Solemn Temple

Solemn Temple

The solemn temple is located in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province, on the west side of the drum tower in the old city center of Chengguan District, Lanzhou city. It was built in 1301 ad (the fifth year of Dade of the Yuan Dynasty). It is said that the tomb of King Puyang is under the God seat of the later hall. In 1783 (the 48th year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty), Zhang Tinghui, a native of Donghe village, collected goods to repair the two halls before and after, and wrote "dezunsanwei" in Bi Dachun.

Basic introduction

The former building complex of the solemn temple has a large scale and rigorous layout. It consists of four groups of buildings, including the gate, the court room, the hall, the main hall, the back hall, the East and west side hall, the wing room, the bell and Drum Tower, and the cross courtyard. It is a precious cultural heritage of Lanzhou. According to the literature, the yuan, Ming and other dynasties repaired many times, so it became a "vast Temple", a magnificent temple. Solemnity temple is famous for its "three unique skills" of sculpture, calligraphy and painting. Sculpture refers to the Buddhist statues in the temple. The statues of the Buddha in the main hall are well proportioned and vivid, and their clothing patterns are delicate and lifelike. They are really excellent works with high aesthetic value. Writing Jue refers to the temple forehead of "chidazhuang Yanchan courtyard" hanging at the mountain gate. It is written by Li Puguang from the emperor Shizu to the Yuan Dynasty. The strokes are strong and strong, heavy and calm. It is close to Yan Lugong. The painting Jue refers to the portrait of Guanyin on the back wall of the central hall. It is dignified and beautiful. It is dressed in white, just like a gauze, with a clear bottle of willow branches and a fresh green color. The front part of the left and right walls of the central hall is painted with eighteen Arhats murals with different expressions and vivid expressions; the latter part is a mural of Buddhist stories, which depicts Buddha and Bodhisattva vividly, and the landscape and temple are very exquisite.

geographical position

The solemn temple is on the west side of the drum tower in the old city center of Chengguan District, Lanzhou city. Built in the Tang Dynasty, it is said that it was the former residence of Xue Ju, the commander of Jincheng school in the late Sui Dynasty. After the founding of the people's Republic of China, it was set up as a tourist site.

Related records

Tan Sitong once wrote a poem "solemn temple in Lanzhou", which is now excerpted as follows: visiting monks go to the lonely temple, and the moss is deep along the way. Cold chime autumn flowers fall, dust broken paper chant. The pool is bright and clear, and the pines are green. In ancient times, the forest is full of Xiaoya. As the only existing Ming Dynasty building in Lanzhou, after more than 600 years of wind, rain and rain, the solemn temple now stands silently at the foot of Nanshan, overlooking the city where we live.

Murals in the temple

Dunhuang Research Institute concluded that the murals found in the process of Surveying and mapping in the solemn temple were probably the Ming Dynasty temple murals rarely seen in Lanzhou area. They adopted the scheme of "stripping in blocks, returning and restoring" to protect the murals in other places. Before the restoration, the experts stitched the pieces one by one according to the stitching marks and the contents of all the cut parts on the mural, until the so-called "perfect fit" was achieved, so that each cut part on the picture could be accurately and comfortably completely anastomosed. Then, using advanced technology, we repaired the Qijia mural and the crispy alkali mural, filled the cutting seam of the fallen mural, and made up the color for the old treatment. Today's murals of the solemn temple, due to the improvement of the overall effect after restoration, make the newly filled mud layer consistent with the original murals in basic colors, rich in mural content and exquisite painting, which is a typical architectural and painting style of the times.

Temple protection

In order to ensure that the temple is "as old as before", in November 1995, experts and engineering technicians from the municipal landscape design institute and the municipal landscape construction engineering company stationed in Lanzhou daily commune. They carried out physical mapping, sampling, photographing and video recording on the three main halls of the former site of the temple, and came up with a specific demolition implementation plan. Workers who have participated in the demolition of the solemn Temple say that this is the most difficult demolition they have ever participated in. The sledgehammer and shovel are useless at all. Every brick and tile is removed with care, and handled with care. When removing the wooden components, the number should be marked first, and then carefully packed and transported. For the painting on the original components, the residual color lines should be preserved as far as possible to restore the original painting effect. It was not until the end of December 1996 that the demolition of the three main halls of the solemn temple was completed.

In September 1995, with the approval of the provincial government, the new site of the temple was located in erlanggang, the southwest corner of Wuquanshan park. It took 10 years to complete the reconstruction of the front, middle and back halls, built antique archways and walls, and restored the original murals.

Historical evolution

The solemn temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty. It is said that it was the former residence of Xue Ju, the commander of Jincheng school in the late Sui Dynasty. In 617, when Xue Ju became emperor in Lanzhou, he became his palace. After Xue Ju was pacified in the Tang Dynasty, it was changed into a Buddhist temple,

The three courtyards are composed of Mountain Gate, wing room, front hall, main hall and back hall. According to the literature, the yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties carried out many repairs, and there are three existing halls. It is famous for its "three wonders" of sculpture, calligraphy and painting. The statue of Buddha in the main hall is well proportioned and vivid, with delicate and lifelike clothing patterns. The six characters "chidazhuang Yanchan yuan" on the plaque of the original mountain gate were written by Li Puguang, a famous calligrapher of the Yuan Dynasty, with strong font. The mural of Guanyin on the back wall of the main hall is dignified and beautiful, with white clothes, like gauze, clear bottles and willow branches, and fresh green color.

