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Beiyue Temple
The Beiyue Temple is located in the west of Quyang
County, Hebei Province. In the Beiyue Temple, which is originally named the
Beiyue Zhenjun Temple, the emperors of every dynasty feted the god of Hengshan
Mountain -- the Northern Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains in China. In the
Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD), Emperor Wudi, whose name was Liu Che, went in
for sacrificing to the Gods of Five Sacred Mountains. In 98BC, Emperor Wudi
sacrificed to the God of the Northern Mountain in Quyang. However, the Beiyue
Temple was not built until the reign of Emperor Xuanwudi (500-512) in the
Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). After the temple was built, the ritual was also
practiced in the following dynasties. Its scale had been enlarged after many
times of reconstruction. The temple fell into disuse in 1660 during the reign of
Emperor Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when the sacrificing place for
the god was moved to Hunyuan, Shanxi Province.
The Beiyue Temple occupies 170,000 square meters and its construction
area is 5,400 square meters. Now some of the buildings have been destroyed, but
the overall layout of the buildings has been preserved. The main buildings are
arranged along the axis, such as the Yuxiang Pavilion, the Lingxiao Gate, the
Temple Gate, the site of the Feishi Hall, the Deningzhi Hall, the Hanqi Stele
Building and the Hongwu Stele Building, etc. The principal building in the
temple is the Deningzhi Hall, which 9 bays in length, 3 bays in depth and 30
meters in height. It has a double-eave roof covered with green glazed tiles. The
grand hall was built on a hathpace, whose pedestal is surrounded by white stone
balusters. The dougong (a system of brackets in Chinese building), beams and
lintels keep the architectural style of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). This hall
holds a significant position in the history of architecture. On the eastern and
western walls, there are large frescos, which measure 18 meters long and 8
meters high. The characters in the frescos are as high as 3 meters, with vivid
countenance and different postures. The image of flying Aspara on the western
wall is regarded as a magical work. It is a strong and vigorous figure with
ferocious facial expression and winding full beard. He is plying clouds and mist
while bearing a halberd and wielding a spear. It is said that the fresco was
painted by famous painter Wu Daozi in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). But
afterwards, it was proved to be a work of people of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368)
who followed the Tang Dynasty painting techniques.
In the temple stands a forest of 137 steles and tablets from the Northern
Wei Dynasty (386-534) to the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). Among
them, Kang Youwei regarded The Daweiwang Fujun Tablet, compiled into
his Xuyizhou Shuangji, as a superb works. The Hanqi Tablet from the
Song Dynasty (960-1279) is honored as one of the three tablet masterpieces.
Besides, there are some tablets of extremely high calligraphic value, such as
the Zhao Mengzhao Tablet and the Zhu Yuanzhang Tablet, etc.
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