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The
Temple of the God of Taishan Mountain stands on Shenlu
Street in the Chaoyang District. It is said that the temple
was built as a place of worship for the Supreme Celestial
Emperor of Taishan Mountain, one of the five sacred mountains
of China.
The
temple was first built in the Yanyou period (1314-1320)
of the Yuan Dynasty at which time it was one of the largest
Daoist temples in the capital, and the first major temple
in northern China belonging to the Zhengyi Sect of Daoism
founded by Master Zhang Daoling. A glazed memorial archway
inscribed with "In Reverence to the God of Mount
Tai" stands at eh temple's front entrance.
The
temple complex is composed of three courtyards. The main
courtyard contains three halberd gates (jimen), the Hall
of the Taishan Mountain (Daizongbaodian), and the Hall
of Moral Cultivation (Yudedian).
In
the center of the Hall of the Taishan Mountain are statues
of the God of Taishan Mountain and his high-ranking attendants.
The two corridors in front of the hall house 72 statues
of deities, or "Chiefs of Departments," each
representing some form of human activity or natural force.
There
are more than 100 stone tablets dating from the Yuan,
Ming and Qing dynasties in the temple compound. The most
valuable is a four-meter-high stela inscribed, "Tablet
of the Daoist Master Zhang" in the handwriting of
the Yuan Dynasty calligrapher Zhao Mengfu.
The temple was burned down in a battle during the last
years of the Yuan Dynasty and was rebuilt in 1449 during
the Ming Dynasty. The buildings standing today date from
the Qing Dynasty, though they retain the style of the
Yuan and Ming periods.
Entry ticket: 10 yuan;
Add: Chaoyangmen Wai Dajie, Chaoyang District;
Transport: Buses 109, 110, and 112, alighting at the stop
of Chaowai Dajie; |