Temple of the Jade Emperor

Temple of the Jade Emperor

Yuhuang temple, located in Fucheng village, Jincun Town, Zezhou County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province, China, was listed as the third batch of national key cultural relics protection units in 1988.

The Yuhuang temple in Fucheng was rebuilt in 1076 (the ninth year of Xining), rebuilt in 1207 (the seventh year of jintaihe), partially destroyed in the reign of Zhenyou and rebuilt in 1335 (the first year of Yuanzhi). The temple faces south and covers an area of more than 4000 square meters.

The main buildings of Yuhuang temple include Mountain Gate, Yimen, Chengtang hall, Xianting, Yuhuang hall, dongxipei hall, 28su hall, shiechen hall, shisanyaoxing hall, Guandi hall, canshen hall, etc. among them, Yuhuang hall is a relic of Northern Song Dynasty, Chengtang hall was built in Jin Dynasty, and the rest in yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Chengtang hall is three rooms wide and three rooms deep, with single eaves hanging on the top of the mountain. The Jade Emperor hall is three rooms wide and deep, with a single eaves hanging on the top of the mountain. There are more than 300 statues of the song, yuan and Ming Dynasties in each hall.

Historical evolution

The founding date of the Yuhuang temple is unknown. According to the existing Ming Dynasty inscriptions in the temple, "in the Sui Dynasty, the residents gathered in Beifu to build three couplets in the temple and painted three Qing statues inside.".

In 1076, it was rebuilt on the original site and named "Jade Emperor Palace". Most of the temples collapsed in the seventh year of Jin Tai He (1207), and local people raised money to repair them. During the reign of Jin Zhen you (1214-1216), some of them were destroyed by fire.

It was rebuilt in the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (1335) and repaired repeatedly in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The main existing buildings are Yuhuang hall built in Song Dynasty, Tangdi hall built in Jin Dynasty, left and right stacking hall in backyard and East and West matching veranda built in Yuan Dynasty, the rest built in Ming and Qing Dynasty.

Scale system

Yuhuang temple is located on the North Hill of Fucheng village, Zezhou County, 13 kilometers northeast of Jincheng city. It faces south. The layout of the temple is a three entrance courtyard. The plane layout is rectangular. It is 110 meters long from north to South and 32 meters wide from east to west. There are 110 halls and pavilions, covering an area of 3520 square meters. It is a large-scale ancient building complex.

From south to north, there are toudaoshanmen, Yimen, Chengtang hall, Xianting, Yuhuang hall, dongxipeidian hall, two verandahs and twenty eight nights hall, twelve Chen hall, thirteen Yaoxing hall, Guandi hall, canshen hall, wing room and the second floor of Bell and drum. The buildings are arranged in rows.

Architectural style: the first mountain gate, the second Mountain Gate, the pavilion for gods and the Jade Emperor hall are built on a central axis. In front of the gate of toudao mountain, there are two stele corridors in the East and the west, which preserve the historical data of the temple. Entering the mountain gate is the front yard. There is no main hall in the front yard. There are two mountain gates in the middle. In the East and West verandas, the worship of Wenchang, Fengbo, Yushi and other gods has long been destroyed. The shape of the mountain gate is single eaves hanging on the top of the mountain, decorated with glass, and the glass peacock orchid components on the top of the bell and Drum Tower add luster to each other, which is very bright. The pavilion has a single eaves on the top of the mountain, a dragon head trunk appears in the bucket arch, and a side corner rises.

Wooden pavilion

The second Mountain Gate is the central courtyard. The main hall of the central courtyard is Xianxiang hall, also known as Chengtang hall. The hall of gods is located in the middle of the central courtyard, with three wooden pavilions, six rafters in depth and one eaves hanging on the top of the mountain. It is quaint and simple, and has Chengtang statue. And there are three wooden lofts. Dongpiandian is the Dongyue hall, which is dedicated to the great emperor of Dongyue, Huang Feihu and his wife Jia, as well as his son Huang Tianhua and his generals Huang Ming, Zhou Ji, long Huan and Wu Qian. Xipian hall is the three kings hall, worshiping Niuwang, Mazu, tianqianzong, which is very strange.. On the East and west sides are the hall of the king of medicine, Wudao hall and gaomou ancestral hall, in which the king of medicine, Wudao general and Wenwang couple are molded.

In the South Hall, there is the Bodhisattva Hall of Tibet in the west, with ten halls of Yan Jun in it; in the East, there is the hall of six plagues, with six plagues statues in it.

The main hall in the backyard is the Jade Emperor hall, with a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain, three rooms wide, six rafters deep, plate doors and straight lattice windows. The angle under the windowsill is terrazzo, with relief of flowers and birds. The eaves column is based on a basin covered lotus, and the column is made of logs with rolling brake on it. The side corner rises, and the bucket arch is made of zhenang four pavilions. The whole building has strict structure, beautiful shape and fine carving. The strong structure of beams, columns, brackets, doors, windows and walls, and the relief brick inlaid on the altar still retain the architectural style of song and Jin Dynasties.

In the main hall, there are Jade Emperor and star king. The left and right side halls are the statues of three walls and four saints. There are statues of Jiuyao star, liutaiwei, 12chen and 28su in the East and west corridor.

