Main Hall of Jinhe Temple

Main Hall of Jinhe Temple

The Main Hall of Jinhe Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Hebei Province.

The Main Hall of Jinhe Temple is located at Yongbi Primary School in Tongye Town, Luquan City, and is an ancient Ming Dynasty structure.

In its former glory, Jinhe Temple was quite expansive, comprising a Heavenly King Hall, Mahavira Hall, Rear Hall, East and West Side Halls, monks' quarters, and other structures, forming a cohesive architectural complex. By the late 1970s, however, only the Mahavira Hall remained — the very Main Hall of Jinhe Temple we see today. It is three bays wide and three bays deep, appearing almost square but actually slightly elongated from east to west. Its roof is particularly striking: a single ridge with four sloping sides in the hip-and-gable style, covered with yellow and green glazed tiles. According to the traditional hierarchical ranking of Chinese architectural roof styles — from highest to lowest: hip-and-gable roof (wudian), gable-and-hip roof (xieshan), flush-gable roof (xuanshan), and hard-gable roof (yingshan) — the Main Hall of Jinhe Temple employs the most prestigious hip-and-gable roof, a style reserved for imperial palaces and major temples. This indicates the high architectural standards of the building, suggesting that Jinhe Temple must have been quite prominent in ancient times.

On February 7, 2001, it was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit by the People's Government of Hebei Province.

Tongye Town: Located southwest of Shijiazhuang, the capital city of Hebei Province, Tongye Town covers an area of 72.2 square kilometers, governs 25 administrative villages, and has a population of 54,000. It ranks first among Hebei Province’s key provincial towns. The town has been honored with titles such as “Star of Chinese Townships,” “Top 300 Chinese Townships for Investment Environment,” “National Pilot Town for Small Town Construction,” and “One of Shijiazhuang’s Top Ten Well-Known Villages and Towns.”

Tongye’s metallurgical casting industry dates back to the Sui and Tang dynasties, from which the town derives its name. The area contains relics such as Taoist temples, Buddhist monasteries, and Han Dynasty steles. Tongye enjoys a superior geographical location, bordered by the Taihang Mountains to the west — rich in stone materials and tourism resources — and adjacent to Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital of Hebei, to the east... More detailed information about Tongye Town ++

Further Reading:

· Fourth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Hebei Province