Houtu Shrine, Wanrong万荣后土祠
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- China · Shanxi · Wanrong, Yuncheng · Miaoqian village, Ronghe township, Wanrong county, on the Fenyin Shui on the eastern bank of the Yellow River.
- Coordinates
- 35.25, 110.5 Map ↗
- First built
- Han, fourth year of Yuanding (113 BCE); Emperor Wu of Han established the Houtu Shrine · A site where emperors across the dynasties sacrificed to Houtu; Emperor Zhenzong of Song made a personal sacrifice here and composed the 'Inscription on the Joint Enshrinement of the Two Sages at Fenyin'; relocated repeatedly during the Ming and Qing owing to flooding of the Yellow River, with the present buildings dating from a reconstruction in the ninth year of the Tongzhi era of the Qing (1870).
- Heritage status
- Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (1996)
Overview
Houtu Shrine in Wanrong stands on the Fenyin Shui ('Water Bank') where the Fen River meets the Yellow River. In the fourth year of the Yuanding era of Emperor Wu of Han (113 BCE), a shrine to Houtu was erected here for the emperor's personal sacrifice, and successive Western Han emperors thereafter made repeated visits to sacrifice at the site; Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and Emperor Zhenzong of Song also came in person, with Emperor Zhenzong, in the fourth year of the Dazhong Xiangfu era (1011), sacrificing to Houtu and composing the 'Inscription on the Joint Enshrinement of the Two Sages at Fenyin' stele (the Xiaoqiang Stele). The shrine served as the empire's principal state-sacrifice temple to the Earth Spirit, and the Ditan (Altar of Earth) in Beijing during the Ming and Qing continued this tradition of sacrifice. The shrine has repeatedly been relocated owing to shifts in the course of the Yellow River; the surviving buildings date from a relocation and rebuilding in the ninth year of the Tongzhi era of the Qing (1870), comprising a mountain gate, a 'pin'-shaped opera-stage complex (three stages arranged in the form of the character pin — a unique instance nationwide), an offering hall, a main hall, and the Qiufeng Tower (housing the stele inscribed with Emperor Wu of Han's 'Rhapsody on the Autumn Wind'). The Song-dynasty 'Inscription on the Joint Enshrinement of the Two Sages at Fenyin' stele and the Ming-dynasty stele depicting the temple's appearance are especially prized.
Highlights
- The Qiufeng Tower
- The 'pin'-shaped triple opera-stage complex
- Emperor Zhenzong of Song's Xiaoqiang Stele
- The stele depicting the temple's appearance