Dayu Temple

Located in the north of Zhouyuan Village, Sudong Township, Hancheng City, Dayu Temple is a national key cultural relic protection site. It was founded in the fifth year of Dade in the Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty.

Dayu Temple was built to commemorate Xia Yu, a tribal chieftain in ancient times. Legend has it that during the reign of Tang Yao and Yu Shun, a severe flood occurred in the Yellow River Basin, and Shun sent Yu to control the flood. It is said that during the flood control period, Yu "worked hard and worried, lived outside for thirteen years, and dared not enter his home." He used dredging methods to control the flood. Later, he seized Shun's position as tribal chieftain by force and replaced him. When he died, he passed the position to his son Qi, and the "abdication" system was completely broken.

Dayu Temple faces south and is located in the north. The central axis building includes the Offering Hall and the Sleeping Hall. The two halls are connected by a roll-roofed rain canopy. There are three groups of brick-based wooden shrines in the main hall, which are divided into 9 rooms by hanging flower columns. Each shrine has a relief sculpture of two dragons playing with pearls. On the shrine table, there are paintings of two dragons playing with pearls or phoenixes facing the sun painted with gilded powder. On the east wall of the hall is a painted mural of Sun Wukong subduing Red Boy, and on the west wall is a painted mural of Guo Ziyi riding alone to meet the Huihe and a celebration banquet.

The temple preserves a wooden plaque with the words "Dayu Temple" from the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty and an inscription on the reconstruction of Dayu Temple from the Bailian period of the Ming Dynasty.