Baoma: A Jin-Dynasty Shrine on Changbaishan

Baoma lies near Erdaobaihe on Changbaishan’s northern side, in Antu County. Earlier interpretations treated it as a walled settlement used from the Balhae period into the Liao and Jin eras. Excavations from 2014 through 2018 changed the identification: archaeologists recognized the site as a Jin-dynasty shrine built by the royal family for worship of Changbaishan.

The revised interpretation came from mapping buildings and reading finds together. A Jilin University report in August 2018 described nineteen faculty and students working at the site during a hot spell, while a field station was nearing completion. Across seasons, teams traced platforms, halls and connections between buildings. Field records turned a broad settlement label into a more specific account of a royal ritual center.

The excavation reports describe building platforms, a moon terrace, covered corridors, brick-paved paths, pebble courtyards and drainage facilities. Each element shaped movement and maintenance. Raised platforms defined the halls; corridors joined separate buildings; paved paths connected courts; drains carried water away from the architectural complex.

These features show a planned compound spread across the mountain site. The architecture was a sequence of spaces, from terraces and yards to halls linked by corridors. Water management belonged to the design as much as movement did, an important practical detail at a complex built on a mountain slope.

Among the reported finds are a face-pattern tile end, a kalaviṅga figure and white porcelain. A tile end once sat at the edge of a roof, where its face or decorative motif could be seen below. The kalaviṅga—a birdlike figure known in Buddhist art—carries another visual tradition into the building record. White porcelain adds a domestic or ceremonial object to the architectural fragments.

These pieces connect the missing roofs to the platforms beneath them. Tile shapes show how a roof was finished; images show which forms were selected for display; porcelain points to objects used or deposited at the site. Together with bricks, pathways and drains, the finds let archaeologists read the shrine as a built place with both ritual and practical elements.

The Jin dynasty was founded by Jurchen rulers, and its royal court made Changbaishan a focus of mountain worship. UNESCO’s Geopark description identifies the Baoma shrine as a site built by the imperial family; the 2018 excavation account interprets it as a state shrine. The platforms, courts and halls gave that royal relationship a physical setting on the north side of the mountain.

Baoma’s story belongs to this particular Jin-period complex. The excavated plan and objects preserve the work of building a court-sponsored shrine near Erdaobaihe, within Antu County. They offer a specific historical layer in a mountain landscape that has carried many different meanings across time.