[Photo from tylyhy.cn]

Situated at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain, southwest of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, Jinci Temple is the only one of its kind, and a precious historical and cultural heritage which integrates China’s ancient arts of buildings for worship, gardens, statues, wall paintings and inscriptions. It’s also a magnificent and splendid masterpiece from the 7th century AD to the 12th century AD.

Jinci Temple was built in the Western Zhou Dynasty (the 11th century BC) to worship Ji Yu, Vassal of the Tang State of the Western Zhou Dynasty. According to the records of Commentary on the Waterways Classic written by Li Daoyuan during the North Wei Dynasty, Jinci Temple was already quite sizeable 1,500 years ago. After hundreds of years spanning the Northern Qi Dynasty, Sui Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Five Dynasties, Song Dynasty, Jin Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Jinci Temple has developed into what it is today through over 2,000 years of planning, construction, repair and expansion.

As a paradigm for China’s ancient gardens and statues in the Tang and Song dynasties, it reached its peak between the 7th and 12th centuries AD. Inscriptions of the flourishing Tang Dynasty along with over 100 ancient buildings of different dynasties of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing are well preserved. In particular, the main structure of the Hall of the Saintly Mother is honored as the only typical and representative building of the North Song Dynasty in the history of ancient Chinese architecture.

Statues of a group of characters made during the Song Dynasty and preserved in the Hall of the Saintly Mother made breakthroughs in depicting real people from the society at that time instead of religious images, which introduced realistic works of art. Those statues are the only ones depicting characters of the royal court and are rare masterpieces of high artistic standard in the history of Chinese imagery.

The unique general layout of Jinci Temple, along with the running water of Nanlao Spring and ancient trees alongside the building, allow the integration of building space and natural landscapes as well as a smart combination of artificial beauty and natural beauty, which reflect the traditional Chinese architectural idea of “unity of heaven and man and integration of objects and people” in a centralized manner.

The ancient history, long time span, excellent geographical location and beautiful landscape of Jinci Temple bring incomparable advantages. With a great number of ancient buildings, statues, inscriptions, wall paintings and ancient and rare trees, Jinci Temple has reflected the development and changes in ancient China’s politics, economy, architecture, garden, imagery, religion, culture and many other areas from different perspectives. The historical, artistic, scientific and appreciation of Jinci Temple made it the most representative one to integrate an ancestral temple with garden art and boasts the longest history. It’s also one of the most valuable heritages in the treasury of ancient Chinese culture and mankind’s architectural arts.