[2025 Jiexiu Attraction] Travel Guide for Xianshen Tower (Updated Mar)

: : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Worshiping Hou Tu Niangniang, Quanzhen Sect of Taoism. ⭕️Taiheyan Archway: An experience of a thousand years at a glance! It is also the only glazed archway! ⭕️Zoroastrianism Tower: One of the three famous towers in Jin Dynasty, and the only Zoroastrianism building. ⭕️Zhangbi Ancient Castle: Peacock blue glazed plaques from the Ming Dynasty, the structure of the ancient castle Note⚠️ 1️⃣The Taiheyan Archway is far away. Take a bus from Jiexiu Station for 1 hour and walk about 1 kilometer after getting off 2️⃣ Jiexiu will have a lunch break at noon except for the museum I have traveled to 100+ cities in depth Continuously updating...

The building is named after the temple. The Demon God Building is a component of the Jiexiu Zoroastrian Temple. It is a Zoroastrian pavilion-style building that combines a gate tower, a music tower and a crossing tower. The Zoroastrian Tower is made of wood and stone, and its clothes are made of colored glaze. It is ingeniously designed, magnificent and gorgeous, and has a varied shape. It is a masterpiece of Qing Dynasty pavilion architecture and a "living fossil" for studying Chinese Zoroastrian culture. The Zoroastrian Tower faces south and covers an area of ​​575 square meters. Its plan is in the shape of a "convex" character, and the protruding part looks like a pair of strong and powerful "arms" stretched out towards the hustle and bustle of the city. This is a protruding over-street building, three rooms wide and three rooms deep, with passages on the east, west and south sides, two stories high, a flat platform in the middle, and double eaves on top. The wider part of the building has a mountain gate on the lower level and a music building on the upper level. The lower gate is five bays wide and four bays deep, with a corridor around it, creating a spacious space. The flat platform at the waist of the gate is connected to the flat platform of the overpass, and the floor is laid underneath, forming a music building for offering sacrifices to the gods and performing plays in the temple. The Music Tower is located at the upper part of the mountain gate, with eight-character screen walls on both sides of the building. The upper part of the building has double eaves, and with the flat balcony at the waist, it is actually four stories high. Four through columns in the building directly support the upper beams. The mountain gate and music tower are stacked up and down. The roof is a cross-shaped hip roof, all covered with glazed ridge tiles. The second-floor shrine houses statues of Emperor Wenchang, Kuixing and his attendants. Back in the Northern Song Dynasty, Wen Yanbo, a well-known politician, designed the prototype of the Zoroastrian Tower with his enthusiasm and extraordinary ingenuity. At that time, it might have been just a place to place people’s faith and gather people. With the initial bricks and stones and the new wooden beams, no one could have expected that this tower would become a "cultural messenger" throughout history and be preserved to this day. Zoroastrianism, a mysterious religious sect that came from the ancient Persian country with exotic customs, has unique doctrines and beautiful rituals. After settling in the Central Plains, it collided and blended with local culture. After years of vicissitudes, many traces of Zoroastrianism have faded in the evolution of history, but the Zoroastrian Temple has become a powerful evidence of the existence of Zoroastrianism on the Chinese land. Today, the beast-like gods on the ridge of the Zoroastrian temple, the glazed statues of people in Hu clothing riding auspicious beasts, and the glazed ornaments with 莨苕gen sáo patterns all exude a strong West Asian Persian style. The Zoroastrian Temple was built in the 50th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1785). Although it has been repaired or rebuilt many times, the original building structure has never been damaged. Today we can still find relics of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian temple culture from the carved patterns on purlins, beams, rafters, columns, door inserts, and brackets. Looking up from below, the huge eaves look like a roc spreading its wings, ready to fly. The winter sun shines on the glass, making it colorful and sparkling. Zoroastrianism

In ancient architecture, glazed tiles have always been the most dazzling decorative component. Glazed tiles, as a building material, originated in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Since the Tang Dynasty, they have been widely used in the decoration of buildings. Glazed tiles are a perfect combination of ancient Chinese culture and art. Their brilliance and splendor are the embodiment of the exquisite, delicate, and subtle spirit of the Orientals, and the perfect fusion of thought, emotion, and art! Jiexiu, Shanxi, known as the "Hometown of Glazed Tiles in China," has a long history of making glazed tiles, which flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties! This art, tempered in fire and reborn in time, has been passed down from generation to generation, with masterpieces in every generation. After thousands of years of wind and frost, it is still colorful!

