Chapter 8 Chapter Seven: Masterpieces of Liao, Jin and Yuan Ancient Architectural Art

Both the Northern Song Dynasty and the Southern Song Dynasty had small territories, and countries such as Liao and Jin coexisted with them.In the late period of the Five Dynasties, the Khitan people founded the country, and in 947 the name of the country was officially changed to Liao. In 1125, it was destroyed by the Jin Kingdom built by the Jurchens.Soon after the rise of Mongolia, the gold was destroyed in 1234, and in the process of large-scale military conquest, the Great Khanate across Eurasia was established. In 1271, Kublai Khan became the Great Khan, named the country Yuan, established the Yuan Dynasty, established Dadu (now Beijing) as its capital, destroyed the Southern Song Dynasty in 1279, and unified the whole country.

During the Liao, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Shanxi and Hebei were the hinterland of the government and the rear of the war, leaving many monuments.Buddhism was prevalent in the Liao and Jin Dynasties, so temples and pagodas are the most numerous monuments.The Guanyin Pavilion of Dule Temple in Jixian County, Tianjin, the Huayan Temple and Shanhua Temple in Datong, and the wooden pagoda of Fogong Temple in Yingxian County, Shanxi Province are all well preserved. In the west gate of Ji County, Tianjin, it was first built in the Tang Dynasty and rebuilt in the second year of Liao Tonghe (984 A.D.).The main buildings in the temple are Shanmen and Guanyin Pavilion.The roof of the mountain gate has five ridges and slopes on all sides, and the two ends of the main ridge have their tails turned inwards, which is different from the dragon tails that turned outwards in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This is the evidence of the early chi tails.Among the existing mountain gates of the same style in our country, the mountain gate of Dule Temple is the earliest.The appearance of Guanyin Pavilion is two floors, with a dark floor in the middle, but it is actually three floors.There is an empty well in the middle, and there is a 16-meter-high Guanyin statue in the pavilion.Since the building of this big pavilion, it has a history of 1,000 years. It has experienced nearly 30 earthquakes, three of which reached magnitude 8. The epicenter was near the county seat of Jixian County. Many houses in the temple collapsed, but Guanyin Pavilion was not damaged. There are only a few small cracks in the plaster wall on the second floor.Because the overall wooden components of the entire pavilion adopt a double-layer sleeve-type wooden frame, with two circles of column frames inside and outside, and the middle is connected with a square to form a whole. At the same time, diagonal bracing is added, which makes the whole frame extremely stable and firm.In addition, a layer of bucket arches was added between the upper and lower column frames, and mortise and tenon joints were used between the architraves. During an earthquake, the friction between the mortise and tenon joints can offset part of the vibration force.In order to prevent the entire frame from deforming after the earthquake, the designer added four square logs on the upper layer of the rectangular-planar hollow shaft, which further increased the stability of the double-layer sleeve.

The architectural principle is similar to that of Guanyin Pavilion in Dule Temple.The pagoda was built in the second year of Qingning (AD 1056) in the Liao Dynasty, and is commonly known as "Ying County Wooden Pagoda".With a height of 67.13 meters and a diameter of 30 meters at the bottom, it is octagonal and has nine floors. It is built on a stone platform with a height of four meters.The tower body adopts a double-layer sleeve type wooden frame, which is extremely firm.More than 200 years after its completion, Emperor Shun of the Yuan Dynasty experienced a seven-day earthquake and still stood still. It can be called a masterpiece of ancient wooden architecture in my country.

