Structure Type: Village Temple 村廟.
Location: Holy Creek Village, Hunyuan County, Shanxi Province 山西省渾源縣神溪村.
Period: 1783. The main building itself is very old, probably from the Liao or Yuan period, and a Ming-dynasty dhāraṇi pillar sits in the courtyard. Nevertheless, the temple was repaired multiple times since then. One stele sitting in the courtyard gives an account of a major repair in “the forty-third year of the [missing] emperor of the Great Qing, or the gui mao year”大清☐☐四十八年歲次癸卯. This can only be the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, or 1783. The style of the murals is clearly 18th century, and the western-inspired trompe-l’œil elements confirm a date after 1700.
Artist: Two artists are listed on the 1783 stele, Hou Chengde 侯成德 and Feng Yun [ ] 馮運☐.
Mural Contents: The identity of the “Gods of the [Musical] Harmonies” 律呂神 is a bit of a mystery, but their cult seems to be closely related to that of the Dragon Kings 龍王 and the Mother of Waters 水母. A stele outside explains that “‘Harmonies’ is a way of saying the regulation of yin and yang.” 蓋律呂者調理陰陽之謂也. Through this regulation, the village is able to ensure a stable supply of rain and the prevention of hail.
Today there are two main deity statues on the altar, one male and one female; it is the “regulation of the yin and yang” between these two deities that presumably produces the village’s fertility. The two side walls show a reasonably standard Dragon King rain procession, with the meteorological hunt proceeding out on the right-hand wall and returning on the left-hand. The only difference from usual is that there is one main Dragon King, instead of the usual five.
The two rear walls on either side of the altar show scenes of the interior of the deities’ courts. Beautiful palace women prepare a feast, as fertility-giving water pours out from under the tables and over onto the side-walls. The most extraordinary aspect of these scenes are the fantastic European-inspired trompe l’œil elements with cast shadows. Particularly the image of the prayer-beads casting a shadow against the wall where they are hung reappears in at least one other site from the same period.
The two walls that flank the entrance are also quite unusual, although difficult to photograph. The wall on the left has an image of the Horse King / Hayagrīva 馬王. The wall on the right has an image of a deity which the caretaker identified to me as the Plague God 瘟疫神. If he is correct in this, this image may be the last surviving mural of what was once a reasonable common deity in this area.
Other Notes: Photography is usually strictly off-limits here; I was only able to take a few pictures due to some fortuitous guanxi 關係 with the cultural-bureau people. The caretaker, not the most friendly person at the best of times, was extremely pissed-off about me doing this and kicked me out after a few minutes, but not before I’d got the essentials. Unfortunately though the walls are slightly reflective, and thus none of the pictures came out as good as they might have with proper lights etc.
Nevertheless this is an important site. It is well-preserved and clearly dated. It has a beautiful stele record suggesting the basic fertility-oriented goddess-cult nature of dragon worship in the north (i.e., “the regulation of yin and yang“, the paired male and female deities, etc.) The murals preserve a number of rare iconographies (the Plague God, the interior scenes of the palace). The site also demonstrates the early spread of western-inspired techniques (cast shadows) and their use specifically to create realistic trompe-l’œil effects on the rear walls of temple rooms.
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