Just four days, a complete guide to ancient architecture in Shanxi (Southern Shanxi edition)
You asked for it, and here comes the Southern Shanxi guide!
Day1 Yuncheng
·Yongle Palace—Guangren King Temple—Jiezhou Guandi Temple
Stay: Hejin
Highlight 1: Yongle Palace
One of the world's largest existing ancient mural art treasures, the 'Chaoyuan Tu' of Yongle Palace is the pinnacle of group composition development in the history of world painting, a rare masterpiece. (For details, refer to the video on the homepage)
Highlight 2: Guangren King Temple
This is one of only 3.5 Tang Dynasty wooden structures in all of China. It is recommended to arrive in the afternoon, bring your own tea, find shade on the stage opposite the temple, drink tea, and watch the ancient architecture shine. (For details, refer to the video on the homepage: Guangren King Temple)
Highlight 3: Jiezhou Guandi Temple
The earliest Guandi Temple in the country, I personally think the highlight is in the last building, the Spring and Autumn Tower. On the second floor of the Spring and Autumn Tower, you can see the highly artistic value of the chrysanthemum caisson and the true image of Guandi. (For details, refer to the video on the homepage: Jiezhou Guandi Temple)
Day2 Linfen
·Xixian Xiaoxitian—Guangsheng Temple
Stay: Hongtong
Highlight 1: Xixian Xiaoxitian
The most shocking place along the way, known as the 'ultimate song of hanging sculpture art'. The full wall of hanging sculptures that have survived three hundred years are presented before you, and that visual shock can only be felt when you come to Xiaoxitian. Also, for game enthusiasts, this is the filming location for the upcoming blockbuster 'Black Myth: Wukong' (I filmed a documentary about Old Wang, the temple keeper of Xiaoxitian, interested friends can find my video online: Shanxi Temple Keeper)
Highlight 2: Guangsheng Temple Lower Temple Water God Temple Murals
It is recommended to arrive at Guangsheng Temple around 3 pm. Guangsheng Temple is divided into upper and lower temples, start with the lower temple, the highlight is the Water God Temple murals, which contain a large number of Yuan Dynasty life scenes, these are murals included in history textbooks.
Highlight 3: Guangsheng Temple Lower Temple Lost National Treasures Overseas
Go to the Daxiong Hall of the lower temple, where only some remnants of murals remain today. The original murals on the walls, the Yuan Dynasty 'Blazing Light Buddha Assembly' mural on the east mountain wall of the rear hall is displayed in the Chinese Temple Hall of the Nelson Museum, and the Yuan Dynasty 'Medicine Buddha Assembly' mural on the west mountain wall is displayed in the Sackler Gallery of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the two Ming Dynasty murals 'Blazing Light Buddha Assembly' and 'Medicine Buddha Assembly' in the front hall are displayed in the Chinese Rotunda of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. (For details, search online for my video: Failed Temple Keeping)
Highlight 4: Guangsheng Temple Upper Temple Feihong Tower
The best-preserved glazed tower in the country, remember to arrive before sunset. Birds circling the tower at sunset is a spectacular sight, as the upper temple is on high ground, perfect for watching the sunset below the tower, where you can feel the romance of the ancients.
Day3 Jinzhong
Shuanglin Temple—Zhenguo Temple
Stay: Taiyuan
Highlight 1: Shuanglin Temple The World's Number One Weituo
The name of the Shuanglin Temple, the hall of Eastern colored sculpture art, comes from 'Both forests enter nirvana', and the representative sculpture here is the 'Eastern David', the world's number one Weituo statue.
Highlight 2: Shuanglin Temple Ksitigarbha Hall
Here, the philosophy of life from death is expressed, showing the ancient view of life, with an alternative group of statues.
Highlight 3: Zhenguo Temple Great Bell
At Zhenguo Temple, I found the answer to why Shanxi people have preserved so many intact cultural relics. It all started with thinking about a great bell here, for which I filmed the old man selling mineral water in the Erlang Hall of the temple. He told me a lot of valuable information.
