Daodejing Stele-Pillar, Xingtai邢台道德经幢
- Type
- Steles and Inscriptions
- Location
- China · Hebei · Xiangdu District, Xingtai · Qingfeng Garden (rear garden of the Qingfeng Tower); originally erected at the Longxing Temple of Xingzhou — not the original site
- Coordinates
- 37.0661, 114.5014 Map ↗
- First built
- The fifth day of the eighth month of the twenty-seventh year of the Kaiyuan era of Tang (739) · Erected by Li Zhi, prefect of Xingzhou; the restoration inscription of the first year of the Duangong era of the Northern Song (988) was composed by He Zuan and written by Lu Hua and Li Sishun. The claim that the seal-script title was by Chu Suiliang does not hold up, since Chu died in 659.
- Heritage status
- Seventh Group of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (2013)
Overview
The Daodejing stele-pillar at Xingtai originally stood at the Longxing Temple in Xingzhou; it was erected on the fifth day of the eighth month of the twenty-seventh year of the Kaiyuan era of Tang (739) by Li Zhi, prefect of Xingzhou, belonging to the same series as the Yixian Daodejing stele-pillar under Emperor Xuanzong's edict ordering every prefecture to carve and erect the Daodejing. The pillar stands 6.89 meters in total height, with an octagonal shaft; seven of its faces bear the scripture text and one bears inscriptions from successive dynasties, resting on a base carved with upturned lotus petals; it was restored in the first year of the Duangong era of the Northern Song (988), with the restoration inscription composed by He Zuan and written by Lu Hua and Li Sishun. Popular tradition holds that the seal-script title was written by Chu Suiliang, but Chu died in 659, eighty years before the pillar was erected, so this claim cannot stand. After the Longxing Temple fell into disuse in the Ming and Qing, the stele-pillar was for a time placed in the rear courtyard of a Buddhist nunnery; it was rediscovered and catalogued by Miao Quansun in the late Qing. During the Cultural Revolution the stele-pillar was destroyed with explosives, leaving only its upper and lower sections; in 1990 the missing middle section was recarved and the pillar re-erected, and it was relocated to the rear garden of the Qingfeng Tower — so the present pillar is a composite of the original sections and a later-recarved section, a point that must be kept in mind regarding its material composition. It was listed as a seventh-batch Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level on March 5, 2013 (no. 7-1502-4-005, as part of a combined listing).
Highlights
- Erected in the twenty-seventh year of the Kaiyuan era of Tang (739)
- Total height 6.89 meters; scripture text carved on seven faces
- Restoration inscription from the first year of the Duangong era of the Northern Song
- Destroyed by explosives in the Cultural Revolution; the middle section was recarved in 1990