Confucius reflection upon religious structures (4)

Guandi Temple

Shanxi, there is a Guandi Temple, the largest in China, which is a very popular wise-man's ancestral hall built in theQing Dynasty.

The whole temple has the rich color of a palace. Within the gate there are two districts--the front halls and the back bedrooms. Duanmen is the entrance prelude, Zhimen the formal front gate. The bell tower and thedrum towerare separately set up east and west in front of the gate and, together with Zhimen, they enclose the horizontal, long square with city walls. Within Zhimen isWumenhall. Penetrating further through the memorial archway, one reaches the front hall. At its front is the tall Yushu (imperial study) tower, while at the back of the tower is the Chongningdian, the large main hall encircled by a ring of Curled-up dragon stone columns. The imperial resting hall of the back bedding room is behind the Chongning Hall, which has been damaged. Finally, within the archway is the Chunqiu (Spring and Autumn) Tower, facing left and right the Dao (Knife) Tower and the Yin (Seal) Tower, both being magnificent two-layered, three-eaved Xieshanding. Guandi Temple is also called Wumiao Temple.

Guandi Temple in Xiezhou consists of many turrets, most of them being multi-eaved, It also comprises many arched gates in which glazed tiles are widely used. The whole temple is grand and momentous, with the beauty of strength and rigidity, conforming with the due character of "Wumiao Temple".

(Source: chinaculture.org)