Stele of the Ancestral Great Mysterious True Palace

Stele of the Ancestral Great Mysterious True Palace

The Stele of the Ancestral Great Mysterious True Palace is located in Shangpailoushou Village, Xinmin Township, Fuxin County. It is a Taoist stone stele composed of a stele head, main body, and turtle base. The sides of the stele head are adorned with carvings of two dragons playing with a pearl. The lower part of the front face shows the Heavenly Palace, while the back has the Heavenly Palace at the top and clouds below. The stele head features finely carved coiled dragons, with six vigorous characters in the center reading “Stele of the Ancestral Great Mysterious True Palace.” Both the front and back of the main body are inscribed with over 5,000 characters of text, all carved in inch-sized regular script. The calligraphy is neat and meticulous. The text was composed in the second year of the Zhongtong era of the Yuan Dynasty (1261 AD), while the stele was erected in the third year of the Zhi Shun era (1332 AD)—a gap of 71 years between composition and carving, which is quite remarkable. The inscription recounts how the renowned Taoist master Yang Zhigu selected this site during his travels to establish a temple and spread Taoism. It also lists the names and properties of Taoist masters from various temples in western Liaoning, as well as details about temple economy during the Yuan Dynasty and the names of counties and prefectures in the region at that time. The Stele of the Ancestral Great Mysterious True Palace serves as a primary historical source for studying the Yuan Dynasty’s history, geography, and the spread of Taoism, and it is one of the best-preserved Taoist stelae in the province. In 1988, it was designated as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit by the Liaoning Provincial Government.

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Liaoning Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units