Tour of Shanxi—Yuhuang Temple in Jincheng

The Yuhuang Temple was established in the ninth year of Xining in the Northern Song Dynasty (1076), and it is a Taoist temple in ancient Zezhou with a large scale and wide influence. The temple is divided into three sections, with the first gate, the second gate, the gods' pavilion, and the Yuhuang Hall built on a central axis. The temple has a rare Taoist twenty-eight constellations solitary product colored sculpture in the history of Chinese sculpture. The existing Yuhuang Hall was built in the Song Dynasty, the Chengtang Hall was built in the Jin Dynasty, the east and west ear halls and the east and west corridors in the backyard were built in the Yuan Dynasty, and the rest are all buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The temple of Yuhuang Temple retains more than 280 colored sculptures from the Jin, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, 120 square meters of murals, 36 Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing records, and heavy repair steles (square). The roof of the Yuhuang Temple also retains some glazed art components from the Jin, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties. The twenty-eight constellations statues are located in the west corridor of the temple, which are relics of the Yuan Dynasty, sculpted in the thirty-first year of Yuan Zhiyuan (1294), and there are 23 existing statues, which are inferred to be the works of the great sculptor Liu Lun of the Yuan Dynasty. The characteristics are Greek noses, slender waists, rich and profound facial expressions, representing the representative achievements of ancient Chinese sculpture art, and are typical examples of the combination of realism and romanticism in ancient Chinese sculpture art. Tour guide: 1. Navigation: Yuhuang Temple, Zezhou County, free parking near the entrance. 2. Tickets: Free 3. Must-see: The most valuable thing in Yuhuang Temple is the twenty-eight constellations statues, followed by the colored sculptures of various dynasties, as well as the twenty-eight constellations glazed statues and the glazed lions on the ridge of the roof of Yuhuang Hall, and the glazed kirin on the back slope beasts (need a long-focus lens to take pictures, lions and kirins need to go out of the gate and go around to the back of Yuhuang Hall to see).