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Jinci Temple

Song Dynasty Legacies

Located southwest of Taiyuan City, Jin Ci Temple was built before the Northern Wei Dynasty to commemorate Shu Yu, son of King Wu of Zhou. Inside the temple, there are historical monuments such as the Hall of the Goddess, Flying Bridge Across Fish Ponds and the Tang Shuyu Temple, as well as painted maid statues in Song Dynasty, the Nanlao Spring and the 3,000-year-old Zhou Cypress.

The Jinci Temple 晋祠 (Jin Shrines) is located 20 kilometers southwest of Taiyuan City, under the Hanging Urn Peak. As the saying goes, “If you don’t go to the Jinci Temple, you’ve visited Taiyuan in vain. It is not only a rare treasure of history and art, but also the source of the culture of the Three Jin areas.

Ji Fa, King Wu of Zhou, destroyed the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou Dynasty, the longest in Chinese history. After Ji Fa’s death, his son Ji Song succeeded to the throne and was known as King Cheng of Zhou. King Cheng of Zhou had another brother named Shuyu, who was also known as Tang Shuyu after King Cheng of Zhou gave him the state of Tang (present-day Shanxi, soon to be renamed Jin). To commemorate this founding monarch, the descendants of Jin built a Shrine of Tang Shuyu 唐叔虞祠, which is the Jinci Temple today.

Manywhere Trivia:
Taiyuan was an ancient state of Tang, so the dynasty established by Li Yuan, the king of Tang, who started his rebellion from Taiyuan, was naturally named after Tang. This is the origin of the Tang Dynasty in China.

The Jinci Temple was built before the Northern Wei Dynasty, initially with only one Tang Shuyu Temple, but as the years went by, the scale of the Jinci Temple expanded, including the Hall of the Holy Mother 圣母殿 and the Flying Bridge Across Fish Ponds 鱼沼飞梁 built during the Tiansheng period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1023-1032).

The Hall of the Holy Mother is the oldest building in the Jinci Temple, with a height of 19 meters and a width of 7 rooms. The 43 painted statues in the Hall of the Holy Mother are almost all Song Dynasty originals, and Yijiang 邑姜, Mother of Tang Shuyu (wife of King Wu of Zhou and daughter of Jiang Ziya) is enshrined in the center. The graceful postures and superbly carved costumes of the maids on both sides, with their different facial expressions and eyes, are of extremely valuable artistic and research value.

There is a stone bridge that stands on the square pond in front of the temple. 34 octagonal stone pillars under the bridge support the cross-shaped bridge body, which looks like a large bird with high flying wings, thus the name “Flying Bridge Across Fish Ponds”. With its long history and unique shape, the bridge is the only one in existence in China.

There are three outstanding features in Jinci, one of which is the Song Dynasty Painted Maiden Statue. The second one is the Nanlao Spring 难老泉, with crystal clear and ever-running spring water. The third is a Zhou Cypress, which is said to have been planted during the Zhou Dynasty and is over 3,000 years old. In addition, there are Jinrentai, Terrace of Iron Warriors (Song Dynasty), Dui Yue Fang, Shuijingtai, Shui Jing Tai, Sheli Shengsheng Pagoda, Shui Mu Tower, Tang Monument Pavilion, and other famous scenery in Jinci Temple.