Yuji Palace

Yuji Palace

Yuji Palace (Yuwang Palace), located in yugongji, the eastern foot of turtle in Hanyang, is the place where the great Yu was worshipped in the past dynasties in Wuhan. It is also a famous historical and cultural building in Wuhan.

In March 2013, Yuji palace was added to the list of the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units published by the State Council.

historical origin

The "Yuwang Temple" built in the Southern Song Dynasty is familiar to Dayu and the Chinese people, and is recognized as the originator of water conservancy. In 210 BC, the first emperor of Qin "went to Kuaiji to offer sacrifices to Dayu, sat in the South China Sea, and set up stone inscriptions to praise the virtues of Qin Dynasty", which was the first initiative of the emperor's personal sacrifice. After that, the activities of offering sacrifices to Dayu by the government and the people of successive dynasties have lasted for a long time.

According to the general annals of the world by Jingtai of Ming Dynasty, the original Yuwang Temple "was built at the foot of Dabie Mountain (namely Guishan mountain) and between Shaoxi of Song Dynasty (1190-1194). Zhang Tiren, the Minister of agriculture, built a temple to worship Dayu, and matched it with Yiji.". Hu Fengdan of the Qing Dynasty said in the annals of the Dabie mountains that during the period of Shaoxing (1131-1162) in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhang Tiren, the Minister of agriculture, supervised the construction of the Yuwang temple in the Dabie Mountains.

In the two versions, although the time of building Yuwang temple is decades apart, they were built in the Southern Song Dynasty, more than 800 years ago.

Ancient and modern status

During the reign of emperor Qi (1621-1627), Yuwang temple was changed into Yuji palace. On the basis of the original sacrifice to Dayu, 18 legendary sages, such as Houji, bayuan and Bakai, were also sacrificed. In the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Zhang Yuanfang, the right counsellor of Huguang's political envoy, wrote a tablet for Yuji's palace. The name of Yuji's palace has been inherited since then.

In 1864, Yuji palace was rebuilt again, which was made of brick and wood with strong local style and exquisite folk crafts. This "Palace" consists of the main hall, front hall, left and right veranda, patio, etc., covering an area of 380 square meters. After more than a hundred years of wind and rain and years of disrepair, by the early 1980s, the cultural relics in the "Palace" were completely lost, the roof was leaking, the wood was boring, the beams were decaying, and the walls were tilted.

Renovation period

From 1983 to 1984, according to the principle of "maintaining the status quo and restoring the original state", the cultural relics administration department of Wuhan overhauled Yuji palace. After careful repair, Yuji palace was painted with red lacquer, carved beams and painted buildings, and antique. In the center of the hall, there is a statue of Dayu made of glass fiber reinforced plastics, backed by the painting of Yu trace, on which is hung a huge plaque of "depeitiandi", and also displays various materials commemorating Dayu's flood control. On both sides of the porch of the main hall are iron oxen and sacrificial bells, and an iron tripod is set in the patio. On the top of the porch is a plaque written by a modern calligrapher, Mr. Sha Menghai, with couplets written by Liu Haisu, a master of calligraphy and painting, inscribed on the pillars: passing through the door three times, idling away xinrenguijia; eight years away, Pingcheng River, Hanjiang River and Huaihe River.

The newly renovated Yuji palace is one of the few representative Qing Dynasty wooden buildings in Wuhan, covering an area of 380 square meters. It is composed of the main hall, front hall, left and right veranda, patio and so on.

Layout structure

The facade is brick archway type (four columns, three floors and three doors) wall, and the other three sides are half built wind wall with green brick. The main hall is a hardtop hall. The front eaves of the facade are decorated with Ruyi semi arch and support the eaves. The two ends of the main ridge rise a lot, but the roof is not broken. Both sides of the patio are of gallery type, with single slope roof. The roof of the palace is covered with green tiles, and the eaves and ridges are decorated with gutters, dripping water, ridge kisses, sitting animals, etc.

On the sill under the windows on both sides of the main hall door of Yuji palace, there is a huge bead pattern in the middle, with a dragon head on the left and right facing each other, with bats on the top and double coins on the bottom. It's also a horizontal view of erlongxizhu, looking at both happiness and longevity. However, the "longevity" here is not a deformed font, but a crane (symbolizing longevity) in the huge round bead. In addition to the crane, the Pearl also carved a deer and a plum blossom and a Wutong branch. In the middle of the main hall is a red sun. There is a phoenix standing opposite each other on both sides, swinging its long tail and dancing to the sun. This is called "double phoenix rising sun".

Cultural relics protection

In March 2013, Yuji palace was added to the list of the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units published by the State Council.

Main attractions

Chuboting: it was built in Ming Dynasty to commemorate Dayu's flood control. Rebuilt in 1986, it is a fan-shaped warm Pavilion.

Jingchu Xiongfeng stele: This stele was inscribed in the 35th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1770 AD) and was written by LI BA, the observation envoy of Jingnan. The inscription means to praise the people of Jingchu for their indomitable fighting spirit against the floods.

Chaozongting: it is said that Dayu succeeded in controlling the flood here. In Shangshu Yugong, there is a saying that Dayu controlled the water and "the river and the Han Dynasty were in the sea". Couplets on "chaozongting": the mountains divide the rain of wuxia in the West; the river flows to the East and presses the tide of Haimen.

It is said that the origin of the pavilion is that Dayu succeeded in harnessing the water here, so there is a saying in Shangshu · Yugong that Dayu controlled the water "the river and the Han Dynasty lived in the sea". This pair of couplets is really good, magnificent and powerful. At that time, after wandering around the park, the couplet on the eaves column of Yuji palace that "three passes through its gate, idling away xinrenguijia; eight years outside, Pingcheng River, Hanjiang River and Huaihe River" has been forgotten, but this couplet has been engraved in my mind.

Stone carving Memorial

It is said that after Dayu's successful flood control, he carved stones to commemorate it. The inscription is 77 characters, which is strange and difficult to read. It means Yu controlled the flood and made the people live and work in peace and contentment. The Yu stele to the east of the pavilion was carved in 1770.

It is said that Dayu's flood control "achieved great success in carving stone into Hengshan Mountain". This stone carving is called "Yu stele" by later generations. Because it was originally carved in Hengshan, Hunan Province, it is also called "Lou stele".

In Tang Dynasty, there was a legend about Yu stele, and Han Yu, a great writer at that time, wrote poems about it. However, many people have never seen this monument in Hengshan. It was not until the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty that this stele was found and copied in Kuimen of the Three Gorges and Yuelu Academy of Changsha. There are 77 characters on the stele of Yu, which are strange and difficult to recognize. Some people think it is "tadpole script", some people think it is "bird and insect seal script", and others judge it as "seal script". There are many people who want to recognize it, but they can't understand its meaning.

Although there are different interpretations, they all think that the main idea of the inscription is: Yu was ordered by Shun, and the Jedi worked hard to control the flood, so that the people could live and work in peace and contentment. Since then, Yu's stele has been well-known all over the world, and it has been engraved in famous mountains all over the country, beside the river. The Yu stele in Qingchuan Pavilion is the famous Qing Dynasty scholar Mao Huijian, who has been engraved in Hengshan after many hardships, and later in Xi'an stele forest.

This is a copy from the forest of Steles in Xi'an. After a hundred twists and turns, it can be presented here.

Folklore

The relics of the Ming Dynasty are carved from a single piece of white marble. It was broken when it was unearthed in 1983 and has been restored to its present condition. Perhaps you have seen many similar steles all over the country, but this one we see now is closely related to Dayu's flood control. In ancient mythology, the Dragon gave birth to nine sons. This one, which looks like a turtle, is also one of the dragons. Its name is Mian.

It is said that he was very heavy-duty, carrying three mountains and five mountains to make waves everywhere. After Dayu subdued him, he helped him to control the flood and made great contributions. In order to praise his achievements, Dayu made him roam the land of China with this wordless monument on his back. Let's think about it. Why didn't Yu write a word on the tablet when he praised his achievements? The reason why he didn't write a word on the tablet was to show that he had made outstanding achievements. Let's tell you a simple way to distinguish Pang and turtle: look at its feet. The feet of the turtle are like duck's feet and have webs; while Pang's feet are like dragon's claws, and the five fingers are separated.

Address: No.86, ximachang street, Hanyang District, Wuhan City

Longitude: 114.28486633301

Latitude: 30.555654525757

Tel: 027-84710440

Ticket information: free. Included in Qingchuan Pavilion scenic area, visitors must line up at the ticket office window of Qingchuan Pavilion scenic area to collect tickets (valid on that day).

Chinese PinYin : Yu Ji Hang Gong