Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple (), or Haizhou Guandi Temple, is a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

located in Haizhou Town,

Yanhu District Yanhu District () is the main district of the city of Yuncheng, Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiy ...

, Yuncheng City,

Shanxi Province Shanxi; formerly romanised as Shansi is a province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi and Datong. Its one-character abbreviation is ( ...

. It is hailed as "the grand ancestor of temples dedicated to

Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...

" (关庙之祖). The Temple is the largest extant

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

-style

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

complex and

martial temple Martial temples (), also translated as military temples or warrior temples, are Chinese temples dedicated to worshiping outstanding military leaders and strategists (excluding kings and emperors). They were often built by the governments as the c ...

in China. Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple is the largest

Emperor Guan Temple A number of Guandi Temples or Emperor Guan Temples (關帝廟) exist in the world dedicated to the 3rd-century Chinese general Guan Yu: China Mainland China * Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple in Yuncheng, Shanxi, where Guan Yu was born * Guanlin (關 ...

(关帝庙) in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It has a total area of 220,000 square meters, with more than 200 rooms.

History

Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple was established in the ninth year of Kaihuang (开皇) during the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

(589), expanded and rebuilt during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

and

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple was destroyed by fire in the forty-first year of

Kangxi The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ye ...

(1702) during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

and was restored after more than ten years.

Conservations

In 1957, Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple was designated by the Shanxi Provincial People's Government as the first batch of provincial-level key cultural relics protection units in

. In 1988, Haizhou Emperor Guan Temple was listed as a

Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level A national priority protected site is the highest-level national protection for immovable cultural relics in China. The designation was first created under the 1961 Provisional Regulations on the Protection and Management of Cultural Relics, whic ...

in China.

Gallery

File:關帝廟4.JPG, File:關帝廟2.JPG,

References

Guandi temples Taoist temples in China 6th-century establishments in China 6th-century religious buildings and structures Historic buildings and structures Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanxi Buildings and structures in Yuncheng Tourist attractions in Yuncheng 589 establishments {{PRChina-religious-struct-stub