In Datong City, it is an important large-scale Buddhist temple in the Liao and Jin Dynasties. The architectural relics of the Liao and Jin Dynasties are still preserved in the temple, which occupies an important position in the cultural and architectural history of our country.Huayan Temple also served as the ancestral temple of the Liao royal family in the Liao Dynasty.In the middle of Ming Dynasty, it was divided into upper and lower temples.The main building of the upper temple, the Daxiong Palace, is a relic of the Jin Dynasty, and the main building of the lower temple, the Bhagavat Temple, is a relic of the Liao Dynasty.The main halls of the whole temple face the east, following the primitive religious belief of Khitan worshiping the sun and putting the east first.The architectural art of the Bhagavan Tibetan Hall has always been cited in the architectural history of our country. This is a hall for storing Buddhist scriptures.The beam frame rises and folds gently, the eaves pillars rise significantly, and the eaves are far-reaching. There are many changes in the bucket arches.The decorative patterns on the ceiling in the hall are all patterns popular in the Liao Dynasty.The main hall is also lined with wooden cabinets for Tibetan scriptures. There are 38 wooden cabinets in total. There are two doors.The upper floor is a Buddhist niche, and the painted patterns on the top of the niche and on the eaves of the waist eaves and flat seat are all old works of the Liao Dynasty.There are 17 kinds of bucket arches on the stigmas of Buddhist altars, which are extremely complicated, and are the most complicated among the known Liao Dynasty bucket arches.Beware of the window on the west wall and five heavenly palaces and pavilions, the specifications of which are the same as those on the wall.There are more than 30 kinds of geometric and heart-shaped patterns engraved on the Chinese version of the waistband.These wall collections are the only small wooden works of the Liao Dynasty seen in China, which are very precious.There are 31 colored statues of the Liao Dynasty on the Buddhist altar in the hall, which are the best among Liao sculptures.The Daxiong Palace was first built in the Liao Dynasty, and the existing hall was built in the third year of the Jin Dynasty (AD 1140).In the hall, the column reduction method common in Liao and Jin architecture was adopted to reduce 12 inner columns and expand the front space for the arrangement of Buddha statues.The hall is covered with murals, which is so large that it is rare in China.

Shanhua Temple was first built in the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. The main hall in the temple is a relic of the Liao Dynasty and was rebuilt in the Jin Dynasty. The rest are Jin Dynasty buildings. It is the most complete and largest Liaojin temple in China.The Daxiong Hall is located on the three-meter-high platform at the back of Shanhua Temple. The brackets support the outer eaves, and the beams and beams are all exposed.Beware of the algae wells between the golden pillars and the old eaves pillars, stacked from bottom to top, surrounded by four layers of bucket arches, forming a drill-point model structure, exquisitely carved, the same shape and technique as the beams and bucket arches of the main hall, both It is the original structure of the Liao Dynasty.The five statues on the Buddhist altar in the middle of the main hall and various sculptures on the lotus throne are relics of the Liao Dynasty.On the east and west sides, there are 24 gods, men and women of different civil and military styles.The structure of Sansheng Temple combines the characteristics of Song and Liao architecture. There are 60° inclined arches between the left and right under the eaves, which are shaped like flowers in full bloom. It is the most grand and magnificent among the inclined arches of Jin Dynasty. A huge pillar supports the roof of the hall, and the space is open.This hall is a representative work of wooden architecture in the early Jin Dynasty.

In addition to Huayan Temple and Shanhua Temple, the Manjusri Hall in Foguang Temple in Wutai Mountain is also a famous Jin Dynasty building.It was built in the 15th year of Jintianhui (1137 A.D.). The space in the hall is very large. The front and rear grooves of the roof truss use a large inner forehead (square column-shaped large wood) that spans three rooms. The load is transferred between the inner foreheads with oblique materials, forming a roof truss similar to a herringbone truss.Under the eaves, the bucket arches are layered on top of each other, and the inclined arches are wide and wide, which look like blooming flowers, which is a characteristic of Liao and Jin architecture.The roof truss structure of this hall is special, which is rare in ancient buildings before the Jin Dynasty in my country.There are six statues of Manjusri Bodhisattva and attendants on the Buddhist altar in the hall, which are richly decorated and are also originals of the Jin Dynasty.

There are many pagodas from the Liao and Jin Dynasties in Liaoning and Hebei.The most common Liao towers are mostly octagonal 13-story brick towers, which are solid and cannot be climbed.The first level of the tower is very tall, with niches, treasure covers, flying apsaras, etc. carved on all eight sides, and brick brackets on the eaves.The height of the tower body and the tower base of this level accounts for almost half of the whole tower.Above the second level is the dense eaves. There are vases, brake levers, orbs, etc. on the top of the tower.This kind of pagoda was spread all over the Wujing area in the Liao Dynasty, and its shape was later inherited by the Jin Dynasty, thus becoming a unique style of Liao and Jin ancient pagodas in the history of pagoda construction in China.

