Stele of the Ancestral Temple of Di Renjie

Stele of the Ancestral Temple of Di Renjie

The Stele of the Ancestral Temple of Di Renjie is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Di Renjie (607–700), from Taiyuan, Shanxi, was a renowned statesman in Chinese history who served under Empress Wu Zetian with outstanding achievements and earned deep public trust.

The Stele of the Ancestral Temple of Di Renjie is located to the north of Kongzhuang Village in Daming County. It was originally erected in the first year of the Shengli era (698) of the Zhou Dynasty, but both the temple and the stele were later destroyed in wartime. In November of the sixth year of the Yuanhe era (811) during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, Wei Bo Jiedushi Tian Hongzheng rebuilt the ancestral temple and the stele on the original site. The ancestral temple no longer exists, and only this stele remains at the original location. The stele is made of bluestone and consists of a head, body, and base. The main body of the stele (excluding the base) measures 4.46 meters in height, 1.46 meters in width, and 0.46 meters in thickness. The stele head features a round design of six dragons playing with a pearl, and the stele’s top bears the seal script inscription “Stele of the Ancestral Temple of Lord Di Liang of the Great Tang” arranged in three rows of three characters. The front of the stele body is inscribed with regular script commemorating Di Renjie’s deeds, authored by Feng Su with calligraphy by Hu Cheng. The inscription describes Di’s achievements as the governor of Wei Prefecture and the process of rebuilding the stele.

Currently, half of the stele body is buried in the ground, with slight weathering and minor cracks on the upper part, while the base remains intact underground. This stele provides valuable reference material for the study of Tang Dynasty history during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian. It is now a Provincial Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit of Hebei Province.

On October 7, 2019, the Stele of the Ancestral Temple of Di Renjie was included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further reading:

· Second Batch of Cultural Relics Protection Units of Hebei Province

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units