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Tower of the Jade Emperor in the Yu County Seat (Yuzhou cheng Yuhuang ge 蔚州城玉皇閣)

From the Ground Up: Buddhism & East Asian Religions (FROGBEAR Project)

The Jade Emperor Tower (yuhuang ge 玉皇閣) is built atop the northern wall of the county town of Yu (Yu zhou cheng 蔚州城), where it looms over the city to the south and the plain of the Huliu River 壺流河 to the north, and is visible from many miles away. The structure has been renovated dozens of times over the centuries, such that identifying the “date” of any part of it is difficult. Both the Yu County gazetteers and steles at the site attribute the structure’s foundation to the Ming dynasty general Zhou Fang 周房, who rebuilt the city walls in 1377 and constructed twenty-four towers atop bastions around the circumference. (See: [Chongzhen] Yu zhou zhi, juan 1, “Chengchi” [崇禎] 蔚州志, 卷一, "城池"; Deng Qingping 鄧慶平 ed., Yuxian beiming jilu 蔚縣碑銘輯錄 [Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2009], 92-5, 100-1.) A 1614 stele suggests that only much later in the Zhengde reign (1505-1521) was the worship of the Jade Emperor established at the northernmost bastion-tower, by a military official named Sun Cheng 孫成. The same 1614 stele documents a massive renovation of the tower by a consortium of local merchants and officials, creating something like the temple as it stands today: “Above was the Jade Emperor with immortal boys and girls and ceremonial attendants, while below were painted all the sages processing in fifteen panels” (上則 玉帝而僊童女儀侍之下繪諸 聖十五龕巡, ibid. 93). These images are seemingly not related to the murals that exist today, which are not divided into panels or fifteen groups of figures. Extant steles and ceiling-plaques record many renovations from this time onward. The structure appears to have been heavily repainted in 1683, as a plaque records the names of seven painter-artisans (huajiang 畫匠) and three architectural-decorators (youjiang 油匠). A further four painter-artisans are recorded in an 1825 repair stele (ibid., 114-7), while an 1897 stele records the allocation of 418,610 cash for repainting (jinzhuang youhua 金粧油畫, ibid. 124-7). The use of Prussian blue, as well as other stylistic elements, mean that at least the pigments of the present paintings are unlikely to predate the 19th century. The mural topics are unique. The two south-facing panels flanking the main image of the Jade Emperor each show a total of six seated Daoist divinities; three male gods on the west, and two male gods and one female on the east. These are not labeled; the iconography resembles that of the Three Officials of Heaven, Earth, and Water (Tian di shui san guan 天地水三官). The east and west side-walls each have larger-than-life figures of “Heavenly Worthies” (tianjun 天君), “Primordial Generals” (yuanshuai 元帥), and “Thunder Lords” (leigong 雷公). These are labeled as follows: East wall: top row, left to right: 正乙靈官馬元帥, 移山雷公王天君, 布霧雷公張天君, 赤胆怒良王元帥, 欻火侓令金天君, 明離大神余天君, 六侯雷公白天君, 江河雷公孫天君, 灑雨雷公秦天君; bottom row, left to right: 五帝?雷公辛天君, 八風雷公畢天君, 火車雷公董天君, 行雨雷公陶天君, ☐☐☐☐劉元帥, 光明雷公許天君, ☐☐☐☐☐天君, 刀☐雷公袁天君, [illegible]. West wall: top row, left to right: 破陣雷公紏察王副帥, 火印雷公精忠張元帥, 鳴鼓雷公吉天君, 雷斧速誅黃天君, 驅邪雷公姚天君, 地司太歲殷元帥, 轟輪雷公桓天君, 監生大神高元帥, 江河雷公寗天君; bottom row, left to right: 火輪雷公李天君, 掣電雷公劉天君, 十雨雷公程天君, 地衹主令溫元帥, 轟妖霹靂勾天君, 黑虎玄壇趙元帥, 四令雷公龎天君, 六甲雷公張天君, 陰陽雷公鄧天君. A north-facing panel, adjacent to the door on the east side of the room, has an ink painting of a dragon emerging from clouds.

Hebei Sheng (China); Yu Xian (Hebei Sheng, China); 39.848937; 114.563799

chi

North China Mural Survey

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0433576

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