In October 1925, Liu Yufen, who was then governor of Gansu Province, assisted Feng Yuxiang, commander of the second division of the first army of the National People's army, and acted as an agent to supervise the aftermath of Gansu military affairs, carried out the New Deal: destroying the tree temple, keeping enough space, keeping the environment clean, repairing the roads of Lanzhou, transforming the solemn Temple of Lanzhou into a public education center, arranging national humiliation maps on the Drum Tower of Lanzhou, and carrying out patriotic education.

Historical materials of temples

The solemn temple is located in the west side of the drum tower in Chengguan District, Lanzhou City, which is where today's Lanzhou evening news and Lanzhou daily are located. Its predecessor is the palace of Xue Ju, the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty in the late Sui Dynasty.

According to the biography of Xue Ju in the book of the new Tang Dynasty, Xue Ju was born in Lanzhou, Jincheng, and his father's name was Xue Wang. Xue was a big family in Lanzhou in the Sui Dynasty. Xue Ju had great courage since childhood. When he grew up, he was big, strong, powerful, and good at shooting. He had excellent martial arts skills and "had a huge family fortune". He was good at making friends with heroes and became the leader of the frontier fortress. He was very famous in the local area and was elected as the captain of Jincheng school.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the rulers levied exorbitant taxes, and the common people suffered so much that they finally aroused the peasant uprising all over China, and the people in the counties around Jincheng also rose up against the Sui Dynasty. In 617, Hao Yuan, the magistrate of Jincheng County, recruited thousands of people and ordered Wei Xueju to lead him to pacify the anti Sui starving people. Xue Ju took advantage of the opportunity of a ceremony to confer a title to the emperor. He kidnapped Hao Yuan with his son Xue rengao and 13 of his accomplices, imprisoned other officials in the county, and took advantage of the situation to fight against the Sui Dynasty. He called himself the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty and established the capital of Jincheng. Rengao, the eldest son, was appointed Duke of Qi, and Renyue, the second son, was appointed Duke of Jin. Opening warehouses to release grain and providing relief to the victims have won the support of the people.

Another anti Sui separatist force, Zong Luoxuan, led the people to the meeting and was granted the title of yixinggong. At the same time, many people were also granted the title. After Xue Ju established a separate regime in Jincheng, he captured the army and horses, gathered the anti Sui forces and expanded the army. His troops were very sharp and all the attacks were conquered. In a short time, he occupied the land of Longxi (today's Liupanshan, west of Longshan and east of the Yellow River). In July of the 13th year of Daye (617), Xue Ju was officially called emperor. He established Qin Xing in the Yuan Dynasty, with his wife Ju as Queen and Zi rengao as crown prince. His capital was built in Jincheng, and the Xue family's house, which is now the location of Lanzhou Evening News, was rebuilt and expanded into a palace. The ancestral temple was built on hualinping in the southwest of the city, so later generations also called hualinping xuewangping.

After Xue Ju became emperor, he continued to develop his own power. After conquering Tianshui, he moved his capital to Tianshui. In December, he sent rengao to annex the peasant armed Tang Bi's army of 100000. The army became more and more powerful and was known as 300000. So he planned to move eastward to fight for Guanzhong and seize the world.

At the same time, Li Yuan, who was left behind in Taiyuan, fought against the Sui Dynasty and soon occupied Chang'an. After Li Yuan entered Chang'an, he abolished the strict and cruel laws of Sui Dynasty according to the twelve rules of the covenant, and was quickly attached by the people in Guanzhong. In 618 A.D., Li Yuan became emperor in Chang'an, and changed his name to Tang Dynasty and his year name to Wude.

In June of 618, the first year of Wude in Tang Dynasty, Xue Ju led troops to attack Jingzhou (lingjingchuan county), intending to capture Chang'an. Xue Ju went to Gaolong city (now northeast of Jingchuan County in Gansu Province), and there was a commotion in Chang'an. At this time, Li Mi and Wang Shichong, east of Tongguan, were stuck in the eastern capital. Li Yuan thought that the Western Qin Dynasty was a serious problem of the Tang Dynasty, so he appointed Li Shimin, king of Qin, as marshal of the western region, to lead the eighth general army to Gaozhi. The armies of the two sides gathered near Gaolong City, which is now between Jingzhou and Changwu. Li Shimin put the main force in Changwu and Binxian, controlled the strategic channel and waited for the opportunity to fight back. Li Shimin estimated that the Qin army was short of grain, so he ordered the Tang army not to fight with him, and to attack when the Qin army had no grain to retreat. But at this time, Li Shimin fell ill and commissioned the military to Liu Wenjing and Sima Yin. He also warned them that "Xue Ju went deep into the army alone, and the soldiers were tired. If you come to challenge him, don't pay attention to him. When I get well, I will attack him again." Yan Kaishan was not satisfied and said to Liu Wenjing, "the king of Qin is worried that you can't do it, so he said this. When the bandits know that the king of Qin is ill, they must despise us and show off their power to them. " So Yin and Liu, relying on their large number of troops, disobeyed Li Shimin's instructions and rushed out to the shallow water in the southwest of Changwu county.

Li Shimin learned from his illness and wrote to stop it. But it was too late. Xue Ju had led his division to attack the Tang army. The Tang army was defeated, and most of the dead and wounded were captured. Many generals who followed Li Shimin were killed. Li Shimin had to lead his troops back to Chang'an to rest. Xue Ju captured Gao

Chinese PinYin : Zhuang Yan Si