Datong longbi

Datong longbi

Datong is known as the city of dragon wall. There are four Dragon walls, one three dragon wall, three five dragon walls and one nine dragon wall.

An overview of Datong longbi

Datong is known as the city of longbi, so far there are nine longbi. Among them, there are four Dragon walls, one three dragon wall, three five dragon walls and one nine dragon wall (according to legend, there was a seven dragon glazed wall in Datong, but it has not existed for a long time. These colorful glazed dragon walls, yellow, green, blue, purple, black and white, have the same modeling style but different from each other. They are made with superb craftsmanship and extraordinary atmosphere, making the ancient city of Datong more beautiful and colorful.

Longbi is generally used as the screen wall of buildings, and is mostly built in front of the palace, palace and temple. It can not only serve as a barrier for courtyard buildings, but also set off buildings to show a more solemn and magnificent style.

Dragon, the imaginary God, originated from primitive society. At that time, people often regarded certain animals or natural objects that were related to the clan as the symbol of the clan, which was called "totem". At that time, the Xia people living in the Central Plains took the dragon as their totem. When the ancient people created the image of the dragon, they gathered together the strength and fitness of animals in the world, so the image of the Dragon came into being. Therefore, the Dragon includes the unique features of snake body, camel head, antler, rabbit eye, tiger mouth, eagle claw, horse mane, fish scale, carp whisker and so on, and becomes a strange comprehensive image of many animals. For thousands of years, dragon has become the symbol of the founding of the Chinese nation, as well as the symbol of the long history, splendid culture and ancient civilization of the Chinese nation. The Chinese nation has always been proud of "the descendants of the dragon".

In the feudal times of China, the dragon, the animal imagined by ancient people, was further endowed with mysterious color and peculiar function, so that it became the symbol of the emperor, that is, the so-called "real dragon emperor". People also often use the "Nine Five" to praise the throne. "Yi · Qian" said: "nine five flying dragon in the sky." It means that "the sage first creates the image of all things", so emperors of all dynasties like to decorate their utensils, costumes and utensils with dragons, such as seals, banners, ceremonial guards, imperial chariots, painted pillars and carved beams, and even utensils and toys, to show that they are ordered by heaven and govern on behalf of heaven.

In Buddhist classics, the dragon is one of the eight members of the Heavenly Dragon. It has divine power and can protect the Dharma, so it becomes the Dharma God of Buddhism. Therefore, in front of the Mountain Gate of the temple, the dragon pattern is often used to inlay the screen wall.

According to the statistics, there are several dragon walls except Shanxi Changzhi, Town God's Temple, Yangcheng Guan Yu Temple, Pingyao Taizi temple, Pinglu Town, well Ping town. In particular, regardless of its architectural scale or artistic value, or its long history, Datong nine dragon wall is the top dragon wall in China, and can be regarded as a national treasure.

Longbi of county Confucian Temple

There are four Dragon walls in Datong, two of which are divided into two groups and stand on both sides of the Confucian temple in Datong County in Ming Dynasty according to the shape of eight characters. The dragon wall is the only existing dragon wall in Datong. From the perspective of sculpture style, this wall should be a relic of the Qing Dynasty.

The four Dragon walls are all single-sided, and the yellow glazed dragon pattern is inlaid in the center of the brick wall.

The first pair of dragon pilasters, 2.30 meters high and 2 meters long, live on both sides of the temple gate in the north and south. They have pilasters at the bottom, a wall body in the middle and an eaves like wall top on the top. The four corners of the wall are the color cloud pattern of equilateral right triangle with side length of 0.55 meters. In the center is inlaid with a yellow glazed dragon with a diameter of about one meter. Its shape is flying in the clouds, and there is a fire bead in the shape of flying dragon playing with beads. The second pair of dragon walls, built obliquely on the East and west sides of the first pair, is 3.15 meters long and 2.3 meters high. The building structure is the same as the first pair of dragon walls. The four corners of the two dragon walls are symmetrical yellow glazed dragon right triangle patterns. The bottom of the pattern is 1.55 meters long, and the other side is 0.90 meters long. Each faucet is stuck on the top and the tail is placed on the bottom, with the head and tail facing the center. The central tuanlong, about 1.44 meters in diameter, is a pale yellow glazed dragon. The exquisite carving of the dragon's head is high above, and the eyes look down, as if gazing at the pedestrians, like a dragon playing with pearls.

The structure and sculpture of the four Dragon walls are more formal and regular than those of the Ming Dynasty. Regular and symmetrical patterns appeared in the four corners, which was not found in the dragon wall of Ming Dynasty. Compared with the strong and powerful Dragon carving in the Ming Dynasty, the Dragon carving has become thinner and less vigorous. However, the detailed carving of dragon body is more delicate and elegant, slender and slim than that of Ming Dynasty. In particular, the carving of the dragon's head is more and more delicate and complicated.

In addition, in front of the gate of Xingguo temple, there were two "eight" shaped brick inlaid glass walls built in the Ming Dynasty. The wall is a common brick wall with eaves, about 3 meters high. In the middle of the wall is a yellow glazed dragon with a diameter of 1.5 meters. The whole dragon is strong and strong, vigorous and vigorous in shape. It is like flying in the blue sky and water. It's a pity that it doesn't exist now.

Three dragon walls of Guanyin Hall

The Sanlong Zhaobi in front of Guanyintang Mountain Gate, which was built in Liao Dynasty, is a relic of Ming Dynasty. This wall is the only double-sided glazed dragon wall in Datong City. The wall is 12 meters long, 6 meters high and 1.2 meters thick. The wall seat is based on the blue stone decorated with decorative patterns, and the xumizuo is built on the base. There are three layers of glass beasts in the waist between the seats. The lower layer is the picture of two lions competing with each other. The middle layer is the picture of galloping horse and Qilin, and there is a black glass flower pattern about 1 meter long in the middle of this layer. The upper layer is the picture of walking dragon in the shape of two dragons playing with pearls. Each layer is separated by bamboo pillars. Around the top of the dragon wall, there are 40 groups of glass brackets with wood like structure, supporting the five ridge glazed tile roof, ridge beast and dragon kiss, with beautiful shape and gorgeous color.

On both sides of the wall, there are three yellow glass dragons with a height of three meters. They are invited to swim in the blue sky and the green waves. The three dragons in the north of longbi are inlaid with fire beads, while the three dragons in the south are not. The central dragon on both sides of the north and the south, with its head in the shape of a row dragon, and the dragon heads on both sides in the shape of a flying dragon.

This double-sided dragon wall has been preserved completely, with gorgeous color and rough and free shaping technique. The shape of each dragon is vivid and open-minded, the posture is bold and powerful, the body shape changes freely, and the lines are beautiful and moving. From the layout of the dragons, there are some changes in the symmetry. They take care of each other from the front to the back, from the left to the right. Their superb skills make the dragon have the charm of taking off. It seems that the shape of the dragon is still and moving. It's like swimming in the clear sky and blue waves.

Five dragon wall of Xingguo Temple

The wulongbi of Xingguo temple was originally the Zhaobi in front of the Mountain Gate of Xingguo temple in the south of Datong City. It was demolished in Shanhua temple in 1980. The wall is 19.9 meters long, 7 meters high and 1.48 meters thick. The wall is inlaid with multicolored glass, and xumizuo is built under it. There are more than ten kinds of animals carved on the waist of xumizuo, such as snake, rabbit, ox, horse and so on. The top of the wall is in the form of wooden house, inlaid with eaves, brackets, tile ridges, lotus columns, and animals. Five golden dragons with four claws are carved on the broad wall, circling and rolling up and down, with gorgeous color. The beautiful shape, fine carving and profound artistic conception of these dragon sculptures are comparable to those of the nine dragon walls in the palace of Datong in the Ming Dynasty.

Attachment: Five Dragon Wall of Tianzhu Temple

It was built in the late Ming Dynasty. It is also a wall with five colored glaze and five dragons. Its style is similar to the five dragon wall of Xingguo temple. Due to the risk of collapse, it was demolished in 1978. The original is now in Shanhua temple.

Wulongbi of county Confucian Temple

This is the only brick dragon wall among the existing dragon walls in Datong. From the perspective of sculpture style, it is a relic of the Qing Dynasty. It stands in the back street of the big wall, the former Confucian Temple of Datong County in the Ming Dynasty (now the south side of the Road 40 meters west of Kuixing building in Datong City).

This dragon wall building is unique in structure. The dragon wall is a single-sided brick carving, 28.5 meters long and 5.7 meters high. The whole dragon wall is composed of three parts: wall seat, wall body and wall top. The wall in the middle is made of square blue bricks, on which are five brick dragons in high relief, with a diameter of 2.20 meters each. The top of the wall is a single eaves five ridge top with imitation wood structure, and the two ends of the main ridge are lined with glass beast kisses. This project is supported by 25 groups of brick carving brackets. Under the brackets is a 0.4-meter-wide eaves like brick curtain hanging above the dragon wall. The whole curtain is divided into five main rooms and two ear rooms by eight drooping pillars. The upper part of the curtain between the drooping pillars is carved with grapes, lotus, figures and so on. In the center of the five tuanlong, a huge dragon head is facing the gate of the former county Confucian temple. There is a huge fire bead in the center of the tuanlong. The whole body of the dragon appears and disappears in the clouds and waves, and its sharp claws protrude out of the wall. The dragon heads of the first pair of tuanlongs counting from the center to the outside are set to the west, and the Dragon tails are rolled to the center, all in the shape of beads. From the shape, this is a pair of flying dragons flying in the air. The heads of the second pair of tuanlong were toward the center, and they also took off. The four dragons all opened their mouths and glared, as if they were swallowing clouds and puffing mist.

In addition, there are two huge brick murals on the eight character wall with two separate ends of the dragon wall. The two murals are 2.2 meters wide and 2.5 meters high.

On the west side of the brick mural is a picture of fish leaping over the dragon's gate. In the picture, between the towering and abrupt mountains, there is a dragon's gate standing high into the clouds, in which the torrents are surging. A carp in the turbulent torrent against the water, high

Chinese PinYin : Da Tong Long Bi