Today, I want to share with you a piece of ancient architecture that made me exclaim, "Wow!"—the Aoshen Tower in Jiexiu, Shanxi! The Aoshen Tower is located on Shuncheng Street in Jiexiu City. It is a street-crossing building and the only remaining Zoroastrian building in China. Do you know about Zoroastrianism? It's an ancient and mysterious religion! The uniqueness of the Aoshen Tower lies not only in its historical value, but also in its amazing architectural style! 🎉 The tower is three stories high, with a double-eave hip and gable roof, and the glazed decorations are gorgeous and dazzling. It's simply stunning! Standing under the tower and looking up, I feel as if I can sense the glory and grandeur of the past! Moreover, the Aoshen Tower has a particularly magical place! It has no foundation and is built directly on the street! I'm dizzy, how did they do it? The wisdom of the ancients is really admirable! The Aoshen Tower has witnessed the changes of history📜. It is not only a building, but also a cultural heritage. 🎊If you are interested in ancient architecture, you must come here to feel its charm!

| A treasure city full of glazed tiles.💫Jiexiu, named after Jie Zitui, a famous minister of the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn Period, is the hometown of Qingming Cold Food Culture and Chinese Glazed Tile. 💞This small city, only about 30 kilometers away from Pingyao Ancient City, is not visited by many tourists, but it is the city with the best experience for me. Jiexiu is really a treasure. I recommend the following places: ✅Hou Tu Temple A Taoist temple of the Quanzhen School, the highest-level ancient building complex in Jiexiu, famous for its well-preserved glazed tile art, known as the "Glazed Tile Art Museum". The main hall of Hou Tu is covered with golden glazed tiles, which are magnificent and dazzling under the sunlight. ✅City God Temple Jiexiu City God Temple, founded during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, faces south. Entering the courtyard, the first thing you see is the offering pavilion under the stage, followed by the main hall. The glazed tiles on the roof of the main hall are particularly beautiful, but there are surprisingly few visitors to the City God Temple. Only the grandpas playing chess at the entrance are lively. ✅Five Sacred Mountains Temple Famous for the "Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl" sculpture on the central pillar of the main hall, but the gate is closed all year round. ✅Xian Shen Lou The only surviving Zoroastrian building in China, the Xian Shen Lou has two floors and a "convex" shape. The lower floor is the temple gate, the upper floor is the music hall, and the center is the shrine. There is a flat seat and railing around the waist, and the upper part is covered by a double eaves roof. Four pillars directly support the upper floor beams, the gate and stage are stacked on top of each other, the roof is a cross-shaped hip roof, and the eaves protrude in four directions. All tile ridges and decorations are made of glazed tiles, magnificent and spectacular. ✅Taiheyan Archway Taiheyan Archway, with a history of over 100 years, is definitely the most beautiful peacock blue glazed tile, no argument. The archway's lintel, brackets, plaque, drip tiles, ridge beasts, and various floral patterns and characters are all made of yellow, green, and blue glazed tiles. The sunlight shines through, creating a dazzling and elegant effect. ✅Jiexiu Museum Jiexiu Museum is adjacent to the Xian Shen Lou. You can spend half an hour visiting the glazed tile exhibition on the lower floor. Other exhibition halls are not recommended. 💗Tips: Except for the Taiheyan Glazed Tile Archway, the other attractions are basically within a hundred meters of each other. You can walk or take the free No. 1 bus to get there. 📷Documentary: "China Image Chronicle" - Shanxi Jiexiu Episode 🚶‍♂️Two-day tour route: 1: Jiexiu Museum → Tianshen Tower → Five Sacred Mountains Temple → City God Temple → Hou Tu Temple 2: Mianshan → Zhangbi Ancient Fort

🏔️ It's as if you've traveled through time and space to the ancient Han and Tang dynasties. The solemn and majestic buildings bear the weight of a thousand years of history. With careful appreciation, you can feel the accumulation of time and the charm of culture. Here, you can fully appreciate the subtleties of traditional Chinese architectural style and feel the crystallization of ancient wisdom. ✅ The Ao Shen Tower is not just a building, but a witness to history and culture. Let's walk into this historical corridor together and feel the profoundness of Chinese civilization. ✅ The Xian Shen Tower is a majestic and unique wooden structure. It combines a mountain gate, a music tower, and a street-crossing tower. The three-tiered eaves and cross-hipped roof structure is unique in style, rigorous in structure, and proportionate. The glazed roof is exquisite and gorgeous, and the wood carvings under the eaves are unique. It is a "living fossil" for studying Chinese Zoroastrian culture. ✅ The Xian Shen Tower, the Qiu Feng Tower, and the Fei Yun Tower in Wanrong County are known as the three famous towers of the three Jin dynasties.

The number of ancient buildings in Shanxi, their wide distribution, the large time span they cover, the variety of types, and the exquisite artistry should be the best in the country. They are scattered throughout the countryside and towns, and even in ten days or half a month, one can only get a rough glimpse of them. Jiexiu is the land of glazed tiles; to see ancient glazed buildings, look at Jiexiu.

