Xiezhou Guandi Temple

　　

　　Guandi temple is one of the temples distributed most widely in ancient China. It was built to commemorate Guan Yu, a fighting hero, who was subsequently reputed as immortal.

　　

　　

There are numerous Guandi temples nationwide, but the Xiezhou Guandi Temple is the most famous one. It stands in the west of Xiezhou County, Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province. This place is the birthplace of Guan Yu, so the governments of past dynasties strongly supported the construction of the Guandi temple here, and it thus became the largest one of the like in China.

　　

　　The Xiezhou Guandi Temple was first built in 589, and rebuilt and expanded in the following dynasties. It was destroyed by war in 1702, and its repair was finished more than10 years later. The extant buildings cover an area of 180,000 square meters and fall into the southern part and northern part. Main buildings include the Memorial Archway, the Qunzi Pavilian, the Sanyi Pavilion, the End Gate, the Side Gate, the Front Gate, the Yushu Tower and the Chongning Hall on the central axis; the Stone Decorated Archway, the Wooden Decorated Archway, the Bell-Drum Tower, the Chongsheng Temple, the Hugong Ancestral Temple, the Stele Pavilion and the Bell Pavilion on the both sides of the central axis; the Qisu Qian1iu Memorial Archway, the Chunqiu Building, the Knife Tower and the Stamp Tower, etc. These buildings show the traditional style of China's ancient architecture and they are complete and have a compact layout.