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Guan Yu Temple in Xia County

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Guan Yu Temple in Xia County (Fifth Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites) Era: Ming Dynasty Address: No. 11, Jiefang South Road, Xia County The Guan Yu Temple in Xia County was originally built during the Yuan Dynasty, expanded in the Ming Dynasty, and continuously repaired and expanded by successive county magistrates through the dynasties. On the beam ridge plate of the main hall, there is an inscription reading: “On the second day of the ninth month in the 32nd year of the Qianlong reign, an auspicious dawn, Wang Yi, a literary official serving as magistrate of Xia County with a third-rank addition and eight records of merit, along with Zhu…, the deputy magistrate, supervised the renovation—this record stands as testimony.” The beam ridge plate of the offering hall bears an inscription reading: “In the 10th year of the Shunzhi reign…” The entire temple faces east and covers an area of 9,000 square meters. Along its central axis are, in sequence, the mountain gate, memorial archway, offering hall, and main hall. In the second courtyard, there is one surviving side tower on each side, while in the third courtyard, there is one wing room on each side of the offering hall. The Holy Mother Hall behind the main hall was destroyed in a fire during the Republican era. The extant structures were all built in the Ming Dynasty and renovated in the Qing Dynasty.

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The Guan Yu Temple in Xia County is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Shanxi Province.

Guan Yu Temple in Xia County (Fifth Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Ming Dynasty

Address: No. 11, Jiefang South Road, Xia County

The Guan Yu Temple in Xia County was originally built during the Yuan Dynasty, expanded in the Ming Dynasty, and continuously repaired and expanded by successive county magistrates through the dynasties. On the beam ridge plate of the main hall, there is an inscription reading: “On the second day of the ninth month in the 32nd year of the Qianlong reign, an auspicious dawn, Wang Yi, a literary official serving as magistrate of Xia County with a third-rank addition and eight records of merit, along with Zhu□□, the deputy magistrate, supervised the renovation—this record stands as testimony”; the beam ridge plate of the offering hall has an inscription reading: “In the 10th year of the Shunzhi reign…” The entire temple faces east and covers an area of 9,000 square meters. Along its central axis are, in sequence, the mountain gate, memorial archway, offering hall, and main hall. In the second courtyard, there is one surviving side tower on each side, while in the third courtyard, there is one wing room on each side of the offering hall. The Holy Mother Hall behind the main hall was destroyed in a fire during the Republican era. The extant structures were all built in the Ming Dynasty and renovated in the Qing Dynasty.

The memorial archway is a two-pillar, single-eave wooden structure with a single hip-and-gable roof and glazed ridge ornaments. Below the eaves are seven-coupon column-top brackets and distributed brackets—four sets of column-top brackets and two sets of distributed brackets—with the column-top brackets featuring 45-degree angled brackets.

The main hall is three bays wide and six rafters deep, surrounded by corridors on all sides, and features a double-eave hip-and-gable roof. The painted decoration inside the hall is exquisitely detailed and rich in content.

There are four extant stone stelae from the Qing Dynasty within the temple.

Source: Shanxi Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau