[Photo from tylyhy.cn]

Jin Dou Daifu Ci lies in Shanglan Village, 20 kilometers northwest of Taiyuan. Situated on the left side of the Fenhe Valley, it was built to commemorate Dou Chou, a senior official from the Kingdom of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period. Dou, with the given name of Ming Dou, worked on digging canals to benefit the people in Lang Meng (today’s Huangzhai in Yangqu County). It is rumored that when Confucius was travelling through the kingdoms, he went to visit Dou because of his admiration for him. Unluckily, when his carriage reached Niangzi Guan, he was told that Dou had been killed by Zhao Jian and Confucius had to leave with great regret. In the Song Dynasty, Dou was honored as Marquis Yingji by emperor Song Shenzong. That’s why Dou Ci is also called Yingji Ci.

Dou Daifu Ci is spectacular with its ancient pines and cypresses. Dou Chou’s statue sits upright in the center of the hall of the temple. As the temple lies at the foot of Lieshi Hill, it is also called Lieshi Shen Ci. In June of the eighth year of Yuanfeng in the Song Dynasty, the temple was flooded by the Fenhe River and it had to be moved northward to be rebuilt. Steles that tell the story of this have been erected over the past dynasties. The gates, pavilions and halls that have survived are those rebuilt in the third year of Zhizheng in the Yuan Dynasty (1343). They have partly kept the styles of the Song and Jin eras. With simple and precise structure, they are rare examples of the architecture left from the Jin and Yuan dynasties.

A spring gushes out from under the cliff of the Lieshi Hill next to the temple. The water is so clear that the bottom of it is visible and the fish can be counted. As the water temperature is very low, it is called “cold spring”. Reflecting the cypresses and ancient temple, the spring is elegant. “Lieshi Cold Spring” is one of the tourist attractions in Taiyuan.

Address: Shanglan Village, 20 kilometers northwest of Taiyuan

TEL: None