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Tang dynasty

Chinese ancient architecture and grottoes from the Tang dynasty period: 19 entries, including White Deer Grotto Academy, Baoguo Temple, Beiyue Temple, and more.

001 Architecture Giant Wild Goose Pagoda The Giant Wild Goose Pagoda stands within the Da Ci'en Temple in Xi'an. According to the *You Chengnan Ji* (A Record of Travels South of the City), the monk Xuanzang began building the pagoda in the third year of Yonghui (652). It originally had only five stories, with a brick exterior and earthen core, modeled after the Indian stupa. During the Chang'an era it collapsed; Empress Wu and members of the nobility funded its reconstruction to ten stories. After subsequent wars, only seven stories survived. The east and west niches at the base of the pagoda preserve the Preface to the Holy Teachings of the Great Tang Tripitaka and the Record of the Holy Teachings, both inscribed by Chu Suiliang. Tang Dynasty · Shaanxi · Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
002 Architecture Small Wild Goose Pagoda The Small Wild Goose Pagoda stands within the Jianfu Temple in Xi'an. Built during the Jinglong era of the Tang dynasty with funds contributed by palace women, it originally had fifteen stories. According to the Shaanxi Tongzhi (Shaanxi Provincial Gazetteer), the Yimao earthquake of the Jiajing era split the pagoda in two, and the Guihai earthquake reunited it. During Wang Fuchen's rebellion the pagoda split again, and after the rebellion was quelled it returned to its former state. The temple buildings were completely destroyed during the Jurchen-era migration, leaving only the brick pagoda standing. Tang Dynasty · Shaanxi · Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
003 Architecture White Deer Grotto Academy White Deer Grotto Academy stands at the southern foot of the Five Old Men Peaks of Mount Lu, in Lushan City, Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province. In the Baoli era of the Tang, Li Bo built terraces and pavilions at his former hermitage here; in the Shengyuan era of the Southern Tang, the Lushan National Academy was established on the site; in the early Northern Song it was counted with Suiyang, Shigu, and Yuelu among the Four Great Academies; and in the Chunxi era of the Southern Song, Zhu Xi, as prefect of Nankang, rebuilt the academy and drew up the Articles of Learning of the White Deer Grotto Academy, and Lu Jiuyuan once lectured here by invitation. Destroyed in the wars at the end of the Yuan, it was rebuilt in the first year of the Zhengtong era of the Ming by the Nankang prefect Zhai Pufu and repeatedly repaired under the Qing, so that the surviving buildings largely preserve the Qing-dynasty layout. The entry presents the original texts of the New Book of Tang, Lü Zuqian's Record of the White Deer Grotto Academy, Zhu Xi's Memorial on the White Deer Academy and Articles of Learning, Lu Jiuyuan's Lecture at the White Deer Grotto Academy, Wang Yi's Record of a Visit to the White Deer Grotto, and the Gazetteer of the White Deer Academy, together with early twentieth-century photographs of the academy by Sidney D. Gamble, Tokiwa Daijō, and Sekino Tadashi. Tang Dynasty · Jiangxi · Lushan City, Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province
004 Architecture Baoguo Temple Baoguo Temple (Baoguo Si) stands in the Jiangbei District of Ningbo, Zhejiang. First named Lingshan Temple in the Tang, its surviving main hall is a timber structure rebuilt in the sixth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era of the Northern Song (1013). This article traces the temple's architectural history and the changes to its name, gathers original passages from the Baoqing Siming Zhi, the Ningbo Fu Zhi, the Cixi Xian Zhi, the Baoguo Si Zhi, and other historical sources, and includes 1954 survey photographs of the main hall's bracket sets, timber frame, and caisson ceilings. Tang Dynasty · Zhejiang · Ningbo, Zhejiang Province
005 Architecture Beiyue Temple Beiyue Temple lies in Quyang County, Baoding, Hebei Province, with clear records of the shrine and its steles dating to the Tang Dynasty; the surviving main hall, the Hall of Dening, is a Yuan timber structure, and the temple served successive dynasties as the state ritual site for sacrifices to the Northern Sacred Peak, Mount Heng. This entry gathers the original texts of the Tang stele of the royal enfeoffment, the reconstruction steles by Wang Yucheng and Han Qi, the Yuan edict stele conferring an additional title, and more, together with old photographs by Osvald Sirén and the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture showing the main hall, its surrounding colonnade, its bracket sets, and its Yuan dynasty murals. Tang Dynasty · Hebei · Quyang County, Baoding, Hebei Province
006 Architecture Faxing Temple Formerly known as Cilin Temple and Guangde Temple, Faxing Temple originally stood on Mount Cilin in Changzi County, Shanxi. The Tang Record of Prince Hui of Zheng’s Stone Pagoda, Song and Yuan temple records, and Qing gazetteers preserve its relic pagoda, hall rebuilding and changes of name. Photographs published in 1958 and taken during the 1962 survey show its pagodas, Yuanjue Hall, timber frame and painted sculptures before relocation. Tang dynasty · Shanxi · Changzi County, Changzhi, Shanxi, China
007 Architecture Fengxue Temple Fengxue Temple stands on Mount Fengxue northeast of Ruzhou, formerly Linru County, Henan. Also known as Baiyun and Qianfeng Temple, it was associated with Master Zhen and his pagoda inscription in the Tang Kaiyuan era. Yanzhao revived the abandoned monastery during the Five Dynasties, making it an important Linji Chan center. Surviving buildings include the Tang Seventh Patriarch Pagoda, the Jin Middle Buddha Hall, and the Ming Vairocana Hall. The Bell Pavilion, first built under the Northern Song and repeatedly repaired, houses an iron bell cast in 1125. Fengxue Temple and its pagoda cemetery joined the third national list of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level in 1988. This article brings together original historical passages from Dream Pool Essays, Compendium of the Five Lamps, Outline of the Buddhas and Patriarchs, Records of Central Plains Inscriptions, General Gazetteer of Henan, and Supplementary Gazetteer of Fengxue. Tang dynasty · Henan · Ruzhou, Henan, China
008 Architecture Foguang Temple Foguang Temple lies in Wutai County, Shanxi, and takes its name from an auspicious response of "Buddha's light." In the fifth year of the Dali era of the Tang, the monk Facao saw several beams of white light to the temple's south; during the Yuanhe era there was a memorial reporting that "auspicious clouds appeared beside Foguang Temple." The Dunhuang Record of a Journey to Mount Wutai describes its seven-bay great Buddha hall and its three-story, seven-bay Maitreya pavilion; after the Huichang persecution the monk Yuancheng "sought out Foguang Temple anew" and rebuilt it step by step. The East Hall that survives today is a relic of that reconstruction. Tang Dynasty · Shanxi · Wutai County, Shanxi Province
009 Architecture Hua Pagoda at Guanghui Temple, Zhengding The Hua Pagoda at Guanghui Temple stands inside the south gate of Zhengding, also called Huata Temple or Duobao Pagoda. The temple's history traces back to the Sui and Tang, while the date of the pagoda itself drifts between the Jin Dading rebuilding and the Northern Song inscriptions discovered during 1990s restoration. The Qianlong Emperor climbed the pagoda and inscribed a poem; Liang Sicheng called it 'perhaps a sole surviving example within the seas'; in 1947 Zhao Shengming gave his life to protect the pagoda in battle. Tang · Hebei · Zhengding County, Hebei
010 Architecture Yunyan Temple, Jiangyou Yunyan Temple stands on Mount Douchuan in Wudu, Jiangyou, Sichuan. The county gazetteer dates its imperial foundation to the Tang Qianfu era; its eastern precinct was Buddhist and its western precinct Daoist. The Feitian Repository was built in 1181 under the Southern Song, repaired under the Yuan and survived the wars at the end of the Ming. This entry includes foundation records, Zhu Zhang’s poem and accounts of summit repairs, alongside historical photographs. Listed in 1988 in the third group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level as Yunyan Temple, with the designated period Song–Qing. Tang dynasty · Sichuan · Mount Douchuan, Wudu, Jiangyou, Mianyang, Sichuan, China
012 Architecture Nanchan Temple The main hall of Nanchan Temple is located in Lijia Village, Wutai County, Shanxi. An ink inscription under the beam reads “restored in the third year of Jianzhong of the Great Tang,” making it one of the earliest surviving Tang-dynasty timber structures with a definite date. Pre-restoration survey photos from 1953 show that the front-eave doors and windows, the eave bracket projections, and structural details still preserve original Tang construction. Tang Dynasty · Shanxi · Wutai County, Shanxi Province
013 Architecture Kaiyuan Temple, Quanzhou Huang Shougong made it a condition that he would give up his estate only when the mulberry trees bore lotus blossoms; days later, white lotuses covered the trees. Two centuries later, the Buddha hall, the sutra library, and the bell tower burned down in a single night. Thereafter Kaiyuan Temple was rebuilt again and again: wooden pagodas gave way to brick, and brick to stone, until a knife-bearing “Monkey Pilgrim” was carved onto the Renshou Pagoda—some three hundred years before the hundred-chapter Journey to the West. Later still, famine crowds filled the long galleries, and Ming-dynasty visitors circled the twin pagodas beneath the moon. Tang dynasty · Fujian · Licheng District, Quanzhou, Fujian Province
014 Architecture Shanhua Temple After the Song envoy Zhu Bian was detained in the Jin state, he moved into the Da Pu'en Temple and lived for fourteen years amid the rubble left by the fires at the end of the Liao dynasty, witnessing firsthand as the monk Yuanman raised funds to rebuild more than eighty bays. He recorded the experience in a stele inscription, and his own captivity thus became a testimony to the rebirth of this ancient Tang-dynasty temple. Tang Dynasty · Shanxi · Datong, Shanxi Province
015 Architecture Xiantong Monastery Xiantong Monastery is located in Taihuai Town, Wutai County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province. In the time of Wu Zetian of Tang, Dafu Lingjiu Monastery was renamed Great Huayan Monastery. The Tang Huayan monk Chengguan lectured at the monastery and wrote a new commentary on the Huayan Sutra. The Northern Song court included Huayan Monastery among the ten monasteries of the Five Terraces to be rebuilt; in the Ming Yongle era the Buddhist registry of Mount Wutai was established at the monastery, and the monastery and its Buddha śarīra stupa were rebuilt. In the thirty-third and thirty-fourth years of Wanli (1605–1606), the Ming monk Miaofeng Fudeng installed the copper hall and completed the brick “Seven Sites and Nine Assemblies” hall, leaving the copper hall and the beamless hall as the monastery’s core Ming-dynasty remains. Tang dynasty · Shanxi · Wutai County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province
016 Architecture Xingjiao Temple Pagodas The Xingjiao Temple Pagodas stand within Xingjiao Temple on the Shaoling Plateau in Xi'an. They are the collective designation for the three relic-burial pagodas of Xuanzang, Kuiji, and Woncheuk. The Xuanzang Pagoda occupies the center and is somewhat larger, erected when the temple was founded in the 2nd year of Zongzhang (669 CE); the Kuiji and Woncheuk pagodas flank it on either side and are somewhat smaller. The pagoda inscriptions of Xuanzang and Kuiji are Tang originals carved in the 4th year of Kaicheng; the Woncheuk inscription stone was broken and what is now embedded on the pagoda is a later re-carving. Tang Dynasty · Shaanxi · Chang'an District, Xi'an, Shaanxi
017 Architecture Xuanmiao Temple The state Taoist system of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang gave the city of Suzhou its Kaiyuan Palace; in the Song it was retitled Tianqing Temple, and after repeated destruction by war it was rebuilt by the court. In the Yuan, a woman donated her hairpins and earrings to repair the Three Gates; in the Ming, the timber rafts for rebuilding the Miluo Treasure Pavilion were scattered by wind upon the river, yet the stele record says the drifting timbers afterward all gathered back together. The temple front also became the place where hundreds of weavers waited each day for work. In the Qing it was renamed Yuanmiao Temple and became an altar of birthday prayers for the southern tours; in 1912 the Miluo Treasure Pavilion burned down, while the Southern Song Hall of the Three Pure Ones has survived to this day. Tang Dynasty · Jiangsu · Gusu District, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province
018 Architecture Yueyang Tower Yueyang Tower stands in Yueyanglou District, Yueyang, Hunan Province. In the Tang dynasty it was already the gate tower of the city of Yuezhou overlooking Dongting Lake; in the Northern Song it was rebuilt by Teng Zongliang, for which Fan Zhongyan wrote the Record of the Yueyang Tower; the surviving main tower follows the form established by the rebuilding of the sixth year of the Guangxu era of the Qing. Drawing on the original texts of poems, records, stele inscriptions, and gazetteers from the Tang and Song through the Ming and Qing, this entry also preserves, in old photographs from around 1900 to the years of the Japanese occupation, the former appearance of its city walls, lakeshore, streets, and courtyards. Tang Dynasty · Hunan · Yueyanglou District, Yueyang, Hunan Province
019 Architecture Zhaoren Temple Zhaoren Temple stands in Changwu County, Xianyang, Shaanxi, on the former Qianshuiyuan battlefield in what was Yilu County, Binzhou, under the Tang. Li Shimin defeated Xue Rengao here in 618. An imperial order in the twelfth month of Zhenguan 3 called for temples on former battlefields to benefit the dead; this temple was completed in the first month of Zhenguan 4. Zhu Zishe composed the Stele of Zhaoren Temple in Binzhou of the Great Tang. Its unsigned regular-script calligraphy has been attributed to Yu Shinan, Ouyang Tong and Wang Zhijing. In 1988, Zhaoren Temple Main Hall was included in the third group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level, with its period recorded as Tang. Historical sources reproduced here include the Illustrated Gazetteer of the Prefectures and Counties of the Yuanhe Era, Sea of Jade, Colophons to the Collected Records of Antiquity, Treasured Inscriptions on Metal and Stone, Inscribed Splendors in Stone and Ink, and Collected Inscriptions on Metal and Stone. Images come from The Zhaoren Temple Stele (1927), Panorama of Asia (1932), and Cultural Monuments of China (1940). Tang dynasty · Shaanxi · Changwu County, Xianyang, Shaanxi

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