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: Yu County, Hebei Province 河北蔚縣. The temple is located on a small mound to the south-east of the old walled fort, facing south across a marsh.
Period: 1898. The mural is dated on a small scroll held by one of the figures.
Artist: Unknown.
Mural Contents: The mural shows the standard procession of the Dragon Kings out and back from the Crystal Palace 水晶宮. The rear wall of the building has now collapsed, so only the two side walls depicting the procession remain. On the two outer walls towards the front of the temple there are two rather goofy guardian figures.
Below: Photos from 2014, before the wall was cut up by thieves.
Other Notes: This temple is a useful data-point in fixing the stylistic and chromatic progression of Yu County murals around the turn of the 20th century. I first visited this temple in 2014, during which time it was abandoned but at least the side-wall murals were still relatively intact. When I visited again in 2018 with a better camera, someone had gridded out one wall of the temple with a razor for removal. Apparently the thieves were unsuccessful or fled before the job could be finished, because only the lower registers of the image had been removed, and a number of these square panels were still stacked up on the floor there. The building is collapsing and mud from the roof runs down over the murals every time it rains.
Below: Photos from 2018, with one wall now cut up.
Highlight Gallery
Full Gallery from 2014
Full Gallery from 2018
