Applied Mechanics and Materials
ISSN: 1662-7482, Vols. 253-255, pp 67-70
doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.253-255.67
© 2013 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland
Online: 2012-12-13
Analysis of Temple Form and Sculpture Value of Song Dynasty in
Southeast Shanxi — The case of Zhangzi Chongqing Temple
Lin Chai1, a, Xiangdong Zhu *,2,b,Chongen Wang3,c
1
Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
2
Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
3
Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China.
a
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
(* represents communication author)
Keywords: southeast Shanxi; Song Dynasty; temple form; group combination; sculpture
Abstract. Southeastern region of Shanxi Province exist the most architectures of Song and Jin
Dynasty in Shanxi. As society and religions in Song Dynasty develop, the ancient architectures were
paid more attention. The article takes Zhangzi Chongqing temple as an example to explore the
characteristics of construction space form and artistic value through the analysis on the surrounding
environment, group combination, plane layout and artistic value. This article provides strong
evidence for the future researches on architecture style of Song Dynasty.
Introduction
China has a long history, with its culture breeding the country for thousands of years. Shanxi, as the
province with most heritage architectures, has very rich historical resources, among which ancient
timber architecture is particularly prominent. Ancient timber architectures of Song and Jin Dynasty
alone occupy more than 75% of the timber architectures of the whole nation. The traditional
architecture form with timber structure as the main body almost pervades cities and villages in
Shanxi. The southeastern region of Shanxi Province has especially the most existing architectures of
Song and Jin Dynasty, accounting for about half of the timber architecture of Song and Jin Dynasty
nationwide.
Southeastern region of Shanxi Province was called Shangdang region in the history, where religion
had been very prosperous before Song Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, this area became very important
strategically and gained the special attention from the imperial court. Meanwhile, the power of
religion was also needed for political and military actions, which contributed to religion development
in this area. Along with the religion flourishing, the temple architectures gradually increased [1].
These religious temples of Song Dynasty reflect the developmental level of social productivity. Both
the structure form and the carving art of decorative elements are the most powerful demonstration of
Shanxi architecture in Song Dynasty.
Analysis of Chongqing Temple Form
The Overview of Chongqing Temple. Chongqing temple was divided into two parts. The front part
of the temple changed its name to the Temple of Huguolingkuangwang and the rear of the temple was
still called Chongqing temple. Chongqing temple locates in Setou town southeast of Zhangzi village.
Chongqing temple faces south and has a single courtyard. The existing architectures along the
central axis are Yingbi, Tianwang Hall and Qianfo Hall. The wing-halls are Wofo Hall on the east and
Sandashi Hall on the west. Besides, Dizang Hall is on the west of Qianfo Hall, and Guandi Hall and
pavilions are on the east of the Tianwang Hall. A meditation room is on the east side of courtyard.
Among the architectures, the Tianwang Hall and the Sandashi Hall were the remaining configurations
of Song Dynasty. Their beam frame structure basically preserves the style of Song Dynasty, which is a
rare example for the study of beam frame structure and plane layout in Song Dynasty. The Dizang
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Sustainable Development of Urban Infrastructure
Hall was built in Jiajing 27th year (1548 AD) of Ming Dynasty; the Tianwang Hall was built in Ming
Dynasty and repaired in Qing Dynasty. The rest Wofo Hall, Guzhangzhe Hall, Guandi Hall and
eastern meditation room were re-built in Jiaqing third year of Qing Dynasty[3]. In November 20,
1996, all architectures were announced to be the National Key Cultural Relic Protection Units by the
State Council. (Fig.1)
The environment of Chongqing Temple. Traditional architectures and their environment are
inseparable. The architecture value cannot be fully reflected without its environment as a foil. The
book "Yuanye" in Ming Dynasty emphasized the importance of "finding a good place", analyzed
various topographical environment characteristics and pointed out how to make use of the
environment to achieve a better effect [2]. Traditional architectures not only pay much attention to
Fengshui in site selection, emphasizing facing to the south as well as facing to the river and against the
mountain, but also pay great attention to the environment, adapting to the local terrain changes and
forming a well-proportioned, flexible layout
model. For example, the Zhangzi Chongqing
temple locates in the Ziyun Mountain with pines
surrounding the front temple and mountains
surrounding the rear temple and the two temples
are about 200 meters apart with beautiful
environment. As a result, one temple can be seen
from the other one, echoing each other at a
distance. The two temples are both independent
in space and interconnected in vision with height
difference conforming to mountain terrain
changes. It can be seen that temple architecture
not only depends on the nature but also respects
nature, making the building and environment
Figure1. Stereoscopic photo of Qianfo Hall in
contact between each other. Therefore, temples
Chongqing temple
surrounded by trees are relatively common in
southeast of Shanxi province. The Faxing temple, another architecture of Song Dynasty not far away,
is also a good example.
Group Combination of Chongqing Temple. Architecture group combination form is quite
common in Chinese traditional architectures, combining different forms of single architecture into a
group orderly and forming a certain scale of architecture group. The architectural layout has the
following characteristics. First, symmetrical layout was adopted in both single and group architecture
in traditional architectures, which made the architectures changeable as well as unite and harmonious.
