[Photo: www.lyta.com.cn]

Luoyang Zhougong Temple Museum (formerly Luoyang Capital Museum) is based on the Zhougong Temple with the purpose of preserving Zhougong Culture and the Capital Ruins Culture.

The temple itself, also known as the Yuansheng Temple, was built in the late Sui to early Tang Dynasty, and is one of China’s three biggest Zhougong temples. It honors Zhougong, who was a thinker, politician, militarist, and founder of Confucianism during the Western Zhou Dynasty, who helped Zhouwu Wang with state affairs and defeating the Kingdom of Shang, building the city of Luoyang, establisheding the Zhou Kingdom, helping Chengwang establish the capital of Jiaru, and establishing the system of rites and music.

It is also a sacred place where the offspring of Zhougong, who cover more than 150 family names, can look for their roots and offer sacrifices to ancestors. It was rebuilt and expanded during Tang, Ming, and Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China years and, even after more than 1,000 years, it is still a magnificent building.

The temple faces south and covers 50-mu (3.3 hectares) area and consists of Bell and Drum Tower, Dingding Hall, Liyue Hall, Ancestor Hall, and East and West Verandas. It has 25 principle columns.

With Dingding Hall having the oldest and best preserved, the architectural art of the Liao and Jin dynasties. The statue of Boqin, the eldest son of Zhougong, in Dingding Hall is one of the larger statues, with colored paintings from the Ming Dynasty discovered in Henan Province, with historical and cultural value. Other spots of historical significance are the ruins of Yuansheng Hall, the Pavilion with the Fangdu Tablet, the steles with inscriptions of Zhougong’s interpretation of dreams, a tablet with an inscribed preface to the Yuansheng family genealogy, a tablet with an inscribed essay on the restoration of the Zhougong Temple, and an 800-some-year-old Chinese Scholar Tree.