Mengcheng Sengwang Mansion

Mengcheng Sengwang Mansion

Mengcheng Sengwang Mansion no longer exists today. Sengwang, or Senggelinqin, was a Mongol from the Horqin Banner. In the fifth year of the Daoguang reign (1825), he inherited the title of Prince of the Rank of Junwang. In the third year of the Xianfeng reign (1853), he was appointed as a participating minister and led cavalry troops to block the Taiping Rebellion’s Northern Expeditionary Army. For his achievements, he was later promoted to the rank of Prince. In the second year of the Tongzhi reign (1863), Mengcheng County was besieged for several months by the Nian Army forces under Miao Peilin (from Miaowei in Shouxian, leader of the Nian Army). The city ran out of food, resulting in many deaths from starvation, and the situation became extremely critical. On the 26th day of the 10th lunar month, Senggelinqin arrived with 20,000 Qing soldiers to lift the siege and suppressed the Nian Army, causing countless casualties. At that time, local government officials and gentry merchants pooled funds to build a shrine for Senggelinqin, which the public commonly referred to as Sengwang Mansion.

Sengwang Mansion was completed in the late Tongzhi reign, by which time he had already been killed by the peasant revolutionary army. The shrine covered an area of over 1,500 square meters and was located at the southern end of Erlang Temple Street (now Xinmin Street) inside the West Gate. Its architectural scale was quite magnificent and impressive at the time. The courtyard was square-shaped, with the main hall consisting of three rooms at the back. It was built with a brick-and-wood structure, and the roof featured a brick dragon ridge. The doors and windows of the main hall were carved with various openwork patterns. At the back wall of the hall stood a wooden shelf, upon which sat a wooden shrine enshrining Senggelinqin’s memorial tablet. The central row of golden inscriptions on the plaque shimmered brilliantly, while both sides were adorned with carvings of floating clouds and golden dragons. The shrine was about three meters high and one meter wide, showcasing exquisite craftsmanship. The main hall also had four red pillars standing firmly atop four stone drums.

On the eastern and western sides of the main hall, there were three auxiliary rooms each. The eastern auxiliary room was dedicated to Huang Dadao (courtesy name Junqing), a local military officer with the rank of Vice General, while the western auxiliary room was dedicated to Yu Shu (from Wanping County, Hebei, who served as the magistrate of Mengcheng County in the fifth year of the Xianfeng reign and was later promoted to Zhitai). The tablets of these two individuals were enshrined here because they were considered heroes who contributed to the city’s defense.

In the southern part of the large courtyard, there were three gate towers interconnected. The ones on the sides were side gates, while the central one was the main gate. A golden horizontal plaque inscribed with “Sengwang Mansion Shrine” hung above the main gate. The side gates were usually kept closed, and all access to Sengwang Mansion was through the main gate.

In front of Sengwang Mansion, there used to be an east-west alley. After the construction of Sengwang Shrine, the alley was widened and named Sengwang Mansion Street. During the Republican era, Sengwang Mansion was repurposed as a school called Xinmin Primary School; it was later changed to Mengcheng County Middle School, now known as Mengcheng No. 1 High School. As the high school continued to expand, the original appearance of Sengwang Mansion completely disappeared, and the veneration of Senggelinqin came to an abrupt and farcical end.