Second, the central axis, as the group core, had a leading function on the construction and flow of the
architectures, which made the architectures restrict and connect to each other, forming a centripetal
force space. Three, single architectures in architecture group had commonness, individuality as well
as a distinction between primary and secondary. These were reflected in the architecture size, roof
forms, pattern style and color of glass ornaments on the ridge, making the architecture visually rich,
colorful and coordinated. Chongqing Temple followed the group combination mode of traditional
architectures, taking Yingbi, Tianwang Hall, Qianfo Hall as the central axis, along which were the
Sandashi Hall and Wofo Hall on both sides. Dizang Hall was built on the west of the Qianfo Hall
according to the geographic environment of the temple. The meditation room was built in the
northeast corner and Guandiling in the southeast corner of the temple. Guzhangzhe Hall was built
southwest of the temple, which was not a completely symmetrical layout. It followed the traditional
architecture group combination mode but with a breakthrough on the basis of the mode.
Meanwhile, the majestic Qianfo Hall was taken as the center in the space layout of the
architectures with other halls surrounding the main hall so as to create rich, colorful, harmonious and
unified courtyard space. Coordination as well as difference existed among architectures and
courtyards. Main architectures had larger size, complex structure and secondary architectures were
smaller with simple style, which showed clear hierarchy and was influenced by Chinese ritual culture.
Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 253-255
69
Open and wide atrium space was adopted in public space treatment, which not only embodied the
main architecture’s magnificence, but also generated a strong visual impact; meanwhile, a perfect
combination of architecture and environment was available at any angle. In addition, the Chongqing
temple also had meditation rooms, which divided the temple architecture function into two parts,
namely public worship area and living area, creating more diverse space layout.
Art Value of Sculptures in Chongqing Temple of Song Dynasty
Painted sculptures are one of the most exquisite art types in Chinese history, which cannot be
separated from temple architectures. Sculptures as well as mural art developed to the peak along with
the development of religion and temples. Painted sculptures not only reflected the psychological
states, thoughts and feelings of historical figures, but also the art achievements of the historical period
with strong ethnic style.
The religion development of Song Dynasty
can be fully reflected in the painted sculptures
of the temple. The existing Arhat sculptures of
Song period were in the three temples
respectively, namely Lingyan temple in
Changqing county, Shandong province,
Baosheng temple in Wuxian, Jiangsu
province, and Chongqing temple in Changzi,
Shanxi province. Only sculptures in
Chongqing temple, Zhangzi, Shanxi province,
were basically well preserved with exact date,
which was quite precious. Painted sculptures
Figure2. Photo of Buddha sculptures in the
in Sandanshi Hall were as an example here.
Sandashi Hall
Sculptures of Bodhisattva and Arhat in
Sandashi Hall were built in Yuanfeng second year of Song dynasty (AD 1079 ). Three sculptures were
built in the centre of the Bodhisattva namely sculpture of
Avalokit -eshvara, Manjusri and Samantabhadra. The
eighteen Arhats were built on both sides of the hall,
which had natural shape and smooth drapery and the
appearance of Buddha. As the classic works of color
sculptures of Song Dynasty, it is entirely different from
the Arhat Buddha of Ming and Qing Dynasties, who still
keeps the remaining plump charm of Tang Dynasty[3].
Shape structure of Qianfo Hall is remaining structure of
Song Dynasty and the sculptures in the hall are also
works of Song Dynasty. Dizang Hall as well as the
sculptures in it is remaining relics of the Ming Dynasty.
There are representative works of sculpture art in Song
and Ming Dynasty in Chongqing temple, whose
survivorship is very hard, establishing the foundation for
sculpture research.( Fig. 2, Fig. 3)
Conclusion
Figure3. Photo of Arhat sculptures
in the Sandashi Hall
Architectures of Song and Jin Dynasty are most abundant
in the southeast region of Shanxi province. Chongqing Temple is one example of the Buddhism
architectures energetically built in Song Dynasty. Although experienced repeatedly renovation by
offspring, the architectures of Song, Ming and Qing Dynasty in Chongqing Temple preserved the
plane layout of Song Dynasty. Meanwhile, they were partly expanded adapting to the local terrain
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Sustainable Development of Urban Infrastructure
changes and functional needs. The layout form broke the symmetrical layout of traditional
architectures, which was rare in traditional architectures and provided a strong demonstration for
studying architectures of different periods. Among the architectures, the Qianfo Hall and Sandashi
Hall retained the architectural form of Song Dynasty with statues of vivid images and various
expressions in the hall. This adequately reflected the religious development as well as craftsman’s
skill level and became real reflection of art development achievements of architectures and sculptures
in Song Dynasty.
Acknowledgements
This study is financially supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No.51078251) and The Shanxi Natural Science Foundation(No. 2009011035) .We thank Professor
Zhu Xiangdong and Professor Wang Chongen for help on analysis and suggestion.
References
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Shanxi People's Publishing House (in Chinese)
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Edition, (1998) (in Chinese)
[3] Z.J. Chai. Ancient Architecture Anthology of Chai Zejun, Cultural Relics Publishing House, First
Edition, June, (1999), ( in Chinese).
[4] K. Zeng, H.Y. Wang. Jiangxi Chemical Industry, 1.( 2004)
[5] X.D. Zhu, F. Liu. Traditional Chinese Architecture and Gardens, 1.(2011)
[6] H. Cai, P.L. Zhang. Journal of Xiangfan University, 8. (2011)
Sustainable Development of Urban Infrastructure
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.253-255
Analysis of Temple Form and Sculpture Value of Song Dynasty in Southeast Shanxi – The Case of
Zhangzi Chongqing Temple
10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.253-255.67