Jincheng | A magical place that earned the title of national treasure with just 8 stone pillars

| A magical place that earned the title of national treasure with just 8 stone pillars. Not far from the prefectural city's Jade Emperor Temple, there is a national treasure unit that should not be underestimated—the Prefectural City Guandi Temple. The architectural layout here is ingenious and well-arranged, and the exquisite wood and stone carvings inside are breathtaking, hence it is known as the 'Stone Carving Art Museum of Ming and Qing Architecture'. Opening hours: 8:00 - 18:00 (closed for lunch until 2 pm) Admission: Free Address: Fucheng Village, Jincheng City, Zezhou County Batch: Seventh batch of national treasure units Features: Stone carving, wood carving The Fucheng Guandi Temple was founded in the first year of the Qingyuan era of the Song Dynasty (1195), and has been renovated multiple times during the Qing Dynasty. The temple is built according to the terrain of Qinglonggang, facing south from the north, and has a four-courtyard layout. Starting from the mountain gate, each courtyard rises step by step, with a pattern known as 'four advances and eight stacks'. Most of the existing buildings are the results of renovations during the Qing Dynasty, including the stage, the passing hall, the first mountain gate, the second moon gate, the Guandi Hall, the Sanyi Hall, and so on. This Guandi Temple is famous for its outstanding stone and wood carvings, especially the stone carvings, which are mostly concentrated in the Guandi Hall and Sanyi Hall. The carving craftsmanship is exquisite, and the stories contained are very strong, making it a masterpiece of carving art. Guandi Hall, with a width of three bays, is a nine-bay front porch-style building with a single-eave hanging mountain top. The bracket sets use a style of five steps with heavy elegance, and the base is as high as 1.3 meters. There are four coiling dragon pillars in the front porch, and each pillar is carved with a vivid dragon, either coiling or leaping into the air, tumbling up and down, accompanied by clouds and mist! Among the coiling dragons, there are also cleverly interspersed carvings of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, the Mother of Lightning, the God of Wind, the God of Rain, and other figures. The base supporting the coiling dragon pillars is four round-carved stone lions, which complement the giant dragons. On the base of the second coiling dragon pillar on the west, there are stone inscriptions such as the seal script 'Qingyuan', the cursive script 'Yimao Zhongqiu', and the regular script 'Qianmei Zhiyin', providing detailed and reliable evidence for exploring the cultural and historical artifacts of the Fucheng Guandi Temple. In addition, there is a peculiar tree in front of the Guandi Hall, the fruit of which is shaped like a knife and is not artificially planted but naturally grown. Sanyi Hall, which enshrines the three brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang who formed an oath in the Peach Garden. With a width of three bays, it is a seven-bay front porch-style building with a single-eave resting mountain top. The bracket sets are of a style with five steps and double tilting out oblique sets. There are murals painted on the two inner eaves. The four stone pillars of the front porch are carved with various characters and stories. The pillar bases are divided into two layers, the lower layer is carved in the style of pavilions, and the upper layer has coiling dragon stone drums. The carvings on the pillar bodies are divided into four layers, using a combination of techniques such as openwork carving, relief carving, line carving, and standing carving, condensing the essence onto the four stone pillars. The main contents include: the story of the hundred-year-old man Zhang Gongyi from Shandong Shouzhang County during the prosperous Tang period and his nine generations living under the same roof, as well as his family governance; the heroes of Wagangzhai; Guo Ziyi's son-in-law paying respects for longevity, and so on. Although the characters are less than half a foot tall, their facial features and clothing patterns are meticulously carved, and their expressions and actions are rich and varied, some of which can be recognized at a glance as coming from certain anecdotes. The passing hall, with a width of three bays, is surrounded by cloisters, and all the columns are chamfered stone pillars, with exquisitely beautiful bases. Above are wood carvings, carved with patterns of two dragons playing with a pearl, flowers, birds, and beasts, and there is a pair of stone lions standing in front of the door, looking playful and cute. In addition, don't miss the pair of climbing lion stone drums next to it, with a lively lion lying on top of each, characters carved in the middle stone drum position, upward-facing stone lotuses below, and dragons and beasts carved at the very bottom, equally magnificent.