Eight o'clock in the morning

Introduction to Lingying Palace:

Lingying Palace, formerly known as Tianxian Temple, is the lower temple of Taishan Grandma. According to legend, Taishan Grandma visits her every year before the Spring Festival Everyone goes down the mountain to buy things. If you buy something from someone's family, that family will get rich and prosperous that year. The old lady goes down the mountain to live here.

Taishan Lingying Palace is about 150 meters long from north to south, about 40 meters wide from east to west, covering an area of ??more than 6,000 square meters. It is the largest of the three temples of Bixia Yuanjun in Mount Tai. Group of buildings. According to "Taishan Temple Calendar" written by Li Dongchen during the Republic of China, Lingying Palace was built in the southwest of Tai'an City during the Zhengde Period of the Ming Dynasty (1506-1521) and served as the incense courtyard of the Xianhou Palace in Beijing ("Taishan Tongjian"). It was formerly known as Tianxian Temple. In the 39th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1611), Emperor Shenzong of the Ming Dynasty issued an edict to expand it to form the current scale of Shanmen in the south, the back gate of the palace in the north, Donggeng Road in the east, and Xigeng Road in the west. He was also given the title of "Lingying Palace". This incident was recorded on a stele in the temple, which is called "Inscription on the Rebuilding of Lingying Palace Stele". Unfortunately, this stele has long been lost. Part of the inscription is included in "Dai Lan" written by Tang Zhongmian of the Qing Dynasty. It was rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty. In the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916), most of the buildings and bronze statues were burned down by the Huilu Disaster, leaving only the Nanshan Gate, Bell Tower, Bronze Tower, Main Hall, Beidou Terrace and Zen Room. After the liberation, the courtyard was occupied by two companies for a long time. The main hall once became the warehouse of the companies. The 11 bronze statues in the hall were pulled outside the hall to be corroded by wind and rain. In June 1982, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage allocated funds for the maintenance of the main hall. In 2002, the Tai'an Municipal Government invested and established a project to carry out the first phase of reconstruction of Lingying Palace. The factories and warehouses in the southern half of the courtyard were demolished, and the drum tower, corridor, cloister, Chongtai, east and west side halls and Yuelaotai were restored. Buildings such as this reproduce the old look of the time when "the front and rear verandas were beautiful and the cloisters were thorough."

Lingying Palace Mountain Gate is adjacent to Lingshan Street. Due to the low roadbed, a high platform appears in front of the mountain gate. People must climb up the stairs to enter the mountain gate, which seems to separate the noisy world from this quiet place. The ancient Taoist temple has drawn a clear dividing line. The mountain gate is a masonry structure, with a single eaves rolling shed resting on the top of the mountain. The brick eaves are stacked on top of each other. The arched door has couplets on both sides and a forehead on the top. There are bell and drum towers on the east and west sides of the mountain gate, and the bell tower on the east side. It was originally used to ring the bell in the morning to tell the time, which is the so-called morning bell. The building was built during the reconstruction period of the Republic of China. It originally contained a bronze bell, which was moved to Dai Temple in 1972. To the west of the Bell Tower is the ruins of the Ming Bell Tower that were excavated during the reconstruction in 2002. Ring the bell in the morning and beat the drum in the evening. Opposite the Bell Tower is the Ming-style Drum Tower, which was rebuilt based on the excavations of the original site. It has a brick and wood structure and is slightly larger than the bell tower. It has a square five-ridged top and large eaves. It is also divided into two floors, with wooden floors. According to the characteristics of ancient Chinese architecture, the left and right sides should be centered on the axis and symmetrical to each other. However, here, there is asymmetry. This is an ingenious move by the restorer, and it happens to show two different architectural styles to the visitors. who.

The entrance hall is the end of the first entrance to the courtyard and the beginning of the second entrance to the courtyard. From this, we enter the second group of spaces. It is said in ancient books that "the verandas are beautiful, the corridors are thoughtful, and the center is beautiful." The place "Taiwan" suddenly unfolds to visitors. Originally, there was a bronze pavilion on top of the Chongtai. It was built in the Bixia Temple on Daiding in the 43rd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1615). It was later moved to the Yaoshan Pavilion in Taicheng around the 16th year of Chongzhen (1643). In 1648, the Tongting Pavilion was moved to Lingying Palace. The exquisiteness of the Bronze Pavilion has aroused many people's emotions. Shen Tingfang sang in "The Song of the Bronze Tower": "The building is as high as ten feet, and the windows and railings are carved by craftsmen." "Liushi's Pier" and "The sun shines brightly, and no one dares to open their eyes." The components and statues of this bronze pavilion are all made of copper and gilded, so it is also called the "Golden Pavilion". It is a mountain with double eaves and nine ridges. The pavilion was originally equipped with partitions on all sides and could move switches. The original four walls and ceiling contained a bronze statue of Bixia Yuanjun. According to legend, the idols, walls, ceiling, etc. were all stolen by the invaders. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, in order to better preserve this ancient relic, the bronze pavilion that had been placed in Lingying Palace for more than 320 years was moved to Dai Temple in 1972.

Going from the Chongtai to the back is the main hall of the main building. The main hall is built on a square stone platform with a hard top with five ridges, covered with gray pottery tiles and trimmed with green glazed tiles.

It has a front porch style with five beams and eight purlins, and is five rooms wide. The statues of Bixia Yuanjun and others are enshrined inside. During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, the bronze statues of "Nine Lotus Bodhisattva" and "Zhishang Bodhisattva" from Tianshu Temple were moved into the hall. The fire in the fifth year of the Republic of China destroyed the hall and many of the bronze statues were melted down. Later, the bronze statues of "Nine Lotus Bodhisattva" and "Zhishang Bodhisattva" were placed in Doumu Palace and Hongmen Palace respectively.

Today's Lingying Palace has lost its former dilapidation and restored its youthful appearance, becoming a good place for leisure and sightseeing for the people of Taicheng.