Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 253-255 (2013) pp 67-70 Online: 2012-12-13 © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.253-255.67 Analysis of Temple Form and Sculpture Value of Song Dynasty in Southeast Shanxi — The case of Zhangzi Chongqing Temple Lin Chai 1, a , Xiangdong Zhu *,2,b ,Chongen Wang 3,c 1Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. 2Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. 3Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China. [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] (* represents communication author) Keywords: southeast Shanxi; Song Dynasty; temple form; group combination; sculpture Abstract. Southeastern region of Shanxi Province exist the most architectures of Song and Jin Dynasty in Shanxi. As society and religions in Song Dynasty develop, the ancient architectures were paid more attention. The article takes Zhangzi Chongqing temple as an example to explore the characteristics of construction space form and artistic value through the analysis on the surrounding environment, group combination, plane layout and artistic value. This article provides strong evidence for the future researches on architecture style of Song Dynasty. Introduction China has a long history, with its culture breeding the country for thousands of years. Shanxi, as the province with most heritage architectures, has very rich historical resources, among which ancient timber architecture is particularly prominent. Ancient timber architectures of Song and Jin Dynasty alone occupy more than 75% of the timber architectures of the whole nation. The traditional architecture form with timber structure as the main body almost pervades cities and villages in Shanxi. The southeastern region of Shanxi Province has especially the most existing architectures of Song and Jin Dynasty, accounting for about half of the timber architecture of Song and Jin Dynasty nationwide. Southeastern region of Shanxi Province was called Shangdang region in the history, where religion had been very prosperous before Song Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, this area became very important strategically and gained the special attention from the imperial court. Meanwhile, the power of religion was also needed for political and military actions, which contributed to religion development in this area. Along with the religion flourishing, the temple architectures gradually increased [1]. These religious temples of Song Dynasty reflect the developmental level of social productivity. Both the structure form and the carving art of decorative elements are the most powerful demonstration of Shanxi architecture in Song Dynasty. Analysis of Chongqing Temple Form The Overview of Chongqing Temple. Chongqing temple was divided into two parts. The front part of the temple changed its name to the Temple of Huguolingkuangwang and the rear of the temple was still called Chongqing temple. Chongqing temple locates in Setou town southeast of Zhangzi village. Chongqing temple faces south and has a single courtyard. The existing architectures along the central axis are Yingbi, Tianwang Hall and Qianfo Hall. The wing-halls are Wofo Hall on the east and Sandashi Hall on the west. Besides, Dizang Hall is on the west of Qianfo Hall, and Guandi Hall and pavilions are on the east of the Tianwang Hall. A meditation room is on the east side of courtyard. Among the architectures, the Tianwang Hall and the Sandashi Hall were the remaining configurations of Song Dynasty. Their beam frame structure basically preserves the style of Song Dynasty, which is a rare example for the study of beam frame structure and plane layout in Song Dynasty. The Dizang All rights reserved. No part of contents of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of Trans Tech Publications, www.ttp.net. (ID: 128.210.126.199, Purdue University Libraries, West Lafayette, USA-15/07/15,08:11:50) 68 Sustainable Development of Urban Infrastructure Hall was built in Jiajing 27th year (1548 AD) of Ming Dynasty; the Tianwang Hall was built in Ming Dynasty and repaired in Qing Dynasty. The rest Wofo Hall, Guzhangzhe Hall, Guandi Hall and eastern meditation room were re-built in Jiaqing third year of Qing Dynasty[3]. In November 20, 1996, all architectures were announced to be the National Key Cultural Relic Protection Units by the State Council. (Fig.1) The environment of Chongqing Temple. Traditional architectures and their environment are inseparable. The architecture value cannot be fully reflected without its environment as a foil. The book "Yuanye" in Ming Dynasty emphasized the importance of "finding a good place", analyzed various topographical environment characteristics and pointed out how to make use of the environment to achieve a better effect [2]. Traditional architectures not only pay much attention to Fengshui in site selection, emphasizing facing to the south as well as facing to the river and against the mountain, but also pay great attention to the environment, adapting to the local terrain changes and forming a well-proportioned, flexible layout model. For example, the Zhangzi Chongqing temple locates in the Ziyun Mountain with pines surrounding the front temple and mountains surrounding the rear temple and the two temples are about 200 meters apart with beautiful environment. As a result, one temple can be seen from the other one, echoing each other at a distance. The two temples are both independent in space and interconnected in vision with height difference conforming to mountain terrain changes. It can be seen that temple architecture not only depends on the nature but also respects nature, making the building and environment Figure1. Stereoscopic photo of Qianfo Hall in contact between each other. Therefore, temples Chongqing temple surrounded by trees are relatively common in southeast of Shanxi province. The Faxing temple, another architecture of Song Dynasty not far away, is also a good example. Group Combination of Chongqing Temple. Architecture group combination form is quite common in Chinese traditional architectures, combining different forms of single architecture into a group orderly and forming a certain scale of architecture group. The architectural layout has the following characteristics. First, symmetrical layout was adopted in both single and group architecture in traditional architectures, which made the architectures changeable as well as unite and harmonious. Second, the central axis, as the group core, had a leading function on the construction and flow of the architectures, which made the architectures restrict and connect to each other, forming a centripetal force space. Three, single architectures in architecture group had commonness, individuality as well as a distinction between primary and secondary. These were reflected in the architecture size, roof forms, pattern style and color of glass ornaments on the ridge, making the architecture visually rich, colorful and coordinated. Chongqing Temple followed the group combination mode of traditional architectures, taking Yingbi, Tianwang Hall, Qianfo Hall as the central axis, along which were the Sandashi Hall and Wofo Hall on both sides. Dizang Hall was built on the west of the Qianfo Hall according to the geographic environment of the temple. The meditation room was built in the northeast corner and Guandiling in the southeast corner of the temple. Guzhangzhe Hall was built southwest of the temple, which was not a completely symmetrical layout. It followed the traditional architecture group combination mode but with a breakthrough on the basis of the mode. Meanwhile, the majestic Qianfo Hall was taken as the center in the space layout of the architectures with other halls surrounding the main hall so as to create rich, colorful, harmonious and unified courtyard space. Coordination as well as difference existed among architectures and courtyards. Main architectures had larger size, complex structure and secondary architectures were smaller with simple style, which showed clear hierarchy and was influenced by Chinese ritual culture. Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 253-255 69 Open and wide atrium space was adopted in public space treatment, which not only embodied the main architecture’s magnificence, but also generated a strong visual impact; meanwhile, a perfect combination of architecture and environment was available at any angle. In addition, the Chongqing temple also had meditation rooms, which divided the temple architecture function into two parts, namely public worship area and living area, creating more diverse space layout. Art Value of Sculptures in Chongqing Temple of Song Dynasty Painted sculptures are one of the most exquisite art types in Chinese history, which cannot be separated from temple architectures. Sculptures as well as mural art developed to the peak along with the development of religion and temples. Painted sculptures not only reflected the psychological states, thoughts and feelings of historical figures, but also the art achievements of the historical period with strong ethnic style. The religion development of Song Dynasty can be fully reflected in the painted sculptures of the temple. The existing Arhat sculptures of Song period were in the three temples respectively, namely Lingyan temple in Changqing county, Shandong province, Baosheng temple in Wuxian, Jiangsu province, and Chongqing temple in Changzi, Shanxi province. Only