Guangsheng Temple on the Slope of Mount Huoshan

From the county road the temple shows itself in two pieces. The upper temple sits on the ridge of Mount Huoshan, its halls stepping up the slope; the lower one stands at the foot of the hill, facing the Huoquan spring, its roofs lower and closer together. Between them runs the slope that gives the complex its shape. This was never one walled rectangle: it is a monastery in three groups, with the Water God Temple standing west of the lower one, and the parts were built at different times. The upper group keeps the long axis and the tall halls; the lower one sits close to the spring. Walking down between them is the point of the visit.

The reason to go down rather than up is the Water God Temple. It stands west of the lower monastery, a hall for the water god beside the Huoquan spring, and its walls carry large Yuan-dynasty paintings. One of them is known by the line written across it, 'The Great Travelling Troupe of Zhongduxiu performs here', and it shows a company of actors at work: the stage, the musicians, the players in costume. It is a rare picture of Yuan drama as it was actually put on rather than as it was described. The paintings are why the hall is studied, and why the temple is often spoken of as a place where painting and theatre meet.

Below the upper temple the buildings change character. The lower monastery was built largely in the Yuan, its halls set on the slope so that the courts rise from the gate to the main hall; the two courtyards use different spacings and combinations to make different kinds of space. Much of what was painted here has gone: in 1928 four sets of murals from the lower temple were sold, and they are now divided among three museums in the United States. What came to light instead was a book. In 1933 a copy of the Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka, the Buddhist canon known by that name, was found at the temple.