of his mother, Ao was so angry that he busied himself by causing great hardship to the people living on Boao.
Hearing the news, the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin, came to the island and after 72 battles subdued Ao, and transformed him into a dragon. Ao's original body, a turtle with a dragon's head, then became Dongyu Island, the site of Sofitel Boao. Aerial photographs of the island show it is shaped like a turtle. While it sounds like a tale from Middle Earth, whether true or not Boao is a remarkable yet sleepy corner of Hainan.
The monk of Tang Dynasty, Huai Ren said, "Who subdued Ao became a Saint, who obtained Ao became a wise man."
(Source: CRIENGLISH.com, copied from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/07/content_7935684.htm)