The Beiyue Temple is located in the west of Quyang County, Hebei Province. In the Beiyue Temple, which is originally named the Beiyue Zhenjun Temple, the emperors of every dynasty feted the god of Hengshan Mountain — the Northern Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains in China. In the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD), Emperor Wudi, whose name was Liu Che, went in for sacrificing to the Gods of Five Sacred Mountains. In 98BC, Emperor Wudi sacrificed to the God of the Northern Mountain in Quyang. However, the Beiyue Temple was not built until the reign of Emperor Xuanwudi (500-512) in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). After the temple was built, the ritual was also practiced in the following dynasties. Its scale had been enlarged after many times of reconstruction. The temple fell into disuse in 1660 during the reign of Emperor Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), when the sacrificing place for the god was moved to Hunyuan, Shanxi Province.
The Beiyue Temple occupies 170,000 square meters and its construction area is 5,400 square meters. Now some of the buildings have been destroyed, but the overall layout of the buildings has been preserved. The main buildings are arranged along the axis, such as the Yuxiang Pavilion, the Lingxiao Gate, the Temple Gate, the site of the Feishi Hall, the Deningzhi Hall, the Hanqi Stele Building and the Hongwu Stele Building, etc. The principal building in the temple is the Deningzhi Hall, which 9 bays in length, 3 bays in depth and 30 meters in height. It has a double-eave roof covered with green glazed tiles. The grand hall was built on a hathpace, whose pedestal is surrounded by white stone balusters. The dougong (a system of brackets in Chinese building), beams and lintels keep the architectural style of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). This hall holds a significant position in the history of architecture. On the eastern and western walls, there are large frescos, which measure 18 meters long and 8 meters high. The characters in the frescos are as high as 3 meters, with vivid countenance and different postures. The image of flying Aspara on the western wall is regarded as a magical work. It is a strong and vigorous figure with ferocious facial expression and winding full beard. He is plying clouds and mist while bearing a halberd and wielding a spear. It is said that the fresco was painted by famous painter Wu Daozi in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). But afterwards, it was proved to be a work of people of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) who followed the Tang Dynasty painting techniques.
In the temple stands a forest of 137 steles and tablets from the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534) to the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). Among them, Kang Youwei regarded The Daweiwang Fujun Tablet, compiled into his Xuyizhou Shuangji, as a superb works. The Hanqi Tablet from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) is honored as one of the three tablet masterpieces. Besides, there are some tablets of extremely high calligraphic value, such as the Zhao Mengzhao Tablet and the Zhu Yuanzhang Tablet, etc.
(Source: chinaculture.org)