Among the ancient pagodas of Liao and Jin, the two pagodas of Chongxing Temple in Beizhen County, Liaoning Province and the White Pagoda of Liaoyang have a high level of brick carving art.The twin pagodas of Chongxing Temple were first built in the Liao Dynasty. They have been repaired by generations and are well preserved.Centered on Chongxing Temple, the twin pagodas face east and west, have the same shape, and are more than 40 meters high.The base of the tower is carved with bucket arches, Qushui Wanzi railings and Yanglian, etc., and a statue of a strongman is carved at each corner to make it look like it is carrying weight.In the center of the lower part of each side of the first-level pagoda, there is an arched niche, with a sitting Buddha carved in the middle, and a standing attendant on each side of the niche.On the tower, there is also a small stone tablet rebuilt by Li Chengliang, the general soldier of Liaodong in the Wanli period of Ming Dynasty.Li Chengliang was a famous general in the Ming Dynasty, who had repeatedly repelled the invasion of the Tatar Chahar tribe.

The Liaoyang White Pagoda is located in the Baita Park of Liaoyang City. It was built in the Dading period of the Jin Dynasty (1161-1189 A.D.), and its shape is the same as that of the general Liao and Jin ancient pagodas.Only there are many bronze mirrors between the dense eaves on the 12th floor.The carved niches, attendants, and flying apsaras on the first floor are all exquisite.It still retains the style and appearance when it was first built. In addition, the Huata of Guanghui Temple in Zhengding County, Hebei Province has a Jin Dynasty style.The shape of this tower is peculiar. The first floor of the tower has eight planes, each of which has a flat hexagonal pavilion-shaped single-story suite on the four fronts. There are round arched doors on each side of the suite and the tower.The second floor has eight sides with three rooms on each side, with a door in the middle, false square window lattices and oblong Buddhist niches on both sides, and a flat seat underneath.The body of the tower above the third floor shrinks suddenly and is conical, with wall sculptures of tigers, leopards, lions, elephants, dragons and Buddha statues carved on the vertical lines of eight sides and eight corners.There are also many immortals, immortal beasts, pavilions, pavilions and pavilions carved on each floor of the tower body, with complex compositions and fine carvings.

It was first built in the 29th year of Jin Dading (AD 1189) and completed in the third year of Mingchang (AD 1192).During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, large-scale repairs were carried out on the stone bridge.The bridge has 11 holes in total, with a total length of 266.5 meters and a width of 7.5 meters.The pier is in the shape of a boat, and the triangular iron pillars are installed on the water diversion point, which can break the ice that hits the pier when the river thaws. It is known as the "Dragon Sword".There are a total of 281 pillars on both sides of the bridge with carved stone guardrails, and the pillars are carved with large and small stone lions in various poses and with different expressions.There is a popular allegorical saying in Beijing: "The lions on the Lugou Bridge—innumerable." There are many lions.According to on-the-spot investigation by cultural relic workers, there are 485 lions of all sizes on the bridge.The two big stone lions sitting on the east end of the bridge are 1.73 meters long and weigh three tons. There are many small lions crawling on them, only 20 centimeters in size.At the west end of the bridge are two stone elephants, with their heads on the last stone railing, the shape is very interesting.Italian traveler Marco Polo came to China in the Yuan Dynasty and praised it as "the best and unique bridge in the world".In ancient times, Lugou Bridge was the only way for north-south traffic. There were many hotels and post houses on both sides of the river. When pedestrians woke up early in the morning, the sky was dawning, and the stars and the moon were still visible. Therefore, "Lugou Xiaoyue" became a famous scenic spot and was Qianlong listed it as one of the "Eight Views of Yanjing".

It can be seen from the above scenic spots that the architectural technology and scientific level of the Liao and Jin Dynasties were quite developed.After the unification of China in the Yuan Dynasty, handicrafts and commerce were developed, and science and technology advanced rapidly, especially astronomy has reached the world's advanced level. Gaocheng Town, south of Songshan Mountain in Henan Province, was built in the early Yuan Dynasty and is the oldest surviving observatory in my country.The ancients used gauges to measure the shadow of the sun.Gui is a board placed in the direction of true north, and a pole perpendicular to the ground is erected next to it, called a watch.In different seasons, the length of the surface shadow is different.The surface shadow is the longest during the winter solstice and the shortest during the summer solstice.According to this change, the ancients could calculate the time change of a year.Since shadows under the sun get lighter as they get closer to the edge, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly where the shadow ends.Guo Shoujing, an astronomy and water conservancy scientist in the Yuan Dynasty, made major improvements to the old gauges, making the edges of the shadow clear so that the shadow length can be accurately measured.The ancient observatory in Gaocheng Town is a new model of masonry structure under the command of Guo Shoujing.The body of the platform is like an upside-down bucket, with brick and stone steps on both sides leading to the top of the platform.The top of the platform is paved with terracotta bricks, and there is a surface groove perpendicular to the ground in the middle of the north wall.The stone kui at the lower end of the table is composed of 36 bluestone kui noodles, with a total length of 31.19 meters.The level above Shigui is excellent, and its orientation coincides with the local meridian.In addition to shadow measurement and timekeeping, there are also stargazing functions here, but the instruments do not exist today.After building this observatory, Guo Shoujing also established 27 observation points across the country.The "Shoushi Calendar" compiled by him in the 17th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1280 A.D.) measured a return year, which is only 26 seconds away from the current one, which is consistent with the Gregorian calendar that is still in use in many countries. 300 years earlier than the Gregorian calendar. The Yuan Dynasty was a golden age of unprecedented prosperity in overseas transportation and Sino-foreign trade.Quanzhou in Fujian and Alexandria in Egypt were known as the world's largest trading port at that time, and more than 100 countries and regions traded with Quanzhou. "Marco Polo's Travels" has vividly described the prosperity of Quanzhou port.It is mentioned in the book that among the ships traveling between the Persian Gulf and the China Sea at that time, the Chinese ships were the largest, and most of them were built in Guangzhou and Quanzhou.There are more than 15,000 sea-going ships owned by Quanzhou.In the second year from Yuan to Zhengzheng (AD 1342), the famous Moroccan traveler Ibn Batuta came to Quanzhou and praised it as "the only big port in the world".The lighthouse indicating navigation at that time, the Liusheng Pagoda, is still intact in Jinjiang County.The tower is 31 meters high, octagonal and five-story, engraved with reliefs of lotus, King Kong, and Hercules, which is majestic and magnificent. The prosperity of trade also promoted the exchange of Chinese and foreign cultures, and foreign religions such as Islam, Hinduism, and ancient Hinduism were introduced into the mainland.The Qingjing Mosque in Quanzhou City is one of the earliest surviving ancient Islamic mosques in my country.According to the ancient Arabic stone tablet in the temple, the Qingjing Mosque was first built in the second year of Dazhong Xiangfu in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1009), and rebuilt 300 years later in the second year of Yuan Zhida (AD 1309).The main existing buildings include three gates built of blue and white granite, all of which are rounded and arched, in a typical style of Islamic mosques.There is Fengtian Temple in the temple, and there is a preaching platform attached.The large and small niches in the altar and the outer wall of the south wall are inlaid with ancient Arabic stone scriptures, which are still intact.This mosque is a historical witness of cultural exchanges between my country and Arab countries. Signs of the fusion of Chinese and foreign cultures are even reflected in Buddhist monasteries.Kaiyuan Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Quanzhou, was originally built in Tang Wu Zetian's time. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty named the temple after the year of Kaiyuan.From the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, there were 120 branch courtyards beside the temple, and it was merged into one temple in the Yuan Dynasty.Now covers an area of ​​50 acres.The buildings in the temple are large in scale and there are many dense ancient banyan trees.The sculpture technology of the Daxiong Palace is superb, especially the arch on the stigma of the main hall, with 24 flying acrobats with wings engraved on it, which is rare in ancient buildings in China.The 72 bluestone reliefs of sphinxes on Xumizuo on the platform in front of the hall, and the two ancient Brahmanic bluestone pillars on the back porch of the hall, engraved with ancient Egyptian myths and legends and the myths of Brahmanism in India, Sri Lanka and other places, are all relics of the Yuan Dynasty.The main hall is supported by nearly one hundred Begonia-style giant stone pillars, commonly known as "Hundred Pillar Hall".These buildings reflect the influence