001 Architecture Xuankong Temple Xuankong Temple of Hunyuan, Datong, Shanxi stands in Ciyao Gorge on Mount Heng, a complex of Buddhist temple buildings set against a cliff whose official dating reaches back to the late Northern Wei. The surviving halls and pavilions derive mainly from Ming and Qing rebuildings: niches and chambers are cut into the rock face, while timber structures and plank walkways jut out beyond the cliff. This entry gathers the Jin-dynasty Record of Xuankong Temple, with Poem, Ming and Qing travel accounts and gazetteers, the restoration story recorded in the Tongzhi third-year (1864) Stele of the Reconstruction of Xuankong Temple, and an old photograph from the 1937 Yilin Monthly: Special Travel Issue. Northern Wei Hunyuan County, Datong, Shanxi Province Xuankong Temple · Xuankong Temple of Mount Heng · Hunyuan →
002 Architecture Taihe Palace Taihe Palace stands on Mingfeng Mountain in Kunming, Yunnan. Founded in the Wanli era of the Ming, it is centered on a gilded hall cast of copper. The original copper hall was moved to Mount Jizu in the Chongzhen era, and Wu Sangui, the Prince Who Pacified the West, recast the copper hall on Mingfeng Mountain in the Kangxi era; in the late Qing the complex passed through wartime destruction, fundraising, and continual rebuilding, and old photographs from 1911 onward preserve the former appearance of the Golden Hall with its steps and balustrades. Ming Dynasty Kunming, Yunnan Province Golden Hall of Taihe Palace · Taihe Palace · Golden Hall →