Tangya Temple Village

Tangya Temple Village

Tangya Temple Village is a cultural tourism attraction.

Tangya Temple Village is located in Jianshan Township, Xianfeng County, and is famous for the Tangya Tusi City within its territory. According to records, since the Yuan Dynasty, the Qin clan of Tusi ruled here for eighteen generations over four hundred years. They built the largest Tusi city in the Tujia ethnic regions of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Chongqing. The existing traditional architecture covers an area of 666,000 square meters. In 2006, it was listed as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit. In 2013, it was included in the list of China’s Traditional Villages.

Originating from Maoba Township in Lichuan City, the Tangya River winds through Xianfeng County, passing through caves and canyons as it flows westward, eventually joining the Wu River at Gongtan Ancient Town in Chongqing. Because the river flows from east to west, there is a saying that “the river turns along the Fuling, flowing backward for thirty-eight hundred li.”

Tangya Temple Village straddles the Tangya River. The once-flourishing Tangya Tusi King City is situated on the nearby Xuanwu Mountain along the riverbank.

The ancestor of the Tangya Tusi Qin clan was named Qichusong. The “Qin Clan Genealogy of Tangya” records: “In the 6th year of the Zhi Zheng era of the Yuan Dynasty (1346 AD), the first ancestor Qichusong was commended for his meritorious service in suppressing the Ye Lan region. By imperial decree, he was granted the position of Tusi of Tangya and awarded the title of Xuanwei Envoy.” From then on, the Qin clan became one of the eighteen renowned Tusi clans in western Hubei.

In ancient times, Tusi had both ranks and levels. Xuanwei was the highest rank, followed by Xuanfu, and then Changguan. Regardless of rank, once bestowed with imperial recognition, one became the “local emperor,” and the Tusi city was commonly referred to by the people as the “Tusi Imperial City.”

Yang Xiaoming, a cultural relics expert in Xianfeng County, said that the most remarkable period of the Qin clan’s 400-year hereditary rule over the Tangya Tusi was during the era of Qin Ding: he was ordered by the court three times to quell uprisings, demonstrating formidable military might. Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjiao, issued an imperial edict to establish the Pingxi General’s Command and erect a merit archway, inscribing the words “Heroic Guardian of Southern Jing and Shield of Chu and Shu” as an honor. Seizing this opportunity, the Qin clan undertook massive construction projects—palaces, temples, fortifications, and armories. The splendor of the Tangya Tusi Imperial City became closely associated with the name Qin Ding.

Ascending the stone steps from the Tangya River pier, the “Heroic Guardian of Southern Jing” stone archway stands majestically. Centered around it, the Imperial City is divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower streets. Each street is seven chi wide and stretches over a thousand meters, all paved with bluestone slabs. There are six lanes, connecting the four streets and eight alleys along the terrain. Structures such as the General’s Command, Official Hall, Academy, Treasury, Left and Right Barracks, Horse Racing Ground, Gardens, and Menagerie are all intact. Nearby, major temples and shrines such as the Grand Temple Hall, Huanhou Temple, and Xuanwu Temple are situated in their respective locations.

Historical records state that the Tangya Tusi City covered an area of more than 100 hectares, even larger than Beijing’s Forbidden City. Zhang Zhongpei, former director of the Palace Museum and chairman of the Chinese Archaeological Society, once remarked after inspecting the Tangya Tusi City ruins: “Beijing has a grand Forbidden City, and Xianfeng has a small one.”

The stone archway standing at the center of the Tangya Tusi City is quite majestic. Entirely constructed of stone in imitation of wooden structures, it features a pavilion-style bracket design. The front is inscribed with “Heroic Guardian of Southern Jing,” while the back reads “Shield of Chu and Shu.” Both sides also depict relief carvings such as “Tusi’s Royal Procession,” “Fishermen and Woodcutters Farming and Reading,” “Clouds Swallowing Mist,” “Nezha Causing Havoc in the Sea,” and “Locust Tree Shade Delivering a Child.” One particularly rare relief on the archway is “Nezha Causing Havoc in the Sea”: Nezha holds the Hun Tian Ling (Cosmic Ring), his right foot stepping on a carp that is about to leap out of the water. Yang Xiaoming noted that in ancient times, the dragon symbolized the emperor, but the stone archway cleverly replaced the dragon with a fish to avoid disrespect toward the emperor—a unique architectural symbolic motif known in China.

Renowned architecture and tourism expert Zhang Lianggao said that within Hubei Province, apart from the “Governance of the World Xuan Yue” archway on Mount Wudang, no other archway surpasses Tangya’s “Heroic Guardian of Southern Jing, Shield of Chu and Shu.” The Tusi Tomb may very well be the only one of its kind in the country.

Walking along the gravel mountain paths, the bluestone slabs of the “Three Streets” remain intact, the “Eighteen Lanes” are still clearly visible, and although the traces of the “Thirty-Six Courtyards” are hard to find, the feng shui layout, axis lines, and scenic views still stir the imagination.