The "Five Mountains and Five Towns" are like natural sketches, outlining the contours of ancient China. The temples of the Five Sacred Mountains are still prosperous today, but among the temples of the Five Towns, there are very few ancient buildings of any scale that can still be seen. However, the Beizhen Temple at the foot of the Yiwulü Mountain was once glorious due to the enshrinement by successive Qing emperors, and it also left behind a treasure trove of mountain-guarding culture.
✨The Sanlu doctor chanted the poem "I set out from Taiyi in the morning and arrived at Weilu in the evening", and Wulv Mountain, the town of Youzhou, became a synonym for the end of the world.
💫Beizhen Temple, the third national temple, the existing buildings are relics of the Ming and Qing dynasties. The temple is ranked among the top national protected sites because it is the only remaining ancient building among the Wuzhenshan temples, and the huge number of inscriptions is very rare in the Northeast.
✨The mountain gate is three bays wide and has a single-eaved hip roof. The plaque "Beizhen Temple" in the Ming Dynasty is said to be written by Yan Song. There are four stone lions around the archway outside the mountain gate, each with a different expression, which is quite interesting.
💫Walking through the Shenma Temple, you can see four stele pavilions lined up in a row, staggered and orderly (Figure 1). These four pavilions contain four imperial steles from the Qing Dynasty, which are testaments to the three Qing emperors, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong, who worshipped Beizhen Mountain. However, the pavilion was severely damaged, and the stone tablet inside was pulled and broken in the 1970s, and the writing is slightly scattered.
✨In front of the Imperial Fragrance Hall, which is directly opposite the stele pavilion, there are many steles, most of which were written by Emperor Qianlong, with some from the reign of Emperor Kangxi. However, the themes are quite unified, all of which are poems and essays praising King Guangning, the god of the Medical Wulv Mountain. The Qing emperor believed that the Jianzhou Jurchens’ entry into the pass was inseparable from the protection of Beizhen Mountain. It is understandable that the Qing Taizu once served under Li Rusong in Guangning City and had a reverence for this famous mountain that was passed down from generation to generation. Not only did the three emperors Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong favor Beizhen Mountain in their hometown, but even Jiaqing and Daoguang also left inscriptions on Yiwulü Mountain.
💫The main hall is five bays wide and three bays deep, with a single-eaved hip roof. The statue of Prince Guangning in this hall was rebuilt in recent years, but the murals of Thirty-two Heroes of the Ming Dynasty around the hall, although they underwent a certain degree of restoration in the 1980s and 1990s, have generally maintained the style of Qing Dynasty murals. Moreover, the murals use portraits of real meritorious officials as the theme, which is rare among many temple murals (Figures 13-16). There are also some Yuan Dynasty inscriptions hidden here.
✨The last one is the sleeping hall, which is second only to the main hall in size. It is now used to exhibit the works of Beizhen calligraphers and painters.
💫A large area of ruins can be seen in the east of Beizhen Temple. This is the Beizhen Guangning Palace where Emperor Qianlong stayed many times. His love for Yiwulü Mountain is evident. In the lush grass, the hundreds of years of connection between Beizhen and Qing history can be recalled. Looking west, the long Yiwulü Mountain shows its pale blue body under the dark clouds. The legend of this mysterious Youzhou town mountain spans It has survived the Warring States Period, the Liao and Qing Dynasties, and is still revered by people in Northeast China today. It can be said to be a legend in the mountain culture.