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Abandoned Ming dynasty rural graveyard, Zhejiang.

Photo: © Aier闽

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Ancestral Hall: Good Old Classics

The Mei (梅) family ancestral hall of the Wanli period (1572–1620), Ming dynasty. Located on the right side of the main building in the Shisi Temple (時思寺) in Jingning County, it is representative of all buildings with this purpose.

Mei family temple is oriented to the East and includes the Ancestral Gates (祠門), the Front Hall (前廳), the Entrance Hall (序倫堂) and the Main Hall (紙正堂). Compared to the neighboring structures of the Song and Yuan dynasties, it seems more ethereal. By reducing the number of bulky columns and using more roomy arches, the architects managed to free up a lot of space.

Photo: ©鸿慈永祜

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Ming Covered Bridge in Old Lishui

This Ming Dynasty covered Huguan Bridge (護關橋), located not far from our ancestral home in Lishui (麗水), is representative of all facilities of its kind. Like most contemporary buildings, this structure has metamorphosed and evolved over the centuries.

Roofed bridges are a typically Chinese architectural phenomenon. Despite their reduced romanticism compared to open ones, covered bridges are exceptionally durable and much more human-friendly.) The preservation of the wooden structure is impressive, given the dampness from the river and the usual Zhejiang weather mood. The very name of Lishui is roughly “Beautiful Water”, it's everywhere.

A curious feature of Chinese bridges is that they often include a tiny shrine. In this case, it is a home-like altar dedicated to Guan Yu.

Photo: ©张霂佑tago

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Ancestral Hall of the Tiger Talisman in Fujian

One of those architectural gems that are scattered throughout the Chinese countryside: the Ancestral Hall of the Tiger Talisman (虎符祖殿) aka Huyan Ancestral Hall (虎岩祖殿) or Hufuyan (虎符岩) in Nanfeng (南豐村), Xinqiao, Fujian.

Built in the Song dynasty and rebuilt in the 16th year of Jiajing in the Ming dynasty (1537), the complex covers an area of about 1800 square meters. This temple is dedicated to the Taoist Leifa deity Zhang Shengjun (張聖君), the Master of Five Thunders. The papers with talismanic inscriptions are stuck under the ceiling.

Photo: ©劉江嶺

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Old Chinese houses are an inexhaustible creative space in terms of wooden interiors. To me, something alike is associated with childhood memories of a countryside house in Zhejiang.

Photo: ©遗产君

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Laughing Buddhas From The Flying Peak

Vivid figures of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas carved in the rock on the Flying Peak, Feilai Feng (飛來峰石窟) in the Wulin Mountains (武林山), Zhejiang.

Their cheerfulness in no way contradicts the solemn and misty ambiance of the Feilai Feng Grottoes themselves. Limestone peak looks alien in the surrounding mountain landscape, so there is an opinion that it flew here by the power of Buddhist wonder-workers. The main cave is dedicated to the Bodhisattva Guanyin. Due to a natural crack in the ceiling, a radiant halo surrounds the statue.

The carvings are from different periods and date from the Tang to the Ming.

Photo: ©俊灵-

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Book of Master Celestial Seclusion

The Book of Master Celestial Seclusion (天隱子) is one of the influential manuals of the Shangqing school, included in the Tang Golden Age corpus. The source is attributed to Sima Chengzhen (at least the preface). Even if this attribution is not perfectly accurate, it is evident that the treatise comes from the same Taoist circle and develops his emblematic method of “Sitting in Oblivion.” Continue…

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A few sachets, voguish among the court ladies of the Tang dynasty. It seems that in skill, the then jewelers were much superior to those in the next few centuries. The sachets were worn as pendants.

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Homelike Ambience in the Martial Deity Temple

Unexpectedly stunning architecture of the rural Guandi temple (關帝廟), the largest in the Chinese countryside. During heat waves, the elderly uses its huge lobby to relax and socialize. Like many rural temples, this one is distinguished by a special homelike heartiness.

Located in Qiangxia village (牆下村), Xia county, Yuncheng, Shanxi, the temple was built to honor Guan Yu during the Yuan dynasty, but evolved and expanded many times in the subsequent Ming and Qing eras.

Originally Marquis Zhuangmou (壯繆侯), Guan Yu in Chinese folk religion achieved the status of Emperor Guan (Guandi 關帝) over the centuries. By the Sui dynasty (581–618), he was officially deified and became part of the motley pantheon as a martial god. Later, the cult of Guan Yu reached the international level and can now be traced in Vietnam, Korea, Singapore, and Japan.

Photo: ©大梁趙孟橘

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Purifying Practices Of The Lingbao School

These precepts for bodily and mental purification from the Lingbao school (靈寶派) are part of the Retreat ritual. They are expounded in the Explanations on the Lingbao Retreat: Protocol for radiant illuminations, precepts and punishments, lamps and prayers and included in the Taoist Canon. [1] However, this set of recommendations applies to any ascetic purifying practice. The text is presumably a…

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Dramatic Twenty-eight Constellation Figurines From The Jade Emperor Temple

Twenty-eight Constellations (二十八星宿) provided an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Chinese religious art of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Such images are characterized by amazing expressiveness. Something you can never unsee.)

These samples date back to the Yuan dynasty. The statues are on display in the Jade Emperor Temple (玉皇廟), located in Jincheng (晉城), Shanxi.

The temple itself and the main hall were erected during the Northern Song dynasty. These stunning clay figures appeared a bit later and remained there during all subsequent architectural expansions and transformations.

Photo: ©俊灵-

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Centuries-old camphor trees in Yantou Village, Lishui, Zhejiang.

Photo: ©张霂佑tago

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Cloudy Wine Table of The Spring and Autumn Period

Another attribute of the antique bar: a bronze wine table Jin (禁).

The name of this piece of furniture involves social advertising.  Jin means “forbidden”. The name is aimed at potential consumers, encouraging them to be moderate in drinking.

It was believed that the Shang and Xia dynasties fell into decline due to alcohol abuse. The term itself has been in use since the Zhou Dynasty, when the first Dry Law was proclaimed. Wine was allowed only in rituals, in other cases, drinking it entailed the death penalty. For the same reason, it could be assumed that the table also had a religious purpose.

The wine table belonged to the Grand Chancellor Zi Geng during the reign of King Kang of Chu (楚康王).

It was manufactured with a lost-wax casting, a technology that is more often used in jewelry. The wine table rests on twelve dragons that serve as its legs. Twelve more surround it, trying to climb onto the tabletop from all sides.

Sophisticated clouds are not just for decoration. It is an allegory of the primordial forces, accumulated between Heaven and Earth, in action. The very pictograph for Qi, invented just in the Spring and Autumn period, refers to the clouds.

Finely crafted, the table was unearthed in fragments. It was a feat on the part of the restorers to bring it together. Rebuilding under the guidance of the bronze ware expert Wang Changqing took more than two years.

On display in Henan Museum (河南博物院).

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Wan'an Palace (萬安宮), a cozy and old rural temple in Dehua village (德化仙境村), Fujian, dedicated to Thunder deities. Natural detail of the fairy landscape.

Photo: ©鸿慈永祜

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Terminology Jumble With Fu Talismans

Modern manuals and studies designate by the term fu any objects of magical purpose, involving an inscription and/or graphic symbols. However, in China, there has never been a single homologue for the word “talisman”. Fu as “talisman” is an obvious and pretty recent misnaming. Continue reading Terminology Jumble With Fu Talismans

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Han Dynasty Bronze Money Tree

The most cherished human dream is cast in bronze – the dream of money growing on trees.

Chinese custom associates the money tree with abundance and prosperity. The money tree as a burial item served to ensure that the deceased continue to prosper in the afterlife. Elephants laden with wealth roam along the branches emanating from the trunk. The ensemble of auspicious figurines refers to all kinds of blessings.

Pecuniary symbolism is combined with pretty archaic depictions of phoenixes and taotie-like (饕餮) imagery. The treetop Phoenix is a later modification of the Solar Raven, so the artifact becomes more and more related to the World Tree.

On display in Mianyang Museum (綿陽博物館), Sichuan.

Photo: ©阿诚的白日梦

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Extreme Baroque: Iron Temple On The Rice Mountain

Grotesque images from the Buddhist Iron Temple (鐵佛寺).

Located on the Rice Mountain (米山), Mixi (米西村) village, Jincheng, Shanxi, the temple is of an unknown construction date. The earliest record on the stone pillar in the main hall dates back to the seventh year of the Dading (大定) period of the Yuan or Jin dynasties. There is evidence that the temple was reconstructed in the third year of Wanli (1575). However, in the county annals, it is mentioned no earlier than the Qing dynasty.

These astonishing, presumably Ming statues owe their creation to the proximity of an iron ore. Iron frames made it possible to give the clay figures intricate poses and frilly decor.

Photo: ©大关沿路拍