Location info and some photos withheld. As of my last visit, this mural site is vulnerable to theft or destruction. I have withheld the location beneath the county level and any photographs (of steles, signs, scenery, etc.) that might identify the place. If you are an accredited scholar and you have a good reason to want to see this information, email me and we’ll talk about it.
Structure Type: Village temple 村廟.
Location: Zuoyun County 左雲縣. There was originally an opera stage across from the temple, but this is now an overgrown ruin. The temple is located on a hillside outside of the village; if this village was originally walled, no traces of it now remain.
Period: Undated, late-19th or early 20th century by style.
Artist: Unknown.
Mural Contents: The temple has three halls, from right to left (east to west): to the Goddesses 娘娘, to the Dragon Kings 龍王, and to the Horse King 馬王. Each of these is a long, narrow room.
Probably the most interesting room is the Goddesses Hall 娘娘殿. The Goddesses have the most varied iconography of any major north-Chinese deity, such that no two Goddess temples are really the same. In this area, however, the two prevalent types are (1) the procession, which shows the goddesses and their retinues processing out to grant children, and (2) the Romance of the Investiture of the Gods 封神演義 narrative, in which the three Goddesses battle Zhao Gongming 趙公明 using the magical Yellow River Formation 黃河陣. This temple is unique in that it combines the two iconographies, showing an abbreviated Investiture of the Gods narrative at the top and the “procession” beneath. Usefully, the “procession” deities are here labeled, so that we get the names of the Goddesses’ retinue: the four directional guardian deities of Mt. Tai 泰威, the Gentleman who Grants Children 送子先生, the Great Blue Lad 青師太郎, the Old Grandmother of the Cao Family 曹氏老奶奶, the Immortal Who Fashions Babies 造生仙師, the Older Brother of Smallpox 痘瘥哥哥, and the Older Sister of the Ma Family 馬氏姐姐.
The Dragon King Hall 龍王殿 shows the standard rain-giving expedition of the Dragon Kings, out and back from the Crystal Palace 水晶宮 where they are awaited by the Mother of Waters 水母.
The Horse King Hall 馬王殿 shows the “pursuit of the evil ones” theme, in which the Horse King, the Ox King 牛王, and the King of Grass and Water 水草王 ride out to smite evil demons and bring them back in chains.
Other Notes: The temple appears to have been converted at one point to a storage-shed and re-roofed at that time. Now it sits abandoned, with its doors open to the elements. This area is very poor.
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