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Northern Song Dynasty

Chinese ancient architecture and grottoes from the Northern Song Dynasty period: 9 entries, including Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple, Dingxian (Dingzhou), Fucheng Jade Emperor Temple, Hualin Temple, and more.

001 Architecture Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple, Dingxian (Dingzhou) The Liaodi Pagoda at Kaiyuan Temple stands in Dingzhou, Hebei. Ming-dynasty poets who climbed the pagoda wrote of gazing down over the prefectural city and far toward the frontier; the Yanshan Conglu states that from the summit one can see a hundred li, and links the pagoda's name to watching for the Khitan. Old photographs from 1902 to 1932 record the pagoda amid tree groves, fields, and alleyways. Northern Song Dynasty · Hebei · Dingzhou, Hebei
002 Architecture Fucheng Jade Emperor Temple Fucheng Jade Emperor Temple stands in Fucheng village, Zezhou County, Jincheng, Shanxi. Completed in 1076 under the Northern Song and formerly called the Jade Emperor’s Traveling Palace, it preserves buildings from the Song through Qing dynasties and Yuan painted sculptures of the Twenty-Eight Lunar Mansions. On 13 January 1988 it entered the third list of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, dated Song–Qing. This article includes Song–Qing inscriptions on repairs and sculpture patronage, and photographs of the buildings and sculptures taken by Zhang Yuhuan in 1962. Northern Song · Shanxi · Zezhou County, Jincheng, Shanxi
003 Architecture Hualin Temple In the second year of the Qiande era of the Northern Song (964), Bao Xiurang, an official of the Wuyue Kingdom serving as commandery governor of Fuzhou, founded the Yueshan Jixiang Chan Cloister on the ruined site of the old city at the southern foot of today's Mount Pingshan, praying for peace within the realm. The celebrated Southern Song minister Zhang Jun once lodged at the temple during his exile in Fuzhou; in the twentieth century the surviving main hall escaped demolition by being used as a warehouse, and was ultimately preserved through survey, dismantling, and relocation. Northern Song Dynasty · Fujian · Fuzhou, Fujian Province
004 Architecture Penglai Pavilion The Penglai Pavilion in Yantai, Shandong, was first built in the Northern Song and stands atop Danya Hill; the Song–Yuan harbor basin below the hill was expanded into the Dengzhou Water City in the Ming. A Yuan-dynasty gazetteer, excavated warships, Ming–Qing coastal-defense documents, and photographs from 1903 to 1928 record the vertical relationship between the pavilion and the naval harbor. Northern Song Dynasty · Shandong · Penglai District, Yantai, Shandong
005 Architecture Qingjing Mosque In 1009 CE, Muslim merchants sojourning in Quanzhou raised the Ashab Mosque outside the city walls. Worshippers purified themselves at an ancient well, climbed the moon-watching platform to observe the crescent of Ramadan, and then prayed toward Mecca; over the next three hundred years the city of Quanzhou expanded southward, drawing the mosque into its streets, and a man from Shiraz came to rebuild it. Arabic inscriptions, a Ming imperial edict, and Chinese stele records chronicle the later centuries of this seafaring merchants' mosque. Northern Song Dynasty · Fujian · Tumen Street, Licheng District, Quanzhou, Fujian Province
006 Architecture Sakya Monastery Sakya Monastery, in Sakya County, Shigatse, is the ancestral monastery of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its North Monastery was founded in 1073. In the 13th century, Phagspa entered the Yuan court, created a new Mongol script by imperial command, and transmitted an ordination ritual that was translated into Chinese; in 1268 he commissioned the South Monastery. The Yuan Shi, Kangyou Jixing, and Qinding Kuo'erka Jilüe trace centuries of contact between the monastery, Tibet, and successive central governments. Northern Song · Tibet · Sakya County, Shigatse, Tibet Autonomous Region
007 Architecture Youguo Temple Pagoda The Youguo Temple Pagoda stands in Kaifeng, Henan Province, commonly known as the Iron Pagoda. It is a Northern Song dynasty octagonal thirteen-story pagoda built with iron-colored glazed bricks. In the fourth year of Qingli (1044), the wooden Linggan Pagoda of Kaibao Temple was destroyed by fire. Emperor Renzong initially heeded his advisors and halted reconstruction; yet five years later he issued a decree to 'rebuild the Linggan Pagoda and enshrine the relics.' The rebuilt pagoda did not replicate the old one but was relocated to Shangfang Courtyard in the eastern precinct of Kaibao Temple and raised anew in glazed brick. Northern Song Dynasty · Henan · Kaifeng, Henan Province
008 Architecture Yuelu Academy The Yuelu Academy stands at the eastern foot of Yuelu Mountain on the west bank of the Xiang River in Changsha, Hunan Province. It was founded in the ninth year of the Kaibao era of the Northern Song (976) by Zhu Dong, prefect of Tanzhou, and in the eighth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era (1015) Emperor Zhenzong bestowed its name-board, making it one of the Four Great Academies of the Song. In the Southern Song, Zhang Shi presided over its teaching and Zhu Xi came to the academy for joint lectures and to promote learning; destroyed and rebuilt time and again through the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing, it was converted in the twenty-ninth year of the Guangxu era (1903) into the Hunan Higher School and today belongs to Hunan University. The entry collects the original texts of the Comprehensive Examination of Literature, Zhang Shi's Record of the Restoration of the Yuelu Academy in Tanzhou, Chen Fuliang's record, Zhu Xi's dispatch, and Ding Sikong's memorial requesting the imperial plaque, together with old photographs of the academy from the 1920s. Northern Song Dynasty · Hunan · Yuelu District, Changsha, Hunan Province
009 Architecture Zixiao Palace Zixiao Palace is a Taoist palace complex on the south side of Zhanqi Peak on Mount Wudang in Danjiangkou, Hubei. The Yuan-dynasty Wudang Fudi Zongzhen Ji records that it was founded during the Xuanhe era of the Northern Song; the palaces were destroyed by war at the end of the Yuan, and Emperor Chengzu of Ming built the Taixuan Zixiao Palace at the old site in the tenth year of Yongle; during the Tongzhi era of the Qing, the Taoist Yang Laiwang led his disciples in restoring the Shifang Hall, the Eastern and Western Taoist Courtyards, and the residential rooms of the Dragon-Tiger Hall. This entry includes the Wudang Fudi Zongzhen Ji, the Record of the Shangshan Pool, Ming imperial steles, and a 1934 photograph of the Zixiao Hall. Northern Song Dynasty · Hubei · Danjiangkou, Shiyan, Hubei Province

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