Off to Xian 8 (Xiyue Temple 西嶽廟)

On Day 2 of the Tour, we were brought to have our first glimpse of the famous Western Mountain of China, Huashan(華山) but the purpose of the visit was merely to get the tickets for the formal visit the following day. All we saw that day was the 西嶽廟 (Xiyue Temple or West Mountain Temple).

This is the hall of the ticket office for getting transit vehicle and cable car tickets for going to and then up Hua Shan. There is an underground model of all the hills of Huashan, including the cable cars, which can be viewed on plexiglass placed over them at floor level at the ticket office

The car park where we would get the environmental friendly transit vehicles to go to Hua Shan.

These are the environmental friendly vehicles which would take us to the Hua Shan cable car station the following day



A panoramic view of the front wall of the Xiyue temple



Another view of the front wall of the temple

Some of the corner towers of the temple compound built in three tiers (三進)

The entrance to the temple, the Haoling Gate (灝欞門) or the south gate, having its name written in gold characters against a Tibetan blue background

Entrance to the temple

To get access into the temple, we got to pass through two gates. The temple is the place where Chinese Emperors did their annual ceremonial worship of the God of Heaven to obtain blessings for the nation and its people

The buildings to the right hand side of the main entrance

A view of the same buildings from inside of the main entrance

This blue stone archway is called Shaohao (少昊)  ( meaning young White Emperor, one of the five gods which legends say guard the Huashan) Hall Archway built in Wanli 萬曆 period of the Ming Dynasty with four pillars and  three entrances. The Shaohoa Hall is believed to be the place where the gods of Huashan handle their dealings with the human world. The Xiyue Temple is the only Lama or Tibetan Temple in Shanxi.

This is the Wumen (Noon Gates)(午門), signifying that those who were permitted to enter it were at the height of their political career because only high officials were permitted to enter through such gates with the emperor for the relevant worship



A close up of the plaque indicating its name

A huge painting depicting the emperor and his retinue inside one of the halls. The green, orange, and yellow colors used by Tibetans is evident.

Tibetan style curtains

A monument at the one of the buildings, presumably also built during the Ming dynasty.

A wooden plague saying that the mountains are like lotus the trees like spirits, written by Emperor Chien Lung 乾隆 of the Qing Dynasty .

A wooden carving decorating the stone monument below

Dragons and phoenixes

Stone plagues recording the history of the temple are adorned with wooden carvings above. It's obvious that they haven't been dusted for a very long time. Presumably the temple officials are busy drinking tea and playing chess.

This is the Jingcheng Men (The Golden City Wall) built in the Ming dynasty and repaired in Qing dynasty. The lines are relatively simple and sturdy.

Entrance guarding stones in the form of drums with simple floral pattens, very unlike the overly intricate Qing style

This is the place where the emperor would sit before he enters the main temple for doing the annual ceremonial worship. At the side, we found some people sitting chatting and drinking tea

The first floor of the building all done in wood. This used to be the emperor's study.

Some marble stools and a table to on side of the first floor presumably a place where he could have some tea and a game of chess?

On the way down, on the staircase landing on the ground level, we found a young girl preparing tea for the officials on the ground. There is a table with a Chinese chess board with chess on it. Presumably that's what the government officials looking after the temple do to while away the time .

Play of light from the windows on the marble chairs

A glimpse of Hua Shan through an arch and the temple walls

Another view of Hua Shan through the temple walls

Outside of the old building, we can find other Qing style buildings and bridges over the lotus ponds.

Another view of part of the Hua Shan through some the pillars at the side of the old building



The path leading to the main temple is lined with trees hundreds of year old



Some of the trees in the inner courtyard are more than a thousand years old.

the remains of a tree more than a thousand year old now overgrown with creepers in the courtyard garden between the temple buildings

A view of the various buildings we passed through taken from the platform in front of the Xiyue Temple. In the background to its south is the Hua Shan.Doesn't one of the hills above the tree top to the left of the photo look a bit like our Lion Rock Hill in Kowloon? From the main entrance Haoling Gate (灝欞門), we passed through first the Wumen (Noon Gate) (午門)  then the Haoxing Gate (灝星門) in the middle, then the Golden City Gate (金城門). Behind the Golden City Gate is the Haoling Hall (灝靈殿) behind which is the palace where the emperor would usually stay during the period of his annual worship and beside it the Imperial Study and the Wensiu Tower (萬壽閣), now destroyed.

This is the main temple, on the highest tier of the 3-tier group of temple architecture.

The temple is surrounded by fortress type walls on both sides presumable as security measure for protection of the emperor during his annual visits and other, the same way we need to pass through first the thick outside wall through the main gate into a court yard and then another gate through another thick brick wall.

Some roof decorations

Another view of some of the buildings there

Another view one of the auxiliary temple buildings

A tortoise shelter beside the pond



The temple buildings for offering incense

Various minor buildings in the inner courtyard for the leisure of the emperors

According to internet sources, the Xiyue temples is about 1.5  KM to the south and east of Huayin county and about 5 miles from the foot of the Huashan first built in the lst year of Yuanguang period of Western Han 西漢元光年 ie. 134 BCE (206 BCE-- 8 AD) as 集靈宮 at the mouth of the Huangpu Valley (黃甫峪口) but was later moved to its present site during the Eastern Han Dynasty (東漢) by Hanwudi (漢武帝), continued in the Tang dynasty and then further in the Song dynasty and renovated in Ming and Qing dynasties.Most of the present structures were completed in the Ming Dyansty (1368-1644 AD).  It has three layers (三進) from the outermost to the innermost. It's the emperor's personal temple for worship of the heavens and earth and their gods with city walls 10 meters high and 7 meters thick and towers at each of its four corners. It is the biggest temple amongst the temples associated with the five great mountains of China, occupying an area of some 120,000 square metres. All the buildings are aligned along a north-south axis with six visibly divided architectural groups, like a mini version of the palaces of Forbidden City in Beijing. After the South Gate (南門), we find the Noon Gate (午門) and the first layer of buildings. Then we cross into the Lingxing Gate  Gate (欞星門) into the second layer of buildings and courtyards, with stone steles and plagues in stone. Then we pass through Golden City Gate (金城門) into the third and innermost layer (三進), consisting of Huoling Hall (灝靈殿), the chief building in the Temple behind which is the Emperor's sleeping quarters and study. Though damaged during various wars and natural disasters, it still has more than more than 50 precious stone steles including Golden City Gate, Lingxing Gate, decorated stone archway and the the emperor's study. The temple is built with its back to the north facing the main peak of Hua Shan to its south and is devoted to the worship of Shao Hao, one of the five gods of Huashan concerned with human affairs. It is built with symmetrical patterns along the south-to-north
axis, separated into six spaces that assort with each other to form an integrated temple. This temple also contains some precious
cultural relics, such as the Green Cattle Tree, Free Pool, the Chinese
Stone Man, and the Old Archway. It is thus designated in 1988 as one of the third batches of key national relics to be preserved.