Structure Type: Village Temple and Opera Stage 村廟、戲台.
Location: Shanxi Province, Shanyin County, Xi Shuangshan Village 山西省山陰縣西雙山村. The temple is located at the central cross-roads of the village. If this village was ever walled, little trace of it now remains, and I’m not sure how the temple would have related to the original settlement.
Period: 19th or early 20th century, based on style.
Artist: Unknown.
Mural Contents: Although the temple is nominally devoted to God of the Mount Heng, the Northern Marchmount 北嶽恆山, this deity is represented only as a central statue, and there are no murals depicting him. Instead, the central hall has side-wall murals depicting the Three Officials 三官 in process on one wall, and on the other, the Arhats 羅漢 and the Universal Gate Sutra 普門品. There are two side-halls. The one on the right (west) is dedicated to the Dragon Kings 龍王, and shows them processing out and back from the Crystal Palace 水晶宮. The one on the left (east) is dedicated to the Goddesses 娘娘, and has panel narratives drawn from the Romance of the Investiture of the Gods 封神演義. I’ve edited and put up the section from the latter murals that deals with the Nine Bends of the Yellow River Formation 黃河九曲陣, due to the importance of this rather strange story and the ritual diagram associated with it to north-Chinese village religion.
Across from the temple, facing north, there’s an old opera stage. All the murals in this structure are heavily damaged. The two side walls have trompe-l’œil images of hanging scrolls. Over the stage are square panels with operatic scenes.
Other Notes: The style here is bad and the murals themselves are difficult to photograph, as the rooms are narrow and full of large statues; the full-wall pictures above are composite panoramas with many problems. Nevertheless, I’ve put them up due to the completeness of the images and the relative rarity of some of the topics (the Three Officials, the Investiture of the Gods narrative).
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