Nuwa Temple

Nuwa temple is located at the junction of caodui street and Dasanba street. Its architecture is similar to that of ordinary houses.

Nuwa Temple

The Nuwa temple in tangwangshan, Shexian County, Handan City, Hebei Province, was built in the Northern Qi Dynasty from 550 to 577, with a history of more than 1400 years,

It is the largest, earliest and most influential historical and cultural relic dedicated to Nu Wa in China, known as the "ancestral temple of China". It is one of the five sacred places for ancestor worship in China. It is also the place where Nuwa's family "refines the stone to mend the sky and kneads the earth to make man" in myth and legend.

The North Qi cliff Scripture carving group beside the wa palace is the essence of the ancient site of the wa emperor. There are six scriptures, covering an area of 165 square meters. They are carved on the cliff in five places, with a total of 137000 words. It is the earliest and the largest number of words among the existing cliff scriptures in China.

Every year from the first day of March to the 18th of March in the lunar calendar is the day to sacrifice to Nu Wa's birthday. At that time, not only people from Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Hebei and other places came to worship, but also people from Guangdong and Fujian came to seek their roots. Tens of thousands of guests gathered under the wa palace, making the sacrificial activities a grand scene. In 2013, WA palace received 1714000 tourists and 56000 overseas tourists.

General situation of Wa Palace

Wa palace is located in Zhonghuang mountain, Shexian County, Hebei Province,

It is one of the five sacred places for ancestor worship in China. It is the largest, earliest and most influential historical and cultural relic of worshiping Nu Wa in China. It is known as the "ancestral temple of China".

It was first built in the Northern Qi Dynasty, from 550 to 577 A.D., and has a history of more than 1400 years. It is the place where Nuwa's "refining stones to mend the sky, kneading earth to make man" in myth and legend.

Wa palace, commonly known as "grandma top", is located in the northwest of Shexian county. It is one of the eight ancient sceneries in Shexian county. It is a famous tourist attraction.

Wa palace is located on the mountain and skillfully borrows the nature, which is called "the realm of heaven and earth". It is a rare natural and cultural landscape, and is listed as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

In 2005, Shexian wa palace was rated as a national 4A tourist attraction; in 2006, Shexian was named as "the hometown of Nuwa culture in China" by China Federation of literary and art circles and China Association for democracy and people's livelihood, and the "research center of Nuwa culture in China" was established. The Nuwa festival was listed in the first batch of national folk intangible cultural heritage.

Shexian county will also establish a "China Nuwa Cultural Association" by contacting experts and scholars from various Nuwa sites in China to strengthen communication and exchange, hold academic seminars, deeply explore and study Nuwa culture, and jointly declare world cultural heritage.

On October 31, 2012, the State Council issued a notice on the list of the eighth batch of national scenic spots, and wa palace scenic spot was approved as "national scenic spot". In 2013, WA palace received 1714000 tourists and 56000 overseas tourists.

Historical evolution

The wa palace in Shexian county is the largest and earliest ancient building in China dedicated to the goddess Nu Wa. It was built in the 6th century. It has a history of more than 1400 years. It was built during the reign of emperor Wenxuan Gao Yang (550-560 A.D.).

According to the inscriptions here, the site was first built in the time of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, but at the beginning, it was very small, with only "three pillars in the temple" (only three stone chambers and some statues). Later, it was built in successive dynasties, and the scale continued to expand.. In addition, according to the records of shexianzhi, Gaoyang, the emperor of Wenxuan in the Northern Qi Dynasty, took Yecheng (now Linzhang County, Handan City, with tongquetai in it) as his capital and Jinyang as his companion capital. Gaoyang, the emperor of Wenxuan, traveled from Yecheng (Linzhang) to Jinyang at the foot of the mountain, "so he left the palace for a tour.".

Because of the emerald mountains and the beautiful scenery of Zhonghuang mountain (Nuwa mountain), Gaoyang emperor had to pass between Yecheng, the capital of the Northern Qi Dynasty (today's Linzhang County of Handan City, with tongquetai in it), and Jinyang. In addition, Gaoyang emperor was extravagant in nature and loved to build large-scale projects, especially the sculptures, so he chose Fenghuang mountain to build the wa palace.

Emperor Wen Xuan Gao Yang believed in Shi Shi and liked to carve Sutra statues. He built a large-scale wa palace here and dug a stone chamber at the foot of the mountain to carve Buddha statues inside. Later, he put the Sutra into the cliff.

By the Ming Dynasty, many palaces had been built one after another, and by the Qing Dynasty, they had been rebuilt on a large scale. After successive construction, it has gradually become a group of buildings covering an area of more than 15000 square meters.

For thousands of years, the wa palace has been burned for generations. Today, most of the buildings are built in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, while the remains of the Northern Qi Dynasty are only caves and cliff carvings.

There are three Grottoes on the cliff. Besides the footstone cave at the bottom of the wahuangge, there are two Grottoes on the right side, namely "eyesight" and "aunt cangu". The statues in the Grottoes have been damaged and incomplete, but the inscribed scriptures on the inner wall are relatively intact.

