Tian Gong Yuan Feng Shui Culture Scenic Area

Tian Gong Yuan Feng Shui Culture Scenic Area

Tian Gong Yuan Feng Shui Culture Scenic Area is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction and a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Heritage Site.

The provincial-level cultural heritage site Tian Gong Yuan is located in Tian Gong Township, about 20 kilometers south of Langzhong City. Due to Langzhong's profound astronomical culture, the Tang Dynasty astronomers Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng settled here in their later years. They chose this place to observe celestial phenomena, write books, and expound their theories, and were also buried here after their deaths. Tian Gong Yuan was built in their memory. Tian Gong Yuan originally had buildings such as the Eternal Stage, Ox King Pavilion, Main Hall, and Guanyin Hall. It was first built in the Tang Dynasty, rebuilt in the third year of the Ming Dynasty’s Tian Shun era (1459), and in the fourth year of the Qing Yongzheng era, a plaque inscribed with “Guang Cheng Hui Jing” (Light Clarifying Wisdom Mirror) was hung. The Main Hall features a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof and a post-and-lintel timber frame, using large materials. It is five bays wide (19.4 meters) and five bays deep (19.3 meters). The Guanyin Hall is three bays wide and three bays deep, combining stacked-beam and post-and-lintel structural styles. Currently, both halls are well-preserved, covering an area of 6 acres with a construction area of 684 square meters. Tian Gong Township is named after Tian Gong Yuan.

Tian Gong Yuan

Yuan and Li were good friends in the field of astronomy, and their tombs are also located next to each other. Li Chunfeng’s tomb is on Wulitai Mountain, in front of which stands a stele inscribed with “Tomb of Li Chunfeng, Historian Official of the Tang Dynasty,” along with the Chunfeng Temple. Yuan Tiangang’s tomb is halfway up Guanjiashan Mountain, facing south, with Tian Gong Yuan in front, and lies directly opposite Li Chunfeng’s tomb.

Yuan Tiangang served as the Official of the Volcano Department, while Li Chunfeng was the Historian Official. Both were astronomers as well as practitioners of feng shui and geomancy. The reason they chose to settle in Tian Gong Yuan is said to be because the land here resembles a royal crown, surrounded by nine mountain ranges that face toward it, known as the “Nine Dragons Holding Up the Sacred.” The mountain where Yuan Tiangang is buried, Guanjiashan, is said to resemble a qilin (a mythical Chinese unicorn), with the round hill in front representing the sun—this formation is called the “Qilin Running Toward the Sun.” The site of Li Chunfeng’s tomb is a round hill resembling a pearl, with two mountain ranges on either side looking like two flying dragons, forming a shape known as the “Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl.”

Construction control zone: 50 meters beyond the protected area.