Haicheng Guan Di Temple

Haicheng Guan Di Temple

Haicheng Guan Di Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Liaoning Province.

Haicheng Guan Di Temple

The Guan Di Temple is located in Haicheng City and is a provincial-level key cultural relics protection unit. It was first built in the 21st year of the Kangxi reign during the Qing Dynasty (1682), and later renovated with donations from Shanxi merchants who came to Haicheng, at which point it served as the Shanxi Guild Hall. The front hall features a hanging mountain-style architecture with a brick-and-wood structure. It is three bays wide and one bay deep, with a front porch and turning corners, intercalary double rising ang five-puzuo brackets, with cloud-patterned ang mouths. The column bases are shaped like blue stone drums, and between the columns and lintels are embedded carved wooden panels of dragons and phoenixes, all painted. The rear door has a small roll-roofed porch, featuring turning corners and intercalary single rising ang three-puzuo brackets, with carved floral panels between the columns and lintels. There is one hexagonal diamond-shaped small window on each side of the rear door. The main ridge is adorned with brick carvings of dragons in motion, with three “Heaven-Piercing Halberds” inserted in the middle of the ridge, and large dragon heads at both ends. The inclined ridges feature brick carvings of running beasts. The entire structure boasts a grand and unique design. On either side of the front hall are five-bay east and west wing rooms, all with flush gable roofs. The rear hall is a flush gable-roofed building, three bays wide, with a front corridor, and intercalary swallowtail wood carvings between beams, all painted. The mountain gate is a hip-and-gable roofed structure, three bays wide, with the central bay serving as the entrance. It features turning corners and intercalary single rising ang three-puzuo brackets. A plaque inscribed with “Guan Di Temple” hangs above the gate. Outside the gate stand one large and one small stone lion each. On either side of the mountain gate are the Bell Tower and Drum Tower, both with hip-and-gable roofs and built with brick and wood. They feature column-top and intercalary three-puzuo brackets, all painted. The eastern tower houses a bell, while the western tower holds a drum.

The entire complex consists of the mountain gate, bell and drum towers, front hall, rear hall, east and west wing rooms, and a stage. In front of the mountain gate stand two three-dimensional stone-carved lions that guard the entrance. The entire architectural complex covers an area of approximately 3,000 square meters.

The front hall is a hanging mountain-style structure with carved beams and painted rafters, upturned eaves and brackets, and exquisitely detailed wood carvings. Both the front columns and rear pillars rest on polished drum-shaped stone bases. There is an outer porch in the front and a porch in the back, and bell and drum towers are constructed on either side of the mountain gate, featuring a tight structure, upturned eave corners, and a unique shape. The rear hall has a simple design, while the east and west wing rooms are built in a flush gable style. The overall layout of the architectural complex is neat, majestic, especially notable for the exceptional craftsmanship of the wood carvings. The walls of the mountain gate feature murals from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Since 1987, the provincial and municipal governments have allocated over one million yuan, while the museum has raised nearly two million yuan of its own funds to comprehensively renovate and rebuild the complex. The stage has not yet been restored.

From the perspectives of architectural scale, style, and construction techniques, the Shanxi Guild Hall architectural complex is one of the typical representatives among the few surviving Qing Dynasty temple complexes in Haicheng City. Its protected area includes a 20-meter buffer zone inside the wall and on the east, west, and north sides outside the wall, and a 40-meter buffer on the south side. The construction control zone extends 50 meters beyond the protected area as a Class II control zone. This protected area and control zone were designated in Document No. 8 issued by Liaoning Province in 1993.

Guan Yu (162?–220), of Han ethnicity, was born during the Yanxi era of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty. His courtesy name was Yunchang, originally Changsheng. He was a native of Xie Liang, Hedong (present-day Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province). A famous general of the Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, he held the rank of General of the Vanguard, was titled Marquis of Hanshou Ting, and was a military strategist. After his death, he was revered by the people and honored by successive imperial courts, being worshipped as Guan Sheng Di Jun (Lord Guan the Saintly Emperor). In Buddhism, he is called Sangharama Bodhisattva and respectfully referred to as “Guan Gong.” Later rulers revered Guan Yu as the “God of Martial Arts,” placing him alongside Confucius, known as the “God of Literature.”

Following Liu Bei

Guan Yu’s original courtesy name was Changsheng, later changed to Yunchang. In his early years, due to some trouble, he fled his hometown to Youzhou... More details about Guan Yu++