Site of Chaotian Palace

Site of Chaotian Palace

The site of Chaotian Palace is a cultural heritage conservation unit of Zhao’an County.

The site of Chaotian Palace is located on Gongqian Street in Nanzhao Town, commonly known as Tianhou Palace, and is a county-level cultural heritage conservation unit. Originally built during the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, it later fell into disuse. It was rebuilt on the original site during the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, retaining only the gate tower and the main hall. In 1720 during the Qing Dynasty, it was designated as an officially sanctioned temple. In 1742, a dressing tower was added behind the main hall, and in 1768, a theater stage was constructed in front of the temple. It was subsequently renovated in 1806, 1865, and 1904. The temple faces east and is situated back-to-west, with a depth of 32.5 meters and a width of 10 meters, covering an area of approximately 1,000 square meters. It consists of a gate tower, a worship pavilion, a main hall, and a rear section. The main hall is three bays wide and four bays deep, with a post-and-lintel structure and thirteen rafters in the front corridor, featuring a double-eave hip-and-gable roof. The central bay has a two-tiered, three-rise bracket set, with octagonal slender stone columns measuring 0.32 meters in diameter and octagonal carved stone bases with floral designs. The roof tiles and water spouts are made of glazed ceramic. The rear section has a single-eave hanging gable roof, with an eleven-rafter coffered frame, and cloud-patterned stone-carved windows that are well-preserved. Inside the temple, there is a stone stele commemorating its construction in the seventh year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty. In 1745, a wooden printing block with the raised characters “Imperial Titles Bestowed Upon Goddess Tianhou Through the Dynasties” was created, measuring 0.52 meters in height and 1.76 meters in width. In 1764, another wooden block featuring the raised text “The Sacred Biography of Goddess Tianhou” was produced, measuring 0.54 meters in height and 1.12 meters in width. Both are well-preserved.

Nanzhao Town: Located in the southern part of Zhao’an County and bordering the Dongxi River to the east, Nanzhao Town is the economic, political, and cultural center of Zhao’an County. It is recognized as the “Hometown of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Art” and the “Hometown of Chinese Folk Culture and Arts,” as well as being designated a provincial-level “Civilized Town,” “Trade Hub Town,” and “Ecological Township.” The town currently covers an area of 17.5 square kilometers, with a planned area of 36.7 square kilometers. It governs 15 communities and 2 administrative villages, with a total population of approximately 81,000. In 2015, the total rural economic income was 261.11 million yuan, and the per capita income of farmers was 14,000 yuan.

In recent years, with the advancement of urbanization... More details about Nanzhao Town++