Scenic spots

The mountain where wa palace is located looks like a grand chair from a distance. According to the Taoist explanation, it is surrounded by mountains on three sides, with green dragon on the left and white tiger on the right. Under the mountain is Zhanghe River, and to the East is jiangjunling, the former site of Liu Deng's army headquarters, which is the junction of the three provinces. It takes three kilometers to get to the foot of the mountain.

Wa palace is located on the steep hillside. On the broad platform, there are 12 buildings, including wa palace, dressing building, yingshuang building, bell and Drum Tower, hexagonal pavilion, mupaifang, piyangwang temple, pool room and mountain gate. At present, there are 135 buildings, covering an area of 760000 square meters, which are divided into two buildings, namely, the Chaoyuan palace, the Tingyu palace and the Guangsheng palace.. At the foot of the mountain are chaoyuanguan, Tingxiang palace, Guangsheng palace and Beifang. Wa palace is built on the steep hillside. On one platform, there are wa palace, dressing building, yingshuang building, bell and Drum Tower, hexagonal pavilion, wooden square, pool room and mountain gate.

There is Nuwa culture square, which is composed of two parts: the peak building. The main building is located on the mountain. It has unique structure and ingenuity. It is known as hanging temple and living building. The wahuang Pavilion, dressing building, yingshuang building and bell tower are the most elegant. The wahuang Pavilion is close to the cliff, with a height of 23 meters. It is tied to the cliff with nine iron cables. For many tourists, the building is shaking and the iron cables are loud.

Nuwa Museum

Shexian County of Hebei Province will plan to build "China Nuwa Culture Museum" at the foot of Zhonghuang mountain, with high starting point design, high standard construction and all-round display, so that the museum and the palace complement each other and complement each other.

Wa Palace

The local figures vividly summarize the characteristics of Wa Palace: 1 tower, 2 religions, 3 grottoes, 4 groups of ancient buildings, 5 kinds of scriptures, 6 scriptures, 7 statues, 8 great achievements and 9 iron ropes. Among them, the religion refers to Buddhism and Taoism. The nine iron ropes mean that the wahuang pavilion built on the precipitous cliff is connected with the mountain by nine iron ropes. The temple was built in the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in the Xianfeng Period of the Qing Dynasty.

Wa palace is the last and tallest group of main buildings. It is built on the precipitous cliff of Fenghuang mountain. Wa Palace (three lofts) is in the middle, the dressing room and yingshuang building are separated from each other, the second floor of the bell and drum is facing each other from the north to the South, and there are six corner Pavilion, Lingguan Pavilion and memorial archway with the title of "wa palace historic site". All the buildings are in a state of embellishment It fully embodies the unique style of ancient Chinese architecture.

Around the mountain on the eighteen plate, you will reach the highest wa Huang Pavilion. The architectural layout of Wa palace makes full use of the original terrain and is ingenious according to the mountain.

It is composed of four groups of buildings, each of which has its own charm and is in harmony with the overall pattern. The three buildings at the foot of the mountain, from bottom to top, are Chaoyuan, Tingjia and Guangsheng.

Chaoyuan Palace (shifangyuan) is named Chaoyuan (burned by Japanese invaders in 1938) because it is the first temple in front of the mountain. Tinggu Palace (Xiema Palace) is a palace for holy drivers and pilgrims. Every year on the 18th birthday of emperor wa in March of the lunar calendar, people celebrate the birthday of the gods in this palace.

On the gable of this palace (Xiema Palace), there is a panoramic view of Wa palace and a mural: "the picture of waiting for chariots". It is a precious work of art to ride on a luxurious chariot with Nuwa, a dragon leading the chariot, a fairy accompanying, and a celestial escort.

Guangsheng Palace (the hall of children and grandchildren) is a temple. It is a place for praying for children in myths and legends. There are two palaces, the main hall and the auxiliary hall, which are respectively the hanging mountain and the hard mountain buildings. After winding up from the foot of the mountain to the 18th pan, guoguangsheng palace is the place where "Grandma Ding" is located.

Wa Palace consists of four groups of buildings. Built in a group of cliffs, the main building is a three storey Pavilion - wahuang Pavilion.

There are three groups of buildings at the foot of the mountain: Chaoyuan palace, Tinghe palace and Guangsheng palace. Wa palace is an ancient architectural complex on the earth. There are a lot of buildings, such as wahuangjia, dressing table, yingshuanglou, bell tower, Drum Tower, Mountain Gate, memorial archway, piyang temple, Gongde temple, pool room, etc. There are also such historic sites as grinding cliff and carving scriptures.

The main building of the wa palace is located in the south facing north with its back against the broken wall. It is 23 meters high and has a four storey structure with glazed tile top. It is built according to the mountain situation. The structure is very wonderful.

There are corridors on three sides of the second to fourth floors. There are eight iron ropes at the back of the cliff, which bind the pavilion to the precipice. On the cliffs outside the pavilion, there are the cliffs of the past

Chinese PinYin : Nv Wa Miao