Day4 Taiyuan
Northern Qi Mural Museum
Highlight 1 Northern Qi Murals
China's first tomb mural art museum of archaeological site type, Chen Danqing said these murals represent the highest realm of Chinese line aesthetics, with explorations of the Northern Qi people's cultural demeanor, as well as various depictions of beasts from the 'Classic of Mountains and Seas' in the tombs, especially recommended: Ascension Diagram
Highlight 2 VR Walk into the Tomb
You can experience wearing VR glasses and use high-tech means to walk into the tomb to appreciate the murals.
This is a four-day easy and comfortable journey through the essence of ancient architecture in Southern Shanxi. Of course, Shanxi's treasures cannot be seen in one go. If you have any good suggestions, feel free to add them in the comments section to provide more clues for those about to set off. More extended video content is on my homepage, feel free to follow me. I am the documentary director Bai Song, hoping to accompany you on every journey, making it worthwhile.
Take the intercity bus 109 in the Yuncheng City to get off at Dongmao Station in Yucheng County, and then take a taxi for six yuan to the entrance of Yongle Palace. Scan the code to enter the park with the QR code of Trip.com booking. There are three large halls in the park with Yuan Dynasty murals, but they are not allowed to take pictures. The security guard follows like a thief. There is also a woman who doesn't know what to do. The attitude is not good, which makes people uncomfortable. The expensive fare should be better for tourists!
Colleagues and friends recommended to go, far from Yuncheng North Station. Overall, it is OK, but the main hall needs to queue up, some time is a waste of time, it is recommended to shorten the time of each tourist, 15 minutes is enough.
The worst and best thing about Yongle Palace is his location! Not good, it is located in Yucheng County. It is more than 80 kilometers to Sanmenxia here, and more than 80 kilometers to Yuncheng City. Basically, it is necessary to drive or take a taxi. It is very inconvenient to close the road when it rains and snows. Basically, except for historical and cultural lovers or passing by, they will not go there specially. And with such a small income, Yongle Palace will not get a complete repair opportunity (compared to Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes). It is also said that there are fewer people who receive human destruction opportunities, and fewer opportunities to be commercialized and over-makeup. In short, Yongle Palace is a treasure, but a treasure with a little dilemma.
Originally known as Dachunyang Wanshou Palace, it was built to commemorate the famous Taoist Lu Dongbin in the Tang Dynasty. It is a famous Taoist palace view. It is famous for its exquisite Yuan Dynasty murals and is one of the gems of ancient Chinese mural art. The main building complex of Yongle Palace sits north and south, and along the central axis are arranged in turn with the Dragon and Tiger Palace (Wujimen), Sanqing Palace (Wuji Palace), Chunyang Palace and Chongyang Palace. These buildings reflect the typical Yuan Dynasty Taoist Palace architectural style. Among them, the Sanqing Palace is the most magnificent, is the largest palace in the palace, and is also the essence of the mural art. Especially the "Dynasty Yuan Map" in the Sanqing Temple depicts the magnificent scenes of the Taoist gods worshiping the heavenly throne of the Yuan Dynasty. The picture characters are many, vivid, colorful and smooth. It is the peak of ancient Chinese mural art. It is the study of social life, religious belief, The costume system and so on have extremely high value. What is more shocking is that Yongle Palace has been relocated in order to cooperate with the construction of the Sanmenxia Reservoir of the Yellow River! This is simply an engineering miracle, let people pay homage to the wisdom and courage of ancient craftsmen. Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the security uncles in each temple are not only very conscientious, but also enthusiastically share historical events about Yongle Palace with tourists, which gives me a deeper understanding of this place.
非常值得一看的地方。朝元图壁画太值得一看了,元代壁画真是经典。从运城火车站坐109路到了芮城东茂站下车,打出租7元钱到了永乐宫。
从运城坐109路,到了华茂站下车,打了一辆出租车,7元钱到了永乐宫。来了运城三次,一直无缘来拜谒吕祖,这次终于满足了我的愿望。