Tuncheng Dongyue Temple

Tuncheng Dongyue Temple

Tuncheng Dongyue Temple is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Shanxi Province.

Tuncheng Dongyue Temple

Tuncheng Dongyue Temple (Second Batch of Provincial-Level Protected Sites)

Era: Jin Dynasty

Address: At the foot of Wohu Mountain, east of Tuncheng Village, Yangcheng County

The temple was originally built during the Jin Dynasty and underwent renovations during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The largest renovation took place in the 47th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1782).

The temple faces south and is laid out as a single-courtyard quadrangle. The surviving structures are located along the central axis, including the stage and the main hall. On both sides, there are side halls, the western corridor, and the bell tower. The main hall is a relic from the Jin Dynasty, while the rest were built during the Ming and Qing periods. The site covers an area of 1,932 square meters.

The main hall is three bays wide and six rafters deep, with a front porch, a single-eave hanging hip roof, and a roof covered with tubular and flat tiles. It is built on a rectangular, Sumeru-style platform that is 1.9 meters high, 10.7 meters long, and 8.6 meters wide. The middle section of the platform features carved stone with relief designs of figures, bridges, flowers, and dragons among clouds. The pillar bases are carved with dwarf strongmen, all original Jin Dynasty artifacts. The front porch pillars are square, chamfered stone columns covered in carvings of dragons and floral patterns. The central bay has a plank door, while the side bays have lattice windows. The bracket sets feature intricate designs. The structure adopts a method typical of large-scale wooden architecture from the Song and Yuan periods. In the second bay of the inner wall, there is an inscription reading “August of the year 1208 (Yiwei month).”

There are three extant Qing Dynasty steles in the temple, serving as records of renovators and donors.

Tuncheng Village: Tuncheng Village is located 15 kilometers east of Yangcheng County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province. It lies west of the Qin River, the second-largest river in Shanxi. The village got its name because during the Battle of Changping, the Qin general Bai Qi stationed troops and stored provisions here. The Yellow River basin is the cradle of Chinese civilization. As an important tributary of the Yellow River, the Qin River basin is home to numerous early human settlement sites. According to the “Third National Cultural Relics Survey List of Yangcheng County, Jincheng City, Shanxi Province,” prehistoric and Neolithic sites have been discovered in Wangchuan Village across the river from Tuncheng Village, as well as in Runcheng Village 8 kilometers downstream and Heitou Village 10 kilometers downstream. From this, it can be inferred that... Detailed information about Tuncheng Village ++

Further Reading:

· Second Batch of Shanxi Provincial Cultural Heritage Protected Sites