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Henan

Chinese ancient architecture and grottoes in Henan: 8 entries, including White Horse Temple, Gaocheng Observatory, Qimu Que, and more.

001 Architecture Gaocheng Observatory Later texts traced ancient Yangcheng’s tradition of measuring solar shadows back to the Duke of Zhou in the Western Zhou. A stone gnomon was erected here in the Tang, and the Yuan added a forty-chi-high observatory in the form of a monumental gnomon. Liu Dunzhen’s 1930s survey for the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture preserved measured drawings and photographs taken before the site was shelled; the restoration plan entrusted to the Society was never carried out because war intervened. Japanese artillery destroyed the eastern chamber atop the terrace during the 1944 Central Henan Campaign. After the 1975 restoration, two shell holes were retained in the east wall. Western Zhou · Henan · Gaocheng Town, Dengfeng, Henan Province
002 Architecture Taishi Que The Taishi Que (pillar-gates) stand some hundred paces south of the Zhongyue Temple in Dengfeng, Henan, serving as the spirit-road gates before the temple of Mount Taishi of the Central Peak. They were first built in the fifth year of Yuanchu under Emperor An of Han (118 CE) by Lü Chang, magistrate of Yangcheng. The lintel bears a raised-seal inscription reading “Central Peak Taishi Yangcheng.” The front inscription praises the mountain spirit: “the mound earth…, the purest qi of Dai, spring gives birth to all things, clouds rise from an inch of skin.” A rear inscription was added in the fourth year of Yanguang. Together with the Shaoshi Que and the Qimu Que, they are known as the Three Han-Dynasty Que of Mount Song. Eastern Han · Henan · Dengfeng City, Henan Province
003 Architecture Shaoshi Que The Shaoshi Que stand west of Xingjipu at the eastern foot of Mount Shaoshi in Dengfeng, Henan, serving as the spirit-road gates before the temple of Mount Shaoshi, with east and west pillars facing each other. The north face bears the six-character inscription “Spirit-Road Que of Shaoshi.” The pillar bodies are carved with images of cuju (football), hounds chasing hares, and unicorns. The Song Shu comments that their style is “especially archaic and unadorned.” The temple itself vanished long ago; the Jinshi Tu notes: “The Shaoshi temple can no longer be seen; only these que remain.” Eastern Han · Henan · Dengfeng City, Henan Province
004 Architecture Qimu Que The Qimu Que stand due south of the Qimu Stone beneath Mount Taishi on Mount Song in Dengfeng, Henan. They are spirit-road gates built in the second year of Yanguang under Emperor An of Han (123 CE) by Zhu Chong, Grand Administrator of Yingchuan. The Qimu Stone is said to be the transformation of Tushanshi, wife of the Great Yu—Yu turned into a bear while taming the floods; Tushanshi fled in shame and at the foot of Mount Songgao turned to stone, which cracked open on its north side and gave birth to Qi. The left side of the pillar body bears a large-seal inscription narrating Yu’s flood-control deeds. Eastern Han · Henan · Dengfeng City, Henan Province
005 Architecture White Horse Temple White Horse Temple (Baima Si) stands in Luoyang, Henan. Later texts call it the first Buddhist monastery in China, founded by Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han; its name derives from the white horse on which Kāśyapa Mātaṅga and Dharmaratna are said to have carried the scriptures into Luoyang. After the wartime fires of the Jingkang era, the eastern pagoda cloister was rebuilt under the Jin; the main temple was restored under the Yuan; and it was repaired again in the Hongwu and Jiajing eras of the Ming and the Kangxi era of the Qing. Eastern Han Dynasty · Henan · Luoyang, Henan Province
006 Architecture Songyue Pagoda The Songyue Temple Pagoda stands at the southern foot of Mount Taishi in Dengfeng, Henan. With fifteen closely spaced eaves and a dodecagonal plan, it is the oldest surviving brick pagoda in China. Originally the detached palace of Emperor Xiaoming of the Northern Wei, it was converted into a Buddhist temple in the first year of Zhengguang (520). During the Later Zhou suppression of Buddhism, it was proposed to “turn the temple into a Daoist abbey and the ancient pagoda into an altar,” but the pagoda was ultimately spared because of “the protection of the Eight Divisions.” Li Yong’s stele describes the pagoda as “rising from the ground on four tiers and rounding into the sky in eight aspects.” Northern Wei-Northern and Southern Dynasties · Henan · Dengfeng, Henan Province
007 Architecture Xiuding Temple A Tang-dynasty biography records how Zhang Sengmeng gave up hunting after wounding a deer, and how he hid a tiger to save its life during a hunt by Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei—from which Tiancheng Temple arose. The temple bore in turn the names Chengshan Temple, Heshui Temple, and Xiuding Temple; at the Northern Zhou persecution of Buddhism it left the record that “this pagoda alone survived”; the Sui and Tang restored the temple, and Song and Yuan inscriptions still show the pagoda standing and the temple flourishing. These materials trace the name, ruin and revival, and repairs of Xiuding Temple in Anyang, Henan, and provide documentary clues for studying the extant Tang-dynasty square relief-brick pagoda. Northern Wei Dynasty · Henan · Anyang County, Henan Province
008 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

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