Heilou Xinzhuang and Xuantong Taoist Temple

Heilou Xinzhuang and Xuantong Taoist Temple

About two li north of Wenquan Village lies Xinzhuang Village. Though small, the village is exquisitely elegant. Its east, west, south, and north roads are laid out in neat, grid-like patterns. Rows of residential houses are orderly arranged. The area is lush with trees both inside and outside the village. A winding stream flows in front of the village. At the very center of Xinzhuang Village once stood an ancient fortress-like structure, which was the family temple—Xuantong Taoist Temple—built during the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty by Gao Shiming, the eunuch in charge of imperial seals. The fortress was constructed from dark grey stones and bricks, and locals called it the Black Tower. Hence, the village was formerly known as Heilou Xinzhuang. The main gate of the Xuantong Taoist Temple featured a grand double-sloped roof with yin-yang tiles. Above the gate was a horizontal plaque inlaid with a piece of white marble carved with the four large characters “Xuan Tong Dao Yuan” (Xuantong Taoist Temple). The estate covered over ten acres, and its structures were divided into three architectural complexes. The main building was the Black Tower, located slightly northwest within the garden. It had five rooms across three floors, with walls built from granite. In the center of the main hall, there was a square brick-and-stone well covered with a wooden flip panel. If an intruder stepped on the panel, it would flip, causing them to fall into the well. On the east and west sides of the main hall were two arched stone tunnels, inside which were statues of the guardian deities Heng and Ha. Adjacent to the corners of the east and west brick walls were stone steps leading up to the second floor. The roof and walls of the third floor were constructed with arched stone vaults. At its peak, the temple housed dozens of copper and sandalwood-carved deity statues. The third floor had a three-bay hip-and-gable roof with a rolled eave, built from brick and wood, serving as living quarters. The exterior of the stone tower was simple and dignified, and because the stone was dark purple, it was named the Black Tower.

Around the lower part of the tower, rockeries were stacked, and to the south, a whitewashed wall with a round moon gate separated it from the rest of the garden. To the south of the tower was a small pond, accessible via a flat white marble arched bridge. In the middle of the pond stood a small island with a single-eave, four-cornered square pavilion. Further along the mountain path to the south, at the foot of the northern hillside, there was a cluster of buildings including a five-bay main hall with a hip-and-gable roof. On both the east and west sides of the hall were short corridors of five bays each. The western corridor led to a small courtyard, where three rooms stood in the north, surrounded by scattered rocks and thousands of green bamboos. Adjacent to the southern wall of the garden was a reverse-facing three-courtyard house complex, with a five-bay southern room, three-bay rooms on the east and west, known as the Reply Office. To the east of the garden’s central pond was another courtyard complex. The southern side featured a five-bay southern room with a central passageway, three-bay rooms on the east and west, and a five-bay main hall to the north. Dozens of pine and cypress trees planted in front of and behind the courtyard provided greenery throughout the space. Within the surrounding hills to the north of the courtyard was a double-eaved, four-cornered square pavilion, encircled by stacked rockeries. The hills rose and fell naturally, with rocks clustered in varying sizes and groupings. Though the garden’s layout wasn’t all built in the same period, overall, it was harmonious. With limited architecture, much of the space used natural formations, hills, and plantings to create a landscape-style garden. This was the family temple-style “Xuantong Taoist Temple” built by the powerful Ming Dynasty eunuch Gao Shiming.

During the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty, due to the tyranny of Wei Zhongxian, anyone not part of his faction faced persecution. Eunuchs like Gao Shiming, in order to protect themselves, claimed illness and left the palace in 1621. Before leaving, Gao Shiming had already built a retirement estate called “Xuantong Taoist Temple,” also known as “Shi Lou Bie Shu” (Stone Tower Villa), about two li north of Wenzhongshi Village in Wenquan. Judging from the layout and name of Xinzhuang Village, it seems the Black Tower existed first, and the village gradually formed around it.

In the early years of the Republic of China, “Xuantong Taoist Temple” was acquired by Gu Ziliang, who added a few small structures to the garden. Soon after, Gu sold it to General Sun Yue. Later, Sun Yue transferred it to his younger brother Sun Liu for residence. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, when Japanese forces invaded Beiping (Beijing), they built gun emplacements in Wenquan. Most of the bricks and timber used came from dismantling the Xuantong compound. At that time, the Japanese forcibly conscripted laborers from forty-eight nearby villages to transport the bricks and stones up to the hot spring mountain to build a triangular fort as a military outpost. The site was thus reduced to a flatland. In the 1960s, production brigade office buildings were constructed on the ruins of the garden. In recent years, several pieces of white marble slab have been unearthed during construction in the village. One of them was the inscribed stone originally embedded at the top of the Black Tower’s gate, bearing the four large characters “Xuan Tong Dao Yuan.” There were also several pieces of white marble horse-mounting stones and stone door studs, which are still preserved in the village today. This Ming Dynasty estate provides extremely valuable historical material for studying the art of small-scale garden design in the Ming era. Interestingly, in Dagong Village, about ten li southwest of Xinzhuang Village, there is a pagoda on the mountain. The seven-tiered, dense-eave pagoda bears the inscription “Xuan Tong Bao Ta” (Xuantong Precious Pagoda).

For many years, people believed this was the tomb of the infamous Ming Dynasty eunuch Liu Jin. Locals in Xinzhuang Village also passed down a legend that beneath the Black Tower lay an underground passage leading directly to the “Liu Jin” tomb in Dagong Village. The reason the village is called Dagong is said to be because the project took so long—it was such a massive undertaking—that it simply became known as the “Great Work.” In 1963, when Dagong Village built a reservoir at the foot of the Xuantong Precious Pagoda, they discovered a cave with two stone doors at the entrance. The cave wasn’t very large and contained a stone well over ten feet deep. Later, experts found historical evidence: according to the Ming Dynasty text *Zhuo Zhong Zhi*, “Eunuch Ding Shaochang, a native of Changping, was well-versed in geomancy… He sought guidance from the seal-holding eunuch Gao Shiming, who helped select a burial site for him. Starting west from Baijiatuan, heading toward Nananhe, in the mountain area of Dajue Temple known as Jiulong Mountain, he pinpointed a location to construct a stone coffin cave entrance, sealing it with iron ingots.” Thus, it became clear that before leaving the palace, Gao Shiming had chosen to build his retirement family temple in Xinzhuang Village and his own tomb in Dagong Village. The rumored underground passage between Xinzhuang and Dagong has never been discovered.

Wenquan Area: Wenquan Town is located in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing, in the southern part of the new northern district of Haidian. Blessed with a prime location surrounded by mountains and water, the area has historically been rich in scenic landscapes and home to numerous gardens and villas.

Historical records indicate that before the Ming Dynasty, the area now known as Wenquan Town largely belonged to Changping County (formerly Jundu County), with parts of its southwestern region possibly under Yuhe County from the late Tang to the early Jin Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, the area was roughly divided along the current road from Baiwang Mountain to Wenquan. The northern part, including Tai Zhou Wu, Yangjiazhuang, and Dongbutou, belonged to Changping County (or Prefecture), while the southern part, including Baijiatuan, Wenquan, Gaolizhang, and Xinzhuang, belonged to Wanping County. By the early Qing Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Kangxi... Detailed information on the Wenquan area++