A Ruler's House Beside the River at Dingxiang
A family compound at Hebian in Dingxiang County, built by Yan Xishan in the 1920s and read through two listing dates: provincial protection in 1986, national in 2013.
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Xinzhou
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Shuxiang Temple: The Figures in a Side Hall
A smaller Wutai temple with a long rebuild history, chosen for one room: a painted clay Manjushri 9.87 metres high, riding a suanni, with five hundred arhats painted across the walls.
Pusading, the Yellow Temple on the Hill
A Gelug monastery on the ridge above Taihuai: a Northern Wei foundation turned lama temple in 1656, yellow glazed tiles from 1683, 108 steps up, and two emperors' inscriptions still in place.
Xiantong Temple and Its Bronze Hall
The oldest monastery on Wutai, rebuilt under the Tang, holds two experiments in material: a brick hall built without a beam, and a hall cast in bronze with ten thousand small Buddhas on its walls.
Wutai Shan: A Mountain Built Over Centuries
Five flat-topped peaks, a foundation date in 68 AD, 47 surviving monasteries and two Buddhist traditions sharing one mountain: what the Wutai landscape holds, and what pilgrims do in it.
An Ice Cave in the Luya Mountains
A cave that keeps ice in a semi-arid prefecture: where it sits in the Luya range, what the surrounding scenic area holds, and the simple physics that lets old ice survive underground.
The Tower over Daixian Old Town
The drum tower at the crossing of Dai County's old streets: its fire and rebuilding in the 1470s, the size of the present frame, and what the placard about the three passes was claiming.
Yanmen Pass: A Gate in the Frontier Wall
The pass in the Yanmen mountains north of Dai County: the corridor it controls, the Ming fort town of 1374 that stands there now, its three gatehouses, and the morning in 1937 that the gap was fought over.
Tayuan Temple and Its White Pagoda
A Tibetan-style stupa of 1302 standing inside a Chinese temple court: brick under white lime, 75.3 metres high, with a Ming hall in front of it and a revolving library of scripture behind.