of foreign cultures that Quanzhou received in the heyday of opening up in the Yuan Dynasty. The highest cultural and artistic achievements in the Yuan Dynasty were opera and murals. "Yuanqu" and Tang Poetry and Song Ci are called together, and have become one of the most important heritages of Chinese literature.Jin Yuan opera is called "Zaju", which is very prosperous in Shanxi and Hebei.Now Linfen, Xinjiang, Hongdong and other places in Shanxi still preserve the stage of the Yuan Dynasty.From the brick-carved tomb of Dong's family excavated in the northwest suburb of Houma City, Shanxi, a small stage built in the tomb wall was also found.The building method is to build a flat seat on the main eaves of the tomb, and use two small pillars to support it.There are two small octagonal columns on the flat seat, supporting a large square, and there are brackets on the square, such as column head tweening, supporting a gable roof with mountain flowers facing forward, and the roof is decorated with animal heads.There are five brick-carved actors on the stage, which are the five roles of Sheng, Dan, Jing, Mo and Chou, which are lively and lively.Dong Hai and Dong Ming, the owners of the tomb, were buried in the seventh year of Jin Mingchang (AD 1196) and the second year of Da'an (AD 1210).Therefore, what this small stage reproduces is the performance art of Jin Dynasty drama.In addition, at the source of Huoquan in the northeast of Hongdong County, Shanxi Province, there is a water temple with a stage built on the mountain gate.The four walls of the hall are covered with murals. The paintings on the east side of the south wall are theatrical performance scenes, which were painted in the first year of Yuan Taiding (AD 1324). There are 11 actors and scene personnel painted, four women and seven men. , costumes, props, sets, musical instruments, curtains, stages, etc. are all carefully drawn, the colors are simple and vigorous, and the characters are lifelike.The painting skills are excellent, and it also reflects the scenes of the prosperous period of Yuan Zaju, which is of great value in the history of Chinese drama. Many murals of the Yuan Dynasty have been preserved in ancient temples in Shanxi, the most famous being the murals of Yongle Palace in Ruicheng County, Shanxi.Yongle Palace was originally located in Yongle Town, 20 kilometers west of Ruicheng.According to records, this is the birthplace of Lu Dongbin, one of the "Eight Immortals" of Taoism.The villagers built "Lvgong Temple" for him, which was expanded into a Taoist temple in the Jin Dynasty.It was later destroyed by fire.In the Yuan Dynasty, Taoism was highly praised, and the temple was upgraded to a palace.The construction of Yongle Palace and the murals in the palace took more than 110 years.After liberation, in order to build the Sanmenxia water conservancy project, it took another seven years to move all the buildings and murals to Longquan Village in the north of Ruicheng County for restoration and preservation.There are five main buildings in Yongle Palace. Except for the gate of the palace, which was built in the Qing Dynasty, the others were built in the Yuan Dynasty.The four halls of Dragon and Tiger Hall, Sanqing Hall, Chunyang Hall and Chongyang Hall have exquisite murals, with a total area of ​​960 square meters.The mural in the Sanqing Hall, the main hall, is the famous "Chaoyuan Immortal Staff Picture". The picture is 4.26 meters high, 94.68 meters long, and the total area is 403.3 square meters. It surrounds the entire hall like a ribbon, and the whole hall is just this painting. , painted in the second year of Yuan Taiding (AD 1325), the author is Ma Junxiang and his son in Luoyang.The picture depicts the scene of the gods worshiping Yuanshi Tianzun, the ancestor of Taoism.In the center are eight main gods, dressed as emperors and empresses, surrounded by more than 290 gods on duty, arranged in four layers.The characters have different expressions, the composition is neat but not rigid, and the organization is complicated but not messy.The picture emphasizes echoing, and pays due attention to changes, so that the characters have the same dynamics and tendencies, and the people with roughly similar clothing can get mutual echoes through slight turns and glances.The lines in the painting are rigorous, concise and smooth, some of which are several meters long.Facial expressions can be expressed with various lines, the brows and eyes are particularly lively, the changes of the corrugator muscles, and the relationship between the eyes and other parts are handled accurately and skillfully, so that the same serious face shows various personalities.The color of the whole picture is pure and bright, mainly azurite green, and a large amount of tar powder is used for the clothes, crowns and treasures. The overall tone is both brilliant and deep.In short, this picture is magnificent and vivid, fully reflecting the high level of traditional Chinese line drawing techniques.The "Picture of Emperor Chunyang's Immortal Journey to Manifestation" in Chunyang Hall depicts the stories of Lu Dongbin's life. There are 52 pictures in total in the form of comic strips, and each story is separated by natural scenery such as mountains, rivers, trees and rocks.There are officials, merchants, civilians, farmers, beggars, scholars and other characters in the paintings, and various environments such as pavilions, terraces, pavilions, restaurants, teahouses, garden villas, etc., showing the social life of the Yuan Dynasty.In the Chongyang Temple, 49 comic strips are also used to represent the myths and legends of Wang Chongyang, the leader of the Quanzhen School of Taoism in the Yuan Dynasty.These murals are rich in themes and superb in brushwork, and are treasures of Chinese painting art.