Xuanhe Stele

Xuanhe Stele

The Xuanhe Stele is a cultural tourism attraction.

The Xuanhe Stele, officially known as the Xuanhe Stele on the Reconstruction of the Temple of Mount Tai, was erected in the sixth year of the Xuanhe era during the Song Dynasty (1124). It is located on the north side of the Bingling Gate in the Dai Temple. The stele features a dragon-headed top and a tortoise-shaped base, standing 9.25 meters tall in total. The text was composed by Imperial Academician Yuwen Cuizhong, while the title was inscribed and written in seal script by Court Gentleman Zhang Cong. The reverse side of the stele bears inscriptions by Li Dai and Wu Longzheng, both provincial governors of Shandong during the sixteenth year of the Wanli era in the Ming Dynasty, and the four large characters “Wan Dai Zhan Yang” (Admired for Millennia) were written by Tian Dong. The tortoise-shaped base weighs over 20 tons and is known as “the Largest Tortoise in Shandong.”

The inscription mainly describes how Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, after ascending the throne in the first year of the Jianzhongjingguo era (1101), gradually reconstructed the Dai Temple up to the fourth year of the Xuanhe era (1122): “Imperial edicts were repeatedly issued to expand and renovate the palace buildings, encircle the area with outer walls, and flank it with decorative screens, making it stand majestically like the celestial palaces of the immortals. At a glance, one could tell it was the dwelling place of deities. In total, there were 813 structures including halls, bedrooms, chambers, pavilions, gates, towers, storerooms, lodges, towers, terraces, corridors, and side rooms.” This shows that by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Dai Temple had already attained a rather grand scale. This towering and magnificent stele serves as an important resource for studying the history of the Northern Song Dynasty and the evolution of the Dai Temple.