Stele Cluster of Jidu Temple, Jiyuan济渎庙碑刻群（济渎北海庙）

Type

Steles and Inscriptions

Location

China · Henan · Jiyuan · No. 1396 Jidu Avenue; covers 86,255 square meters, with 23 buildings dating from the Song to the Qing

Coordinates

35.1092, 112.5764 Map ↗

First built

First built in the 2nd year of the Kaihuang era, Sui (582); the Beihai Shrine added in the 12th year of the Zhenyuan era, Tang (796) · Listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in the fourth group on 20 November 1996 (item no. 107)

Heritage status

Fourth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (1996)

Overview

Jidu Temple, whose full name is Jidu Beihai Temple, was first built in the second year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui (582); the Beihai Shrine was added in the twelfth year of the Zhenyuan era of the Tang (796), and the complex is the largest and best-preserved of the temples dedicated to the four great rivers (sidu). The temple covers an area of 86,255 square meters and preserves twenty-three buildings dating from the Song to the Qing, arranged in a "jia"-shaped (甲) layout: Jidu Temple in front, Beihai Shrine behind, the Imperial Incense Court to the east, and Tianqing Palace to the west. Its residential hall was built in the sixth year of the Kaibao era of the Northern Song (973) and is one of only two surviving Song-dynasty timber structures in Henan; beside the Dragon Pool stands China's only complete surviving example of a Song-dynasty single-tier balustrade. The temple preserves a rich collection of steles from successive dynasties, recording the interplay between the state cult of water deities and Daoist ritual from the Sui–Tang through the Ming–Qing. During emergency restoration in 2003, a jade tablet for the rite of Casting the Dragon was unearthed, sent by envoys of Emperor Shenzong of the Northern Song in the first year of the Xining era (1068); the rite of Casting the Dragon is a Daoist liturgical practice of casting tokens into famous mountains and great rivers to pray for blessings, and this tablet is direct evidence of the convergence of state sacrifice and the Daoist rite of Casting the Dragon, giving it especially high value. It was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in the fourth group, on 20 November 1996.

Highlights

• The largest and best-preserved of the temples to the four great rivers
• A jade tablet for the rite of Casting the Dragon from the first year of the Xining era of the Northern Song
• A Northern Song timber-structure residential hall built in the sixth year of the Kaibao era
• China's only complete surviving Song-dynasty single-tier balustrade