The Divine Nature of Power: Chinese Ritual Architecture at the Sacred Site of Jinci (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph): Chinese Ritual Architecture ... Jinci (Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph)

Built around three sacred springs, the Jin Shrines complex (Jinci), near Taiyuan in Shanxi province, contains a wealth of ancient art and architecture dating back to the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). The complex's 1,500-year-long textual record allows us to compare physical and written evidence to understand how the built environment was manipulated to communicate ideas about divinity, identity, and status. Jinci's significance varied over time according to both its patrons' needs and changes in the political and physical landscape. The impact of these changes can be read in the physical development of the site. Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing on the research of archaeologists, anthropologists, and religious, social, and art historians, this book seeks to recover the motivations behind the creation of religious art, including temple buildings, sculpture, and wall paintings. Through an examination of building style and site organization, the author illuminates the multiplicity of meanings projected by buildings within a sacred landscape and the ability of competing patronage groups to modify those meanings with text and context, thereby affecting the identity of the deities housed within them. This study of the art and architecture of Jinci is thus about divine creations and their power to create divinity. The DivineNature of Power: Chinese Ritual Architecture at the Sacred Site of Jinci 4 Acknowledgments 10 Contents 14 Figures 16 Chinese Dynasties 20 Map of Song, Xi Xia, and Liao Empires, ca. 1100 22 1. Introduction 26 The Pattern of Heaven and Principles of Earth 28 Shu Yu and the Cult of a State Founder 33 The Significance of the Jin Springs and the Temple to Its Spirit 35 Methodology and Approach 37 Confronting Late Imperial Reinterpretations 38 2. Jinci: Place and Name 44 The Modern Site of Jinci as Shrine and Sacred Landscape 45 The Significance of the Term “Jinci” 55 3. Taiyuan and the First Ancestor of Jin 62 Heaven, Earth, and Man: The Deities of the Jin State 63 Archaeology and the Relationship Between the Tang Fief, Jinyang, and Taiyuan 67 Taiyuan/Jinyang as a Seat of Local Power 75 The Song Founding and the Separation of Taiyuan from Jinyang 80 4. The Shrine of Shu Yu of Tang 82 The Form of Ancestral and Founders’ Temples 83 Shu Yu and Imperial Legitimacy: The Founder’s Shrine from the Sixth Century Through the Northern Song Dynasty 87 The Shape of the Pre-Yuan Shu Yu Shrine Complex 98 Local Officials and the Shu Yu Cult 99 The Symbolic Value of the Shrine to Shu Yu 103 5. The Jin River and the Emergence of the Spirit of the Jin Springs 106 Springs, River, Canal 107 The Worship of the Spirit of the Jin Springs 110 6. The Song-Dynasty Temple to the Sage Mother 122 The Sage Mother Hall 123 The Temple Program and Deity Identity 147 The Pre-Yuan “Complex” of the Sage Mother as a Local Nature Spirit Temple 170 7. Manipulating the Spirits of Jin 172 The Development of the Jinci Ritual Complex from the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries 172 Changes in the Social Order During the Ming-Qing Transition 176 Water Management During the Late Ming 180 Building Projects of the Late Ming and Divinity Identity 183 Reading Jinci in the Wake of the Qing Conquest 189 Spirits of Jin Transformed? 199 8. Conclusion: The Temple and Shrine as an Expression of Divine Presence 202 Appendixes 210 A Dates of Extant Structures in the Jinci Complex 212 B Glossary of Building Terminology 224 Reference Matter 238 Notes 240 Select Bibliography 268 Index 282 Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series 292 "Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing on the research of archaeologists, anthropologists, and religious, social, and art historians, this book seeks to recover the motivations behind the creation of religious art, including temple buildings, sculptures, and wall paintings. Through an examination of building style and site organization, the author illuminates the multiplicity of meanings projected by buildings within a sacred landscape and the ability of competing patronage groups to modify those meanings with text and context, thereby affecting the identity of the deities housed within them. This study of the art and architecture of Jinci is thus about divine creations and their power to create divinity."--BOOK JACKET