Mingyue Guanmiao (Mingyue Pass Temple)

Mingyue Guanmiao

Mingyue Guanmiao is a cultural relics protection unit of Sichuan Province.

In Yucun Village, Mingyue Town, Pengxi County, Suining City, there stands the Mingyue Guanmiao. In June 2005, it was designated as a county-level cultural relics protection unit of Pengxi County and has now been elevated to a provincial-level protected cultural relic in Sichuan.

The Mingyue Guanmiao has a construction area of 1,300 square meters and an overall site covering about 2,800 square meters. It is composed of a theater stage, main hall, and two side book towers, with a layout facing southeast from the northwest, taking the form of a traditional quadrangle courtyard.

Theater Stage: A wooden structure featuring a single-eave Xieshan-style roof, mortise-and-tenon beam framework, with a seven-rafter beam system using double and single-step beams both front and rear, resting on seven columns. Its width is 22.3 meters, depth 9.5 meters, total height 8.2 meters, eaves height 5.8 meters, old eave column height 6.3 meters, column diameter 0.31 meter, and the plain base is 0.4 meter high.

Main Hall: A wooden structure with a single-eave Xieshan-style roof, mortise-and-tenon beam framework, and a seven-rafter beam system using double and single-step beams both front and rear, resting on five columns. Originally built with five bays, it currently consists of four bays measuring 15.25 meters in width and four bays in depth spanning 10 meters. The total height is 7.4 meters. The eaves height is 4.1 meters, the old eave column height is 4.6 meters, the column diameter is 0.43 meter, with drum-shaped column bases. The base is plain and 0.4 meter high.

The central beam inscription reads “During the ninth year of Qianlong’s reign in the imperial Qing dynasty, the first month of late autumn.”

Book Towers: There are left and right book towers. Both are two-story wooden structures featuring a single-eave Xieshan-style roof and a mortise-and-tenon beam framework. The surviving left book tower features five bays spanning 17.1 meters in width, while the right book tower has seven bays spanning 24 meters. Both have three bays in depth, each 5 meters wide.

Inside Mingyue Guanmiao, there is preserved a Qing Dynasty wooden plaque inscribed with historical records. The plaque is made of wood, measuring 3.59 meters in full length and 1.85 meters in full width, excluding the frame it is 3.21 meters long and 1.47 meters wide. It documents the process by which local benefactors in the Mingyue market town purchased land nearby to establish charitable farmland and public burial grounds. The record is detailed and serves as a valuable source for studying Qing-era folk education, funeral customs, and financial reforms.

Protected Area: A 20-meter buffer zone extending outward to the east, south, west, and north from the outer edge of the ancient building’s foundation.

Construction Control Zone: A 20-meter extension beyond the protected area.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units