Ruins of Chonghuang Temple

The ruins of Chonghuang Temple are located 7.2 kilometers southwest of the county seat of Gaoling County, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province, at the site of the former Chonghuang Township government office. It served as an official residence during the Qin and Han dynasties, and a Buddhist temple was established here in the early Tang Dynasty. Legend has it that Empress Bo gave birth to Emperor Wen of Han here. It is also said that Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty visited twice, which is why it was also called Chonghuang Temple.

Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty bestowed the name Chonghuang Temple upon it, and it once had the Auspicious Tower and Cloud Pagoda.

In the 22nd year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1553), the “Linzhi Sect Stele” erected by the temple recorded that the foundation measured 26 zhang from north to south and 19 zhang from east to west, with 20 mu of inner land. It was destroyed during the Muslim Rebellion in the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1862–1874). After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, remnants of a Qin dynasty stone statue were unearthed here.

Ruins of Chonghuang Temple [Chengjia Village, Chonghuang Township – Tang to Ming Dynasties – County-Level Cultural Relics Protection Unit] The temple was built during the Tang Dynasty and renovated in the Ming Dynasty. The temple site covers an area of approximately 20,000 square meters. Artifacts collected include a Tang dynasty female dancer figurine, plain noodles-style bricks, and fragments of roof tiles with plain exteriors and cloth-patterned interiors. A square-headed stele from the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1553), “Stele for the Reconstruction of Chonghuang Temple,” is preserved. Its base is lost. The stele stands 2.08 meters high, 0.74 meters wide, and 0.17 meters thick. The inscription is in regular script and documents the rise and fall of Chonghuang Temple over the dynasties. It was composed by Lü Nan, a Hanlin academician and imperial lecturer.