Zhangqiu Xingguo Temple

Zhangqiu Xingguo Temple

Zhangqiu Xingguo Temple is a Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Unit.

Xingguo Temple is situated to the east of Yeting Mountain Village, Bucun Subdistrict, Zhangqiu District, Jinan. Its exact founding date is unknown. According to a stele from the 14th year of the Zhengde era in the Ming Dynasty (1519), “this temple has stood for several hundred years since its establishment.” In 1979, it was announced by the Jinan Municipal People’s Government as one of the first municipal-level cultural heritage protection units, and in December 2006, it was designated as a provincial-level cultural heritage protection unit by the Shandong Provincial People’s Government. The original complex included seven structures: the main gate (the Hall of Heavenly Kings), side gates on the east and west, a screen wall inside the east side gate, the East Side Hall (the Hall of Guan Yu), the West Side Hall (the Hall of the Kitchen God), and the Main Hall, covering an area of 2,340 square meters.

The Mahavira Hall stands atop a base platform, with a stone-carved reclining lion at each of the four corners of the platform, all vividly shaped. The hall interior has five bays in width and four bays in depth, featuring a large wooden frame structure, a single-eave hip-and-gable roof, bracket sets with five tiers and double ang, and a roof covered with black tiles. Inside the hall, stone pillars at the front and back bear inscriptions carved in intaglio: one reads “Erected on the auspicious day of March in the 16th year of the Jiaqing reign (1811) in Jiaquan Township, Zhangqiu County, Jinan Prefecture,” and another mentions “Zhang Wei of Shenquan Li, Jiaquan Township, Zhangqiu County, Jinan Prefecture…” among other characters. At the center of the hall stands a stone-carved statue of Sakyamuni Buddha, seated in the lotus position, with a plump face, a spiral topknot, performing the teaching mudra — a sculpture from the Tang Dynasty. The east and west side rooms each have three bays, a single-eave flush gable roof, and black-tiled roofs, reconstructed during the Qing Dynasty.

The Hall of Heavenly Kings is three bays wide and one bay deep, with an overall width of 8.60 meters, an overall depth of 4.26 meters, an overall height of 6.30 meters, and a total height of 7.25 meters. The exterior walls span 9.65 meters from east to west and 5.10 meters from north to south, with a floor area of 49.22 square meters. The front and rear walls contain interior columns supporting a five-rafter beam frame. It has a flush gable roof with black tiles; the southern slope uses tubular tiles measuring 240×125×60 mm, and the northern slope uses 340×145×70 mm, while flat tiles measure 155×150×40 mm. The central bay on both the front and rear has an arched door: the southern one is 1.37 meters wide and 3.40 meters high, and the northern one is 1.18 meters wide and 3.28 meters high, both with carved architraves. The outer wall surface is a fair-faced wall constructed with blue bricks measuring 320×155×65 mm, with the lower part built from rock to a height of 0.83 meters. The interior is a plastered wall, with the lower part of the north and south walls built from two layers of sandstone to a height of 0.81 meters, and the east and west walls built from rubble; originally, there were pedestals for statues. Above the lower part are three layers of line bricks. The wooden components inside are richly painted in various styles with strong local characteristics. Based on its features, this building is believed to be a relic from the Ming Dynasty.

The east and west side gates are nearly identical, each one bay wide and one bay deep, with an overall height of 4.45 meters and a total height of 4.80 meters. They feature a five-rafter gable wall load-bearing structure, a roll-roofed flush gable roof with black tiles, tubular tiles measuring 260×120×60 mm, and flat tiles measuring 155×150×40 mm. The exterior walls span 3.03 meters from east to west and 2.80 meters from north to south, with a floor area of 8.50 square meters. The outer wall surface is made of blue brick, using bricks measuring 340×160×75 mm, with the lower part built from sandstone. The inner wall surface was originally fair-faced but is now plastered. This structure is a relic from the Ming Dynasty.

Hall of Guan Yu and Hall of the Kitchen God

The Hall of Guan Yu and the Hall of the Kitchen God are the east and west side halls in front of the Main Hall, respectively. Their platform sizes, structural features, decorative elements, and overall dimensions follow a unified design. Their common features include: three bays in width, one bay in depth, an overall width of 7.80 meters, an overall depth of 4.17 meters, a porch depth of 0.73 meters, an overall height of 5.66 meters, and a total height of 6.47 meters. The exterior walls span 8.90 meters from north to south and 5.20 meters from east to west, with a floor area of 46.3 square meters. The front and rear eaves columns support a five-rafter beam frame, with the front featuring a cantilevered porch. The roof is a flush gable style with black tiles; tubular tiles measure 260×120×60 mm, and flat tiles measure 155×150×40 mm. The front eave column tops are equipped with cantilever beams that extend inward under the five-rafter beam and outward to support the eave purlin, which in turn supports the eave rafters — a uniquely lightweight and distinctive structure. The outer wall surface is blue brick, built with bricks measuring 280×155×70 mm, with the lower part around the base built from sandstone to a height of 0.465 meters. The lower part of the inner wall base is blue brick to a height of 0.67 meters, while the upper part is a plastered wall. The platform coping is built from sandstone to a height of 0.60 meters. The interior beams, purlins, and brackets are painted, with a single-layer plaster base coat and simple patterns. This structure is a relic from the Ming Dynasty.

The Main Hall

The Main Hall is five bays wide and four bays deep, with an overall width of 17.75 meters, an overall depth of 12.37 meters, an overall height of 9.24 meters, and a total height of 10.45 meters. The exterior walls span 19.07 meters from east to west and 13.72 meters from north to south, with a floor area of 261.6 square meters. The layout follows the Golden Box with Bottom-Tiered Slots plan, featuring a front terrace. The wooden frame structure consists of ten rafter pairs with front and rear breast rafters supported by four columns, fully exposed construction, and a roof pitch ratio of about 6:10. The bracket sets are of the five-purlin, double downward ang, inner-turn double-bracket, and counting-heart style, with two filler brackets at the central bay and one elsewhere, a bracket mouth size of 115×170 mm, equivalent to the 6th-grade timber in the Song Dynasty’s Yingzao Fashi (Treatise on Architectural Methods). The hip-and-gable roof is covered with gray tiles; tubular tiles measure 340×155×70 mm, and flat tiles measure 320×(250–220)×65 mm. The main ridge is a dragon ridge, 380 mm high, while the vertical and diagonal ridges are uniform-height floral ridges, 230 mm high, with no ridge beasts or animal figures.

Based on the inscriptions on extant stelae within the temple and the stylistic features of early carvings, it can be confirmed that the temple was established during the Song and Jin Dynasties. The current structures were all expanded, renovated, or rebuilt during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Shandong Provincial Cultural Heritage Protection Units