Dongzhen Forest of Steles: A Thousand-year Memory Carved on Stone

There is an ancient temple at the foot of Yishan Mountain in Linqu County, with its back against Phoenix Ridge and facing the water. There are towering old trees and numerous stone tablets. This is Dongzhen Temple.

Beilang

Dongzhen Temple was built in the third year of the Western Han Dynasty (BC 102). Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty personally visited the house, ordered the etiquette officer to worship and built a temple. Originally the Jade Emperor Peak, the main peak of Yishan Mountain, was named "Taishan Temple". In the 14th year of Emperor Yangdi Huang Kai (594), he ordered a temple to be built on the mountain. He took a nearby witch to offer sacrifices and was killed by pine and cypress. Every spring and autumn, the emperor should make special sacrifices to defend the country and be the competent official. Whenever there is a national ceremony, or "the weather is bad, the tunnel is not peaceful", or "the army is at war", the emperor personally or sends ministers to Dongzhen to offer sacrifices.

Due to the imperial sacrifice of the imperial court and the majestic beauty of the mountains, celebrities and poets come to visit Range Rover in droves at all times. In the meantime, a large number of ancient stone tablets were left all over the temple, clustered like forests, so it was called "Dongzhen Forest of Steles". According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 360 ancient monuments, including the Imperial Monument 16, which was also added between Xuan Tong and the Republic of China. After thousands of years of vicissitudes, wars and disputes, 145 buildings are preserved, including 4 imperial inscriptions.

The earliest existing imperial tablet is the Yuan Dade Imperial Tablet, which is located in the southwest corner of the altar in the main hall. The four dragons of the tablet crown are tied in a flat knot, and the body is embossed. Its shape is beautiful and vivid. This is the inscription of "Imperial edict of five towns in Jiafeng" in the second year of Dade, Yuan Chengzong.

Ming imperial edict tablet (Ming Hongwu tablet)

Ming Hongwu Imperial Monument is the best in Dongzhen Monument Forest. The monument is unique in style, simple and elegant, towering and tall, ingenious in shape, exquisitely carved, majestic in image, with its head held high and neck moving, lifelike, so it is called "the tortoise". It is engraved with the imperial edict of Ming Taizu Hongwu for three years to "redeem Yue Zhenhai".

Kangxi was in office for a long time and often encountered bad years. No matter whether the weather is dry or flooded, Kangxi will send officials or Taoist priests to Dongzhen Temple to pray. In the fifty-second year of Kangxi, he came to Dongzhen Temple, and in order to feel the gift of the gods, he wrote four characters of "Reiki Bell". The tablet of "Dadong Accompanying Yue" inscribed by Qianlong is placed at the lower left of the tablet of "Lingqi Locking Bell" inscribed by Kangxi, which fully shows Qianlong's admiration for it.

Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty inscribed the plaque of "Reiki Bell"

These ancient monuments record the imperial edicts and sacrifices made to Yishan by court officials in past dynasties, as well as natural disasters such as uneven wind and rain, excessive drought and flood, and earthquake fall, as well as national reform, civil strife caused by foreign invasion, and the military situation in border areas. They also praised the beautiful scenery of Easttown. Inscriptions include orthography, cursive script, official script, seal script, running script and weeds. Carving forms include intaglio, relief and double hook. Monument crown, lace decoration, deep and shallow relief, line carving complete, different shapes. Styles include imperial edicts, eulogies, notes, poems, words, songs, poems, essays and inscriptions. Among them, monuments and poems each account for less than half. Spaces vary in length, from thousands of words for the elderly to crosses for the short ones. Topics range from national political events to local anecdotes.

Dongzhen Forest of Steles is a rare art forest in China, and it is a precious physical historical material for studying the political and economic situation, natural changes, literature, calligraphy and sculpture in ancient China.