Yixing Stone Tablet Museum (Zhou King Temple)

Yixing Stone Tablet Museum (Zhou King Temple)

Yixing Stone Tablet Museum (Zhou King Temple) is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Zhou King Temple, also known as "Martyrs' Temple" or "Zhou Xiaohou Temple," is located at the eastern end of Dongmiao Lane in Yixing City. The square outside the temple gate is over thirty meters wide and sixty meters long, with a memorial archway in the middle. The southern end is the temple gate, and the northern end features a relief wall depicting the deeds of Zhou Chu. The inscription on the archway, "Timeless Virtue," was written by Wu Guanzhong, a renowned painter and calligrapher from Yixing, while the four large characters on the temple gate, "Zhou Xiaohou Temple," are the calligraphy of Zhao Puchu, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Zhou King Temple was listed as a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 1982. It is a temple dedicated to Zhou Chu, the Western Jin Dynasty’s General Who Pacified the West, and is currently the largest and oldest temple in Yixing, often referred to as "Yixing’s No. 1 Temple."

It is said that Zhou King Temple was first built in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty, but the earliest officially documented construction with government involvement dates back to the third year of the Jianlong era in the Northern Song Dynasty (962), when it was initially called Zhou Xiaohou Temple. At that time, the region was governed by Li Yu, the last ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty. An inscription in the main hall records that the temple was built upon imperial decree by Xu Kai, who was in charge of ceremonial matters. In the seventh year of the Shaoxing era in the Southern Song Dynasty (1137), the temple was bestowed the honorary title "Martyrs' Temple" by the imperial court. In the first year of the Qingyuan era (1195), Zhou Chu was posthumously honored as "Loyal and Martial Duke," and the temple became known as Zhou Gong Temple. Throughout history, Zhou Chu was posthumously conferred the title of king three times: first as "Martial, Benevolent, Righteous, and Responsive King" during the Baoying era of the Southern Song Dynasty; second as "Loyal and Righteous King" during the Zhiyuan era of the Yuan Dynasty; and third as "Bohai King" during the Yongzheng era of the Qing Dynasty. Hence, Zhou Xiaohou Temple later came to be known as Zhou King Temple. For thousands of years, Zhou Chu’s heroic spirit has towered over the southern hills, his iron will permeated the Jingxi River, and his legacy has inspired generations of Yixing people to cultivate virtue and serve their country with loyalty. A couplet in the main hall reads: "Transferring filial piety into loyalty, he called out to the Yue father and son; sacrificing life for righteousness, he was followed by the Lu brothers." The Lu brothers refer to Lu Xiangsheng, a native of Yixing and a famous anti-Qing general who served as Minister of War, and his brother, while the Yue father and son refer to Yue Fei and his son.

The existing structures of Zhou King Temple consist of three courtyards, spanning a total width of 44 meters and a depth of 88 meters. The first courtyard is a two-story building, featuring a five-bay gate tower, one theater stage, and six-bay viewing pavilions on the east and west sides. These were rebuilt in 1994. The second courtyard houses the five-bay main hall, with a single-eave hip-and-gable roof, spanning five bays in width and nine bays in depth. The front features a covered porch connected to the central gutter. The main framework of the hall was rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty’s Jiajing era, with several renovations carried out during the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period. The center of the main hall houses a statue of Zhou Chu, with two large murals on the side walls depicting "Shooting the Tiger" and "Slaying the Flood Dragon." The east and west side chambers display materials on Zhou Chu’s life and replicas of cultural relics unearthed from Zhou’s Tomb Mound. There are also over twenty stone tablets from the Tang to Qing Dynasties in the side halls of the main structure, among which the most precious is the "Stele of General Zhou of the Western Pacification Command" written by Lu Ji and calligraphed by Wang Xizhi. The third courtyard spans five bays in width and nine bays in depth.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangsu Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units

· Seventh Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units