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 at the south-east corner of the old village fortress, on a slight rise adjacent to the walls. There was originally an opera stage which faced the structure to the south, but this has now vanished.
Period: 1698. The mural is dated twice, one on a scroll held by one of the figures in the Dragon King mural, once in raised paint along the margins of the Avalokiteśvara-Guanyin mural.
Artist: A graffito along the margin of the Avalokiteśvara-Guanyin mural credits it to two artists named Zhang De 張德 and Zhang Huai 張懷, presumably brothers or father-and-son. The painter Zhang Huai is attested elsewhere in Yu County art; fifteen years prior to painting this temple in 1683, he was one of several artists who participated in the renovation of the Jade Emperor Pavilion 玉皇閣 in the county seat.
Mural Contents: The temple contains two shrines, which occupy the north and south sides of the building respectively. The northern side of the building has a shrine to Avalokiteśvara-Guanyin 觀音, what in this context would be called the “reverse-facing Guanyin” 倒座觀音. The front wall shows Guanyin enthroned with Samantabhadra 普賢 and Mañjuśrī 文殊. Above them are the Buddhas of the Three Ages 三世佛 and below them are Lord Guan 關公 and what may be Wenchang 文昌. The two side-walls show the Fifty-Three Stations of Sudhana 善財童子五十三參.
The southern side of the building has a shrine to the Dragon Kings 龍王. The main image shows the Mother of Waters 水母 flanked by the Dragon Kings of the Five Seas 五海龍王 and their various other rain-making flunkies. The two side-walls show the ride of the Dragon Kings out and back from the Crystal Palace 水晶宮 to dispense rain on the world beyond.
One unusual bit of this temple is that in front of the Dragon King Shrine there is a small roofed space which may at one point have functioned as an opera stage. Locals tell me that there was originally a separate stage facing the temple; the two stages might have been used for “opposing operas” 對台戲 in which two troupes try to outdo each other. In any case, this little space resembles a stage, and it has standard stage murals painted on it, in this case life-size images of standing screens with two figures peaking around either end.
Other Notes: This is the earliest dated Dragon King murals I’ve seen, which make them important in tracing the history of this cult. If we choose to accept that (a) the antechamber space in the temple is an opera stage, and (b) the murals in this space were painted at the same time as those inside the temple, then it’s also (by far) the earliest dated opera stage murals I’ve seen. The site, however, is ruinous, and I frankly suspect that someone will strip this place before long.
Dragon King Hall Full Gallery
Avalokiteśvara-Guanyin Hall Full Gallery
