The Emperor Shun Temple
The temple stands on the top of Shunwang (or Emperor Shun, a legendary figure in the dawning days of the Chinese civilization) Mountain in Liangxi village, Wangtan town in the southeast Shaoxing. According to archaeologists, the temple was originally built on the Mouse Mountain on the other side of the valley and was rather small in scale. In the reign of Emperor Xianfeng, a new temple in memory of Emperor Shun was erected on the present site. Shortly after the rebuilding project, the main hall and the back hall of the temple were destroyed. In 1862, a year during the reign of Emperor Tongzhi, the temple was restored. The mountain was previously called the Turtle Mountain and changed to its present day name after the temple was built there.
A 60-step stone stairway leads from the southern foot of the Shunwang Mountain up to a small platform. Nearby the platform towers a huge camphor tree. The tree is so thick that it takes several people to spread their arms to measure its trunk and the tree top covers an area of several hundred square meters.
In front of the temple gate spreads a level ground of tens meters in width. The broad gate with five gateways faces south by east in 20 degrees. The beam on the gate is fully decorated with wood carvings and in the middle hangs a vertical inscription board with "Temple of Emperor Shun" vertically arranged on it. The inscription board is the original one made in the Qing Dynasty. The golden characters are on the background of stone blue and the carved dragons riding on clouds are on the edges of the board. The characters are written in a dignified style. The center part at the back of Mountain gate is a three-eave-roof stage for opera performance, a typical stage in Shaoxing-style.
Opposite the stage are the main hall and the rear hall, separated by a courtyard less than 4 meters in width. The two halls are connected with a corridor in the shape of “I”. The main hall is 9-metre high, 13-meter wide and 23-meter long. In the front of the main hall are 4 stone columns, on two of which are carved with magnificent dragons flying in clouds. There are both corridors in front and at the back of the main hall and only one corridor in front of the rear hall. The beams and frames are all carved and decorated with stories in classical novels or figures from traditional operas.
The temple has been on list of the cultural relics under county-level protection since 1979. It was repaired on a large scale between 1987 and 1989 and in 1998 again. Since 1997 it has been on list of cultural relics under provincial-level protection.
Source: shaoxing.gov.cn
Editor: Wang Moyan
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