Main attractions

Sculpture

The colorful sculptures of song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties collected in the Yuhuang temple are of extraordinary ornamental and cultural value.

In particular, the colored clay sculpture in the 28su hall represents the highest achievement of ancient Chinese sculpture art. It not only has a significant impact on the ancient sculpture after the Yuan Dynasty, but also has great significance for the research and development of today's sculpture art.

Among them, more than 260 clay sculptures of Taoist gods formed their own system, artistically showing the system of Chinese Taoist gods. In particular, the two hundred and eighty-six clay sculptures, among the remains of ancient statues that have been found all over the country, are still unique, reflecting the track of the confluence of Chinese and Western sculpture art. It is a unique and wonderful treasure house of Taoist art, with high historical and aesthetic value.

The past

Dongduo hall is Sanyuan hall, which is commonly called Sanyuan hall and worships Sanyuan God.

Sanyuan, also known as Sanguan, is Tianguan, diguan and Shuiguan, which are the three most important gods respected by Tianshi Taoism in the late Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties. The statues in the hall are works of the Song Dynasty, but they have lost their original appearance after being repainted for generations. Xiduo hall is the Four Saints hall, worshiping Tianpeng, Tianyou, Heisha and Zhenwu. The four saints were the four generals of the great emperor Ziwei in the Arctic. They were highly valued and advocated by the emperor in the Song Dynasty, and had a prominent position among the Taoist gods. The statues were rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. The upper three rooms of the East veranda in the backyard are the hall of thirteen stars, worshiping the thirteen stars. The statue is a work of the Ming Dynasty, in which Venus and mercury are the images of young women. Mercury is graceful and quiet, while Venus holds Pipa and looks depressed. In the middle of the East veranda, there are three Guandi halls, which are dedicated to Guansheng emperor; in the lower five rooms, there are many statues, most of which are works of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The upper three rooms in the west of the backyard are the twelve Chen hall, which is dedicated to the twelve yuan Chen Zhenjun, namely, the gods of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, you, Shu and Hai. On the crown of each statue, there are figures, with rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs as marks. This group of statues is a work of Yuan Dynasty.

The origin of the name

The eight rooms under the West veranda are the 28 bed hall,

Worship 28 stars. Twenty eight constellations were originally 28 groups of equatorial constellations used in ancient Chinese astronomy to observe the longitude and latitude of celestial bodies and the movement of four seasons. Yuan Tiangang, a five element expert in the early Tang Dynasty, linked twenty-eight constellations with 28 kinds of animals, and put sun, moon, gold, wood, water, fire and earth under the names of each constellation. The names of constellations changed from one word to three words.

This is the first time in China that the statue of the twenty eight stars in the Jade Emperor Temple is a combination of human and animal images.

This image alone is of great significance to the study of Taoist deity worship. Its artistic value is more important.

The essence of the temple is over 260 statues of painted statues preserved in the 14 temples of the whole temple. From the Jade Emperor, Putian Xingjun, to Sanyuan, Sisheng, Jiuyao and shierchen, there are fengboyu, zhongsang, yangchan, Wenzhen and Wudao, as well as Gaoyao, Mashen, Niuwang and Liuwen. They almost gather together people, ghosts, gods and immortals. In addition to a large number of Taoist colored sculptures, there are also a large number of decorative brick carvings, stone carvings, steles and glazed components in the temple. The rich Taoist statues and exquisite sculpture techniques are rare in China, which is a valuable heritage for the study of Taoist history and sculpture art.

In the art world of the Yuhuang temple, the most successful one is the twenty-eight clay statues carved by Liu Luan, an artist of the Yuan Dynasty. Relying on his rich imagination and intelligence, the author for the first time integrates 28 groups of equatorial constellations in astronomy, which observe the movement of celestial bodies, the change of four seasons, and the location of longitude and latitude, with 21 kinds of animals identified by Yuan Tiangang, the five elements of Tang Dynasty, together with gold, wood, water, fire, earth, sun and moon, creating various kinds of gods, such as "virtual sun rat", "room sun rabbit", "water worm" and "Kang Jin Long" On the characters.

In these personified celestial spirits, the old man's kindness, women's dignity, civil servants' steadiness and warrior's power are vividly depicted. In addition, the great movement of the statue itself and the flying elegance of the colorful ribbons not only fully show the appearance characteristics of the immortals, but also make the whole hall produce a magnificent artistic effect.

The 28 night painted sculpture is an excellent example of the perfect combination of realism and Romanticism in ancient Chinese sculpture art, and it is also unique in the country.

Inscriptions

The song and Jin colored sculptures preserved in the Jade Emperor hall also have high artistic value. According to the inscriptions, there are 118 statues of the original size in the hall, of which more than 50 have been preserved, including the Jade Emperor, Zaifu, Chenwei, maid and so on. Most of them are works of song and Jin Dynasties.

The maid's headdress, hair bun and dress are different. The shape is simple and refined. The texture of the dress is natural and close to the body. Her face is beautiful, gentle and elegant, and her expression is obedient and respectful.

The main statue in the middle of the main hall is the Jade Emperor. It is painted with gold body. It sits upright and looks serious. It is the incarnation of the emperor in the world.

On both sides, except for a few Zaifu and Chenwei, the rest were maids

Chinese PinYin : Yu Huang Miao