Sanyuan City God Temple 三原城隍庙

About Sanyuan City God Temple

Sanyuan City God Temple (三原城隍庙) is a Ming-dynasty temple complex on Dongqu'an Street (东渠岸街) in the Chengguan subdistrict (城关街道) of Sanyuan County (三原县), Xianyang (咸阳), Shaanxi. On 25 June 2001 the State Council placed it in the fifth batch of nationally protected heritage sites (全国重点文物保护单位), and it also houses the Sanyuan County Museum.

Work on the temple began in 1375, the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, and it was repaired and enlarged many times afterwards. The complex faces south and covers 13,390 square metres. Its central axis strings together three gates, four memorial archways (牌坊), five towers and six courtyards, mostly Ming buildings. From the screen wall at the south a visitor passes wooden and stone archways, the mountain gate and side galleries, the opera stage, the bell and drum towers, the main hall and, at the far north, the sleeping palace. Chinese Wikipedia describes it as the best-preserved City God temple in Shaanxi.

The wooden archway in front of the main hall, inscribed 'Mingling Dianyou' (明灵奠佑), was first raised in 1588 and rebuilt in 1853; it is 13 metres tall, with 58 small boys carved on its bracket arms and the Eight Immortals crossing the sea on its beams. The opera stage, first built in 1757, is noted for its double-eaved front and single-eaved back; its beams and brackets carry wood carvings titled 'phoenix calling to the morning sun' and 'dragon's chant and tiger's roar'. The paired bell and drum towers, both from 1375, stand 17.