Zhougong Temple

Zhougong temple is located in the northeast corner of Qufu City, about kilometers away from Confucius Temple. It is a temple in memory of Zhougong, a statesman of Western Zhou Dynasty. It is also called Yuansheng Temple because ancient emperors once granted Zhougong Yuansheng.

Zhougong temple has been expanded six times in song, Jin, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, forming its present scale. With a total area of 75 mu, the temple is surrounded by red walls and is divided into four courtyards. There are 57 halls, halls, verandas, pavilions, doors and squares. There are more than 30 ancient monuments, including cypress, cypress, regular script, locust and other ancient trees.

Zhougong Temple

Zhougong temple in Qishan, a national key cultural relic protection unit and a national AAAA tourist attraction, is located at the south foot of Fenghuang mountain, six kilometers northwest of Qishan County, Shaanxi Province, with an area of about 620000 square meters. In the book of songs, this place is described as: "the wind blows from the south.". It is the largest and most complete Zhougong temple in China.

According to archaeological experts, as early as 6000 years ago, there were ancestors living near mountains and springs in the area of juan'a. During the rise of Zhou Dynasty, many famous events took place near juan'a. Fenghuang is a sacred bird worshipped by Zhou people with Ji surname. There are many places and sites related to Fenghuang near ancient juan'a, such as Fenghuang mountain, fengminggang and "Danxue Fengji" and so on

. In his later years, Duke Zhou retired to juan'a and built a temple to offer sacrifices after his death. At the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the ancient juan'a building was destroyed and rebuilt after the Qin and Han Dynasties. In 618, the first year of Wude in Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, in memory of Zhou GongDan, who helped King Wu destroy the Shang Dynasty and set up the country, and helped King Cheng to fight against rebellion against Anbang, issued an imperial edict to establish Zhou Gong temple in juan'a, where he made rites and music. After the song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties repair, expansion, the formation of a three week Gong (Zhougong, Zhaogong, Taigong) hall as the main body, supplemented by Jiangyuan, Houji hall, pavilions, platforms, pavilions embellishment of ancient buildings.

On May 25, 2006, Zhougong temple was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit by the State Council.

geographical environment

Zhougong temple is located at the south foot of Fenghuang mountain, 7.5 kilometers northwest of Qishan County, Shaanxi Province, which is recorded in the book of songs as "Fenghuang is bright, and it is in the high hill".

Zhougong temple was called "juan'a" in ancient times. "Juan'a" sounds "quanwo", and "juan Yiqu" refers to the big mausoleum, that is, the curved mausoleum. Therefore, fengminggang is located on the back of fengmingqishan. It is surrounded by mountains in the East, West and North. Only in the south is it connected with the flat land. It looks like a dustpan and has the shape of an inverted concave character, so it is called juan'a. The volume of a land is quiet, the slope is slowly falling, and the two ridges are high and protruding, like flying phoenix wings. Therefore, the local people have the saying "see Duke Zhou fiercely".

Zhougongmiao is located in the south foot of Qishan mountain, the back edge of the original area of the alluvial fan, two geomorphic units of ground collapse (located in the Qinling latitudinal structural belt, the east wing of the front arc of qiluhe mountain shaped structure and the composite part of Longxi convolution loose tectonic system, the underground rock is V-shaped Valley bedrock), with developed fissures and many springs, which are deep fissure water. The recharge water source is rich and the pressure is strong, which can form artesian flow higher than the surface. For thousands of years, the current has not stopped. According to the preliminary evaluation of zhougongmiao landform groundwater resources by the geological and mineral hydrology brigade of Shaanxi Province, the groundwater resources are very rich. These rich groundwater seeps up from the Piedmont fissures and flows into mountain springs. Runde spring is one of the famous scenic spots in Zhougong temple. The quality of spring water is clean and the temperature is suitable, which is 16.7 ± 0.1 ℃ all the year round.

Historical evolution

Zhougong temple is a special ancestral temple built to commemorate Zhougong day. It is located in the center of Zhouyuan (the four sites of dazhouyuan are Qishui in the East, Weishui in the south, Qianhe in the West and Qishan in the North).

According to Bamboo Annals, King Cheng of Zhou led his civil and military officials to juan'a Yange for amusement. At that time, his uncle Zhao Kanggong also came and wrote a poem, which is the famous poem juan'a in the book of songs

. Experts and professors from Fudan University in Shanghai, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an University of architecture and technology, Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology and other universities and archaeologists believe that the above historical materials are the earliest written records of Chinese scenic spots.

At the beginning of Zhou Dynasty, Zhou GongDan, an important minister, retired to juan'a in his later years, making rites and music, which made the world rule and the people return to their hearts. After the death of Zhou Gong, he built a temple to offer sacrifices, and the temple of Zhou Gong began. According to historical records, the ancient juan'a building was destroyed at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty and rebuilt after the Qin and Han Dynasties.

In 618, the first year of Wude in Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, created the book of rites because of the Duke of Zhou's "Kuangyi". It is the source of the poor Dharma. It has been transformed into the south of China. Its industry has been prosperous for eight hundred years. It has made great achievements and is the best in the past

After that, the Royal and local officials of all dynasties offered sacrifices.

During the reign of emperor zhezong of Song Dynasty (1086-1094), he ordered you Shixiong, an envoy of Shaanxi Province, to expand the Zhougong temple to 110.

During the reign of Chenghua (1465-1487) of emperor Xianzong of Ming Dynasty, local officials were ordered to offer sacrifices in spring and autumn.

After repair and expansion, Zhougong temple has formed the largest ancient architectural complex in Guanzhong area, with Sangong (Zhougong, Zhaogong, Taigong) hall as the main body, Jiangyuan, Houji hall as the auxiliary, and pavilions, platforms, buildings and pavilions as the embellishment, with a total area of 620000 square meters. It is the Zhougong temple with the longest history, the richest cultural connotation and the largest area in China.

Architectural pattern

There are more than 30 existing single buildings in Zhougong Temple scenic area, with a construction area of more than 3000 square meters. They are symmetrically arranged according to the situation of the mountain. They are dominated by the main hall and Xian Hall of Zhougong, set off by the hall of Zhaogong and Taigong, and extended by the Temple of Jiangyuan and Houji. Among all the halls, the Zhou palace is in front, the Jiangji ancestral hall is in the middle, and the Houji ancestral hall is in the back. The local people sum up this layout as "Jiangji carries her son and embraces her grandson".

Ancient scenery and historic sites

The most famous landscape of Zhougong temple is the eight sceneries of Zhougong temple. In addition, there are a large number of religious buildings, which are mostly built by digging holes on cliffs. There are luzu cave, Baxian cave, Sanqing temple, Xuandi cave, Zhangxian cave, Yaowang cave, Bodhisattva cave and so on. There are many statues and murals in the cave. The caves are connected with each other by corridors. They are deep and tortuous, and reverberate, showing the unique style of Guanzhong architecture. There are also Yuhuang hall, Kuixing building, Chaoyang cave, Caiyun building, Yangsheng gate, zhoubashi hall and other architectural relics, with more than 40 monuments.

Eight scenes of Zhoudi

Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a saying about the eight sceneries of Zhoudi (eight sceneries of Zhougong Temple).

Other landscapes

Cultural Relic Archaeology

Zhougong Temple site is located in Qishan County, Shaanxi Province, which is a part of Zhouyuan, the birthplace of Zhou people. There were many important events in the Zhou Dynasty, which laid the foundation of the Western Zhou Dynasty for hundreds of years and played an important role in Chinese history. In the Tang Dynasty, a large-scale building complex was built here to worship Zhou GongDan. In 1957, Zhougong temple was announced as a key cultural relic protection unit in Shaanxi Province.

Since 2003, high-grade tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty have been found at Fenghuangshan site of Zhougong temple. Among them, there are 10 large tombs with four tombs, 15 chariot pits and more than 10000 pieces of oracle bones. More than 2500 characters of oracle bone inscriptions can be identified, up to 37 characters in a moment, which is extremely rare. Archaeologists call it "the king of Oracle Bone".

The Zhougong Temple site in Qishan was selected as one of the "top ten archaeological discoveries in China" in 2008, known as the "great discovery of the century".

The archaeological team of Zhougong temple, which is composed of Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology and Peking University, has carried out large-scale archaeological investigation and drilling in Zhougong Temple site. 19 large tombs have been excavated, including 10 with four passages, 4 with three passages, 4 with two passages, 2 with single passage and 13 with accompanying pits. More than 700 pieces of divination shells and bones were found in many places around the cemetery. Through preliminary identification, there are more than 420 characters of divination shells and bones, including 4 pieces of "Duke of Zhou", and several pieces of inscriptions recording the activities of the king of Zhou. In addition, more than 1500 meters of rammed earth wall and six large rammed earth building sites were found. Many hollow bricks were found around them, even in FengHao site and Zhouyuan site, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty.

In the archaeology before the Zhougong temple, there were only two tombs of the princes in the Western Zhou Dynasty, three or four of which have never been found. The position of the owner of the tomb in Zhougong temple is very high, and the possibility of the owner of the tomb includes the king of Zhou, the Duke of Zhou and other noble officials. Archaeology of the Western Zhou Dynasty has lasted for more than 70 years. This is the only large-scale settlement of the Zhou people where the remains of the walls, oracle bone inscriptions, high-grade buildings and tombs of the Western Zhou Dynasty have been found at the same time. The oracle bone inscriptions of "Duke of Zhou" appear many times, which shows that this place should be the manor of Duke of Zhou. Based on these archaeological achievements, Yin Shengping, former director of Shaanxi Museum of history and expert of Western Zhou history, Zhang Tianen, director of Shangzhou Office of Shaanxi Institute of archaeology, Yuan Zhongyi, former director of Qin Museum of terracotta warriors and horses, and other experts and scholars all believe that the cemetery should be the tomb of Duke Zhou's family.

Cultural relic value

Zhougong temple, also known as Yuansheng temple, commemorates the famous statesman, militarist, thinker and founder of Confucianism in Western Zhou Dynasty. Zhougong temple has been built in many places in China, among which Zhougong temple in Qishan County, Shaanxi Province is the largest and most complete one.

There are more than 30 ancient buildings in the temple area, covering an area of about 7 hectares. The overall layout of the buildings is symmetrical, with magnificent temples and exquisite pavilions. There are many steles and stone carvings in the temple, and there are many ancient trees in Han, Tang, song, yuan and Ming Dynasties. There are many temples in the temple area, whose architectural art has a strong national traditional style.

The Zhougong Temple site is the highest level Tomb of the Western Zhou Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : Zhou Gong Miao