Henan

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Architecture

Taishi Que

Taishi Que are the divine gateway towers in front of the Taishi Shrine, the predecessor of the Zhongyue Temple. They are located on the central axis, more than 600 meters in front of the Tianzhong Pavilion of the Zhongyue Temple, at the foot of Huanggai Peak of Taishi Mountain in the east of Dengfeng City. Later, they became an important building in the leading space of the Zhongyue Temple in successive dynasties. Taishi Que are the earliest existing temple towers in China, an important physical witness to the ancient worship of the Taishi Mountain god, and a model of ancient Chinese sacrificial ritual architecture.

Architecture

Songyue Pagoda

Located at the southern foot of Mount Taishi in Songshan, Dengfeng, Henan, the Songyue Pagoda has weathered 1500 years of wind and rain and is a brilliant star of early Chinese Buddhist architecture. This article not only examines the construction history of this Northern Wei twelve-sided brick pagoda in detail but also compiles important historical documents such as the 'Guang Hong Ming Ji' and the 'Stele of Songyue Temple'. Combining precious historical images from 1920 with modern research, we present a comprehensive view of this ancient pagoda's millennium-long transformation from a Northern Wei imperial palace to a Buddhist holy site.