Jiexiu Zoroastrian Temple has high historical and cultural value and unique architectural charm. It is definitely worth a visit. I give it a rating of ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Here are the reasons: 1. High historical value: • Unique religious culture: It is the only remaining Zoroastrian building in China, and it is extremely important for studying the spread and development of Zoroastrian culture in China and its integration with Chinese local culture. Zoroastrianism originated in ancient Persia, that is, fire worship, and has unique religious beliefs and cultural traditions. The Zoroastrian Temple is a precious relic of this exotic religious culture in China. • Witness to historical changes: From its establishment in the Northern Song Dynasty to several renovations and reconstructions during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Zoroastrian Temple witnessed the changes in political, cultural, and religious policies in different dynasties in Chinese history. For example, the suppression of religion by the court during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty caused the main statue of the Zoroastrian Temple to be replaced. This historical event was reflected in the changes of the Zoroastrian Temple, providing physical evidence for historical research. 2. Unique architectural style: • Exquisite and complex structure: It integrates the mountain gate, the music building, and the street building into one, and the plane is in the shape of "convex". This unique architectural structure is rare in ancient Chinese architecture. The building is about 25 meters high and has two floors. The waist is equipped with a flat seat color railing, and the upper part is covered with a heavy eaves, which is actually four floors. The four pillars directly support the upper beam frame, and the mountain gate and the stage are stacked up and down, forming a unique spatial layout, which is both practical and artistic. • Exquisite decorative art: The roof adopts a cross-hipped design, and the eaves protrude from the mountain flowers in all four directions, making the entire building more three-dimensional and vivid. The tiles and ridge decorations on the roof are all made of glazed products, which are colorful, magnificent, and spectacular. The decorative style of glazed products has a strong Western Asian Persian style, such as the awe-inspiring sky god and the glazed statue of the Hu costume riding a beast on the ridge, which is different from the glazed decoration of traditional Chinese architecture and has unique artistic value. • Novel wood carving patterns: There are many peculiar animal patterns in the wood carvings under the eaves, such as tigers, sheepdogs, sacred cows, elephants, etc. These are all sacred beasts in Zoroastrianism, which basically do not appear in traditional ancient Chinese architecture. It shows the architectural features of the combination of Chinese and Western cultures, and provides important references for the study of ancient Chinese and Western cultural exchanges. 3. Rich cultural connotations: • Association with literary works: The story of Wen Yanbo's help from the gods was written by Luo Guanzhong, a novelist at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, into "Three Sui Ping Yao Biography". In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, novelist Feng Menglong changed it to "Ping Yao Biography" based on Luo Guanzhong, making this story known to the world, adding literary and legendary colors to the Zoroastrian Temple. • Unique digital culture: The architectural complex hides the worship of the number "three", the main building is three stories high, divided into three parts, the music building has three rooms, the roof is decorated with three-color glazed tiles, there are three temples, and the phenomenon of the coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. This unique worship of the number "three" is quite different in traditional Chinese culture, which arouses people's deep thinking about its cultural connotation. In short, Jiexiu Zoroastrian Temple has irreplaceable value from the perspectives of history, architecture, and culture. It is a treasure of ancient Chinese architectural art and is definitely worth a visit. However, it should be noted that the scenic spot is closed from 12 noon to 14 pm, and visitors need to arrange their visit time reasonably.

There is an ancient building in the urban area of ​​Jiexiu, which will attract everyone's attention at a distance. It is rated as one of the four famous towers in Shanxi, where there are numerous ancient buildings. This towering and magnificent building with complex and varied structures has also become a representative of Jiexiu's iconic ancient buildings. It is the only remaining Zoroastrian building in China - the Zoroastrian God Tower. 【What is Zoroastrianism?】 Chinese Zoroastrianism is called Manichaeism in the Middle East, and Manichaeism originated from Yoroist Christianity. Jorodianism was the most influential religion in the Middle East before the advent of Christianity and was the state religion of the ancient Persian Empire. The Mingjiao recorded in Jin Yong's martial arts novel "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber" is the historical Manichaeism. In China, Yororistianism and Manichaeism are often equated without distinction and collectively referred to as "Zoroastrianism", but in fact they are completely different things. There is also a little-known historical fact that is related to Zoroastrianism. Zhu Yuanzhang once joined the army under Guo Zixing. The army under Guo Zixing's name was called the Red Turban Army. The Red Turban Army and the Ming Cult are closely related. From the subsequent historical development, we can also find that the name of the Ming Dynasty was also related to the Ming Cult. However, after Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, he announced a ban on the Ming Cult to prevent the recurrence of the Ming Cult uprising. [The beauty of the Zoroastrian Temple is incomparable] The Zoroastrian Temple was rebuilt in the 13th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign in the Qing Dynasty (1674), but the style of the glazed ridge decoration has been seen in ancient buildings of the same period in Shanxi during the Ming Dynasty, and the wood carvings preserve the prototype of the Zoroastrian temple when it was first built in the Song Dynasty. Because these wooden sculptures of mythical beasts are generally not seen in other temples, it shows that even when the Zoroastrian towers and temples were rebuilt, they still retained the original Song Dynasty wood carvings as the prototype. Walking around the outside of the Aoshen Tower, you can see a building on the outside that is three rooms deep and three rooms wide, with a triple-eaved style. If we look from the south side, we can also see that the Aoshen Tower is in the shape of a convex character and its depth is about twenty meters. Looking from the back of the Zoroastrian God Tower, you can see the wider Music Tower, which belongs to the Zoroastrian God Temple. This Music Tower is four rooms deep and five rooms wide. Standing at the bottom of the building and looking up, you can see three layers of dragon-shaped brackets circling and dancing, and three suspended porches leaning against the building. The thick pillars and delicate frames make the ancient building extremely varied in decoration. The three-color glazed tiles on the roof form various patterns. The grandeur and majesty of the entire pavilion are embodied in its huge size and thick pillars, while its exquisiteness and wooden structure art are reflected in its intricate brackets and delicate decorations. Such an ancient building, which is both majestic and elegant, is rare among the extant ancient buildings, so much so that when people mention Jiexiu, many people will first think of the Zoroastrianism Tower.

China's only remaining Zoroastrian building - the Jiezhou Auspicious God Tower in Shanxi, commonly known as the Xuan God Tower, was built during the Northern Song Dynasty. It combines a mountain gate, a music tower, and a street-crossing tower into one structure, featuring a three-layered eave and cross-hipped roof structure. The building style is unique, with a rigorous structure, harmonious proportions, and a roof adorned with exquisite glazed tiles. The wood carvings under the eaves are distinctive, making it a living fossil for the study of Chinese Zoroastrian culture. On November 20, 1996, the Auspicious God Tower was listed by the State Council as part of the fourth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units. Location: Shuncheng Street, Beiguan, Jiexiu City, Shanxi Province

This is the ceiling of ancient architecture | The only existing Xian God building in the world! One of the four famous towers in Shanxi, the 'Xian God Tower', locally known as the 'Xuan God Tower', offers a deeper understanding with each visit to Jiexiu, about what it means to see Shanxi's cultural relics on the ground. This place is known as the capital of glazed tiles, and the Xian God Tower dates back to the Northern Song Dynasty. Artisans in the Tang Dynasty already used glazed tiles extensively in construction. The building of the Xian God Tower was meticulously crafted, with an exquisite architectural style, towering eaves, and the sound of wind chimes that intoxicate visitors. This building has been preserved through many twists and turns. According to investigations by scholars, this building is the only existing Xian God structure in China and even in the world, and is acclaimed by many as a must-see tower when visiting Shanxi.

Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion, also known as fire worship because of its worship of holy fire (sounds familiar, right? The Ming religion in 'The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber' worships fire worship.) It was popular in our country during the Sui and Tang dynasties. And the Zoroastrian Tower is a Zoroastrian building, and it is currently the only Zoroastrian building in China. 🍁Zoroastrian Tower It is said to have been built during the Northern Song Dynasty, rebuilt during the Ming Wanli period, and renovated during the Qing Kangxi and Qianlong periods. The Zoroastrian Tower is also known as the Xuan Shen Tower, with a beautiful and unique shape, it is a multifunctional building that combines a street building, a mountain gate, a music building, and a stage. It is known as one of the three famous buildings in Shanxi along with the Wanrong Feiyun Building and the Autumn Wind Building. The Zoroastrian Tower is tall, the plane is 'convex' shaped, and the eaves structure is also very complex, it is a triple-eave Xieshan top rotating top. The most beautiful is the protruding front part, five rooms wide and four rooms deep, with a corridor around it, a temple door below, a shrine in the middle, and a theater building above. The wooden brackets and sparrow braces have many mythical creature patterns that cannot be seen in traditional Chinese architecture, and the most characteristic is the camel-like beast head with large nostrils. 🍁Zoroastrian Tower Address: No. 581, Shuncheng Road, Jiexiu City Opening hours: 9:00-12:00, 14:30-17:00 (Tuesday-Sunday) Tickets: Free, register at the door ⚠️There is a lunch break at noon, be sure to arrange the order of sightseeing in Jiexiu. The entrance to the Zoroastrian Tower is a public square, and there are many local residents who take leisurely walks and chat in the afternoon. The surrounding area is a residential area with small alleys, there are not many places to park, so the overall environment is a bit messy. But the afternoon light is the best, especially when there is a sunset, the Zoroastrian Tower is very beautiful.