On June 20, I took the high-speed rail in the morning and set off for Jiexiu. Upon arrival in Jiexiu, check in to the scheduled hotel. After lunch, take a taxi to the Zoroastrian Tower in the city.
The correct pronunciation of Zongshenlou is "Xian" Shenlou, but the local people pronounce it as "Xuan" Shenlou. There are many patterns in the decoration of the Zoroastrian building that cannot be seen in traditional temple buildings, such as tigers, shepherd dogs, sacred cows, elephants and so on. And these are precisely the beasts of Zoroastrianism. Numerous evidences show that this is a place of worship of Zoroastrianism.
Professor Jiang Boqin of Sun Yat-sen University, who is engaged in the study of ancient architecture, concluded after field investigation and serious research that Jiexiu Zoroastrian building is the only preserved Zoroastrian building in China and even in the world.
What is Zoroastrianism?
Zoroastrianism is the translated name of "Zoroastrianism" introduced to China from Persia in the Tang Dynasty. The word "祆" was created for this purpose.
Zoroastrianism was born in Persia, and its teachings focus on worshiping the sun, also known as "Zoroastrianism". The "Mingjiao" in "Yitian Tulongji" is the Chinese Zoroastrianism. Since West Asia and Central Asia are already dominated by Islam, Zoroastrianism has long since lost its place. So the existence of the Zoroastrian Tower is almost a miracle!
In the "Inscription on the Restoration of Sanjieyi Temple" erected during the Kangxi period, it can be seen that the Zoroastrian Tower was built by Wen Yanbo, a famous prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty from Jiexiu.
In the seventh year of Renzong Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Ze and Hu Yonger launched a mutiny uprising in Beizhou. At that time, Wen Yanbo, an important minister, was ordered to serve as Xuanfu envoy of Hebei, and led the army to suppress the uprising. Wen Xiang suffered setbacks in using troops and was surrounded by rebels and fell into a predicament. Legend has it that with the help of the immortal white ape, the Song army was lucky enough to break through and win the final victory. This story was deduced by Luo Guanzhong into "San Sui Ping Yao Zhuan". But when I was young, I watched "The Legend of Pingyao". It was not Bai Yuan who assisted Wen Yanbo in "Pingyao".
Wen Yanbo believed that the miraculous reversal was helped and blessed by the god ape. In the popular Zoroastrian teachings at that time, the white ape was the incarnation of the "God of Victory". Therefore, after Wen Yanbo retired and returned to his hometown, he built this "Zoroastrian building" to worship Zoroastrianism in his hometown Jiexiu.
During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor who advocated Taoism and believed in Confucianism issued an edict to demolish all temples in the country except for the temples of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. At that time, Wang Zongzheng, the magistrate of Jiexiu County, changed the Zoroastrian Temple into the Sanjieyi Temple dedicated to Liu Guanzhang in order to preserve the Zoroastrian God Tower. During the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, a fire broke out in the Sanjieyi Temple and the Zongshen Tower, and the buildings that had survived for more than 600 years were reduced to ashes. During the Kangxi period, Jiexiu people rebuilt the Zuo God Tower, but in the 1980s, due to disrepair for a long time, the Zuo God Tower was on the verge of collapse. What you see now is the result of the overhaul since then.
Jiexiu's Zongshen Tower, Puzhou's Guanque Tower, Wanrong's Feiyun Tower, and Qiufeng Tower are also known as the "Four Famous Towers of the Three Jin Dynasties". It is a great honor that we have already visited these four famous buildings.
Take a car to the front of the Zoroastrian Tower. It's amazing how much has changed here since ten years ago.
When I came here in 2011, it was still located in a remote low-rise bungalow block. This is neither a scenic spot nor management, and of course there are no tourists. The Zoroastrian Tower stands alone, "Yingying stands, and the shadows hang together", but it is still beautiful, without decoration, and a beauty that cannot be concealed. The beauty that has been solidified through thousands of years is clearly displayed in our eyes. before.
The photos below were taken at that time.
The shape of the Zoroastrian Tower is very strange. Divided into three parts from south to north.
The first thing we saw was the cross-street building across the street at the southern end. The cross-street building is a wooden structure pavilion with three rooms wide and three stories high, with three drops of water crossing the top of the mountain. The middle of the second floor protrudes from the Baosha, and it goes up to the top of Fuxie Mountain, with the mountain flowers facing outwards. Unique in shape, complex in structure, majestic in the middle of the road, majestic and majestic.
The building crossing the street and the two buildings behind it are blocked by an iron fence. Through the iron railing door, you can see the other two parts of the Zoroastrian Tower.
At the north end of the Zoroastrian Tower is a music building. The building is two stories high, with an open table top and a rolling shed covering the top of the mountain. On both sides of the music building, there are eight-character walls. The horoscope wall is inlaid with glazed dragon patterns, and the top is covered with double eaves hanging from the top of the mountain.
Behind the Le Building is the main building of the Zuoshen Building. The main building is three stories high, with double eaves resting on the top of the mountain. The entire pavilion is dignified and magnificent, and the organic connection of the two completely different pavilions in the north and south into a whole is indeed exquisite in design and unique ingenuity.
But today, the situation has changed a lot. The Zoroastrian Tower has not only become a scenic spot, but also opened up a large square in front of the gate. That section of the iron fence became the fence of the scenic spot, and the two ends of the fence are connected to the gates of two newly built ancestral halls, one is Wengong Temple and the other is Jiegong Temple. Moreover, the gate of the scenic spot is closed, and we have been shut down!
In desperation, I could only take pictures outside for a while. The old street used to pass through the crossing building, and the crossing building lives up to its name. Now there is a large square in front of the street crossing building, which has completely turned into a gatehouse, and the special "crossing street" can no longer be seen.
Wengong Temple is the ancestral hall dedicated to Wen Yanbo, a famous official in the Song Dynasty, and Jiegong Temple is dedicated to Jie Zitui from the Jin State in the Spring and Autumn Period. It's a pity that the gates are closed and no one can enter. Both Wen Yanbo and Jie Zitui were from Jiexiu. Together with Guo Tai, an educator in the Eastern Han Dynasty, they were called the "Three Sages of Jiexiu".
This is the "City Repair Stele" erected in front of the Zoroastrian Tower. The inscription records the construction process of Waiguan Brick City in Jiexiu County. There are couplets engraved on both sides of the inscription: "Inherit the past to show the beauty of the previous life; open it to inspire future generations!" Compiled by Liu Zhengzong, Shunzhi thirteen years old Bingshen Mengqiu Leshi".
A group of us walked around the Zoroastrian building for a few times. Seeing this situation, some kind old people reminded us that we might as well knock on the door, maybe someone will let you in. So we knocked on the door with the mentality of giving it a try. Unexpectedly, after knocking a few times, an administrator really came to open the door. Seeing that it was a group of old people who came from afar, the administrator immediately cleared us into the courtyard and changed our explanation in person.
Looking at the stage of the Zongshen Tower from the courtyard, it seems that it has been repainted compared to the old one ten years ago. A pair of couplets was hung at the entrance of the stage, and the inscription was: "The original of the play is not true, so different faces can be seen in and out of the play; there is no falsehood in people, so the old and future generations should have the same heart."
The administrator explained the glazed ridge decorations on the ridge of the main building of Zoroastrianism. Those mythical beasts and figures are unique to Zoroastrianism. The bull's head carved on the wooden beams under the eaves is also a Zoroastrian animal.
Opposite the Zoroastrian Tower is the dedicated hall and main hall of the Sanjieyi Temple. The dedicated hall and the main hall are built on the same platform. The dedicated hall is three rooms wide, with a rolling shed resting on the top of the mountain. In front of the hall, there is a wide mansion with a single eaves resting on the top of the mountain. Immediately after the dedicated hall, the main hall is five rooms wide and hangs on the top of the mountain. Combining the two together, the shape is very strange.
A horizontal plaque is hung under the eaves of the Baosha in the Hall of Dedication, inscribed "Sunlight on the Sun and the Moon", and a couplet is hung on the front pillar, inscribed on the inscription: "Wu Wei He Cun, Qizu is the source of loyalty for thousands of years; the country is still the same, and the peach blossoms have been heroes several times."
A vertical forehead is hung on the gate of the main hall, with the inscription "Three Righteousness Reaching the Heaven", and the couplet on the front porch column reads "A worship at the Peach Blossom Fate on that day; today's Yizi praises thousands of years". Repeated with the previous couplets, they are all old-fashioned.
There are also some stone monuments standing around the hall. This piece is a stele erected during the Guangxu period. The head of the stele is engraved with "Mountains are high and rivers are long", and the back is engraved with "The Monument of Virtue Education of Mr. Yun Yiren, a native of Xinhai Enkeju, awarded by Wenlin Lang and the Ministry of Officials of the Emperor Qing Dynasty".
This piece is the "Record of Rebuilding the Sanjieyi Temple at the East Gate" established in the 17th year of Daoguang. The word "Jiqing" is engraved on the head of the stele.
After reading the stele, the visit to the Zoroastrian Tower is completed. On the occasion of parting, I would like to thank the administrator and the old men in front of the gate again and again. Then walk to Jiexiu City God Temple.
Jiexiu Town God's Temple was first built in the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, and was rebuilt in the eighth year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty. During the Jiajing and Longqing years of the Ming Dynasty, there were large-scale repairs. There were also repairs in the second year of Yongzheng and the nineteenth year of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty.
Town God's Temple sits north and faces south. On the central axis, there are screen walls, mountain gates, ceremonial gates, stage, dedication hall, main hall and bedroom hall, and on both sides are bell towers, drum towers, east-west side halls and east-west stack halls. The existing main hall is a relic of the Ming Dynasty, and the rest are restored buildings in the Qing Dynasty and recent years. In 2013, it was listed as the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
After walking for a while, I arrived in front of the Town God's Temple, but saw that the gate was closed tightly, and I was slammed again. Tour experience, also go knocking. The door was open, but the management staff refused to let them in! In desperation, I had no choice but to take a photo of the mountain gate and leave!