Zhongyue Temple

Zhongyue Temple refers to Zhongyue temple in Songshan Mountain, which is the holy land of Quanzhen Taoism. It is located at the foot of Taishi mountain at the south foot of Songshan Mountain in Henan Province, 4 kilometers east of Dengfeng City in Henan Province. It is backed by huanggaifeng, facing yuhanshan mountain, facing Chaoling mountain in the west, muzigang mountain in the East, surrounded by mountains, with careful layout, grand scale, red walls and yellow tiles, resplendent.

Zhongyue temple is the top of Zhongzhou ancestral temple. It is also the largest and well preserved ancient architectural complex among the five mountains. It is also the largest and most complete ancient architectural complex in Henan Province. Such a grand and elegant temple is also rare in China. It is the holy land of Taoism in Chinese civilization. In 1644, it was destroyed by fire. The existing temples are of the same scale as those rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty.

Zhongyue Temple

Zhongyue temple, located at the southern foot of Songshan Mountain in Dengfeng City, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, was built in the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC). It is a place for worshiping Taishi Mountain God, with a total area of nearly 110000 square meters.

Zhongyue Temple lies on the back of huanggaifeng, facing Yuhan mountain, facing Chaoling in the West and muzigang in the East. Surrounded by mountains, it has a careful layout and a grand scale.

The ancestral hall, formerly known as Taishi temple, basically retains the regulations after the Qing Dynasty's reconstruction. The central axis of Zhongyue temple is 650 meters long, with a total of 7-11-story buildings. The buildings on the central axis are tall and majestic. There are 39 halls, palaces, buildings, pavilions and other buildings in the temple, with nearly 400 rooms. There are 73 ancient inscriptions in the temple, and more than 330 ancient cypresses from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. The complete architectural layout makes Zhongyue temple a huge complex with distinct primary and secondary, well arranged, compact layout and harmonious colors.

The buildings and steles in Zhongyue temple are important materials for the study of Wei calligraphy, Taoist history and religious history of Zhongyue temple.

On June 25, 2001, Zhongyue temple was announced as the fifth batch of national key cultural relics protection units by the State Council of the people's Republic of China.

On August 1, 2010, tiandizhong historical buildings including Zhongyue temple were listed as world cultural heritage.

Historical evolution

Zhongyue temple, formerly known as Taishi temple, was built in Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC) to offer sacrifices to Taishi mountain gods.

In the first year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty (110 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered the temple officials to increase their old system when he visited Songshan mountain.

In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty of the Eastern Han Dynasty (118), the "imperial palace" was added to Zhongyue temple.

During the northern and Southern Dynasties, the ancestral temple of Taishi was moved twice, and the temple was located in Yuanling and huanggaifeng of Songshan mountain.

In the Northern Wei Dynasty, after three times of migration, the site of taishici was named Zhongyue temple, which was managed by Taoism.

In the Tang Dynasty, Zhongyue temple was further developed. In the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, it was restored to its original site and expanded.

Long live Wuzhou Tongtian first year (696), when Wu Zetian ascended Songshan and became Zhongyue, she was granted Zhongyue God and changed Songyang county to Dengfeng County.

In 730, Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, imitated the story of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's Jiazeng ancestral hall, greatly renovated the Zhongyue temple and expanded the temple, thus laying the foundation for today's temple site.

At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Taizu of the Song dynasty built statues of gods with gold makeup for Zhongyue temple.

In the second year of Qiande in the Northern Song Dynasty (964), more than 100 corridors were built in Zhongyue temple.

In the sixth year of Xiangfu (1013) of the Northern Song Dynasty, more than 800 Chongsheng hall and archways were added to Zhongyue temple.

In 1176-1178, the Zhongyue temple was renovated on a large scale.

In 1228, the Zhongyue temple was renovated, and Li Zichu wrote Zhongyue temple.

At the end of Yuan Dynasty, Yuemiao Temple collapsed seriously due to the war.

In the 13th year of Chenghua (1477), the tiles of Zhongyue temple were almost destroyed, and many buildings collapsed. In May of the 18th year of Chenghua (1482), Zhongyue Temple began to rebuild its dormitory, which was completed in December of the 19th year of Chenghua (1483).

In 1644, Zhongyue temple was destroyed by fire.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Zhongyue temple was renovated many times. In 1713, Lu You, Zhongcheng, donated money to rebuild Zhongyue temple.

During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1711-1799), according to the construction method of the imperial palace of the Qing Dynasty in Beijing, Emperor Qianlong carried out a large-scale comprehensive renovation of Zhongyue temple, and set up the Department of Yi Daohui to take charge of the Taoist affairs of the whole county.

On the first day of October in 1750, Qianlong went to Zhongyue temple to offer sacrifices.

Architectural pattern

The architectural system and layout of Zhongyue temple were designed and rebuilt by Emperor Gaozong Hongli of Qing Dynasty in accordance with the form of Beijing Forbidden City. Sitting from north to south, from high to low, there are 39 existing buildings, including halls, pavilions, palaces, buildings, pavilions, platforms, etc., with nearly 400 rooms and more than 100 stone tablets, covering an area of 110000 square meters. The total length of the central axis is 650 meters.

Along the central axis of Zhongyue temple, there are Zhonghua Gate, Yaoshen Pavilion, Tianzhong Pavilion, Chongsheng gate, huasanmen, Gaowei Junji square, Junji hall, bedchamber, yushulou and other buildings, with a total of 11 courtyards.

On both sides of the central axis, there are many groups of courtyards, such as the ancient god storehouse, the four mountain hall, the East and West Corridor rooms, the Huoshen palace, the Zushi palace, and so on, which are the places where Taoists hold sacrificial ceremonies and live respectively.

Zhongyue temple is the most complete and largest Taoist temple complex among the five mountains, which basically retains the regulations after the Qing Dynasty. The complete architectural layout makes Zhongyue temple a huge complex with distinct primary and secondary, well arranged, compact layout and harmonious colors.

Main buildings

overview

The central axis of Zhongyue temple is a Daben road paved with bluestone slabs. From south to north along the central axis are Zhonghuamen, yaoshenting, tianzhongge, peitianzuozhenfang, chongshengmen, huasanmen, junjimen, junjifang, Zhongyue hall, bedchamber and yushulou. On the East and West roads of the temple, there are separate courtyards, such as taiweiguan, huoshengong, zushigong, xiaolougong, shenzhouguan and longwangdian. There are nearly 400 buildings in Ming and Qing Dynasties, more than 200 pieces of gold and stone, and more than 300 ancient cypresses from Han Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.

Zhonghuamen

Zhonghua Gate is the front door of Zhongyue temple. It was originally named "the first square of Mingshan". It is a wooden archway. In 1942, it was rebuilt into a brick and tile structure of the original veranda style archway and renamed "Zhonghua Gate". Inside and outside the gate are written "Yisong", "Daiying", "Songjun" and "Tianzhong", which briefly describes the geographical location of Zhongyue temple.

Yaocan Pavilion

Yaoshen Pavilion is an octagonal pavilion with double eaves, which is located in the north of Zhonghua Gate. It is a place where people used to visit the God of Yue in ancient times. Eaves square and sparrow carved opera story above, beautiful image.

Tianzhong Pavilion

Tianzhong pavilion was the main gate of Zhongyue temple during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its original name was Huangzhong tower. It was changed to its present name in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty (1522-1566). It has double eaves and green tiles, carved beams and painted columns, and flying eaves.

The door of Tianzhong Pavilion is tightly nailed with tiger heads and guarded by two stone lions. It is a representative work of Qing Dynasty sculpture. In the mouth of the male lion on the east side, there is a stone carving ball with a diameter of 15 cm. In the front foot of the female lion on the west side, there is a small lion. The craft is exquisite. After the stone lion, there is a high pavilion with three openings. The platform is more than 7 meters high, on which there is a double eaves Xieshan style building with five rooms wide and one room deep, covered with green glazed tiles and surrounded by parapets.

Peitianzuo Zhenfang

Zhenfang, a wooden structure with four columns and three floors, was originally called "yumiaofang". In ancient times, Zhongyue was called Earth God, which means to match heaven with earth. Fangqi three, veranda style roof, Dougong sparrow for, ornate carving. The book of "Peitian Zuozhen" is written on the forehead of the main building, and the book of "Yumiao" and "Juzhan" is written on the left and right buildings respectively.

Chongsheng gate

Chongsheng gate is the gate of the past. It got its name because Zhongyue God was once named "Zhongyue Tianzhong Chongsheng emperor". In the east of Chongsheng gate, there is an ancient god storehouse, which was founded in the Northern Song Dynasty. There are four tall iron men around the ancient god storehouse. The four iron men were cast in 1064, the first year of the reign of emperor Yingzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. They are about 3 meters high and weigh about 3 tons. They are the biggest and best preserved iron men in China. They are also the artistic representatives of the Northern Song Dynasty.

On the East and west sides of the corridor in front of Chongsheng gate are Donghuamen and xihuamen. There are two steles in each of the two gates. They are three stone steles in Song Dynasty and one stone stele in Jin Dynasty. Because the writers of the four stone steles are all the number one scholars at that time, they are called "four number one steles". Its stele system is grand, its calligraphy is elegant and vigorous. The contents of the stele were written by Wang Zeng, Lu duoxun, Luo Wenwei of Song Dynasty and Huang Jiuyue of Jin Dynasty,

The historical evolution and construction of Zhongyue temple are important historical materials for the study of Zhongyue temple.

Huasanmen

Huasanmen, named after "one Qi turns three Qing" of Taoism, is the former gate of Zhongyue temple. On the west side behind huasanmen, there is a stele pavilion with no characters. Inside the pavilion stands a stone tablet of the Qing Dynasty, on which there are only lines carved with lace and no characters, so it is called "wordless tablet". The meaning of this monument is to say that the virtue of the God of the mountain is too big to be described in words, so an empty stone is erected to commemorate it.

Junji gate

Junji gate, also known as "general gate", is the Mountain Gate of the central courtyard of Zhongyue hall because there are two general acorns on both sides of the middle gate. It was first built in the Dading reign of the Jin Dynasty, destroyed in a big fire in the Suizhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, and rebuilt in the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. The left and right sides are the East and West doors. Now the system is Xieshan house hall, with green glazed tiles, five rooms wide, six frames deep, and beams and brackets in the hall

Chinese PinYin : Zhong Yue Miao