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 河北省蔚縣. The temple is located near the center of the walled village, at a crossroads facing east. Facing it across a little square is an opera stage.
Period: 1724-1775. There is a slightly confusing stele outside the temple. The stele dates itself to 1724, stating that it was “begun” 起 in this year, and gives lists of masons, woodworkers, sculptors, painters, etc. for the temple construction. The actual text of the stele, however, makes it clear that the text was written fifty years later in 1775, at the time of a charitable bequest of lands and monies to the temple. The text is quite damaged and I’ve had a hard time making out what exactly took place, but the painting should have taken place at some time at or between these two years.
Artist: Mi Delong 米德龍.
Mural Contents: Originally, the three Goddesses 娘娘 would have been worshipped as statues on three altars that filled the center of the room; the paintings on the central wall represent the scenes taking place behind the statues. Here we see the backs of three thrones, and between them, palace women tidying porcelain, chopping food, and proffering fruit and melons. The murals on the side-walls show the procession of the Goddesses 娘娘 out and back from their palace, dispensing fertility on the world beneath.
There are two side-halls on either side of the temple yard. One of these is dedicated to the Ten Yama Kings 閻王廟, but the murals are heavily damaged and in any case the room is too narrow to photograph anything. The other side-hall, unusually, is devoted to the Old Gentleman 老君, which is to say the philosopher Laozi 老子. The walls show an arhat-like roster of Daoist “perfected man” 真人 immortals.
Other Notes: The style and particularly the colors in this temple are quite unique, to the point where I suspect there may be some Tibetan influence here. Despite this, the building is in ruins and seems like it will either collapse or be stripped the next day. As is was customary before the Revolution, the village threshing machine 扇車 is still kept in here. Temples were the public buildings of the village, and thus the village’s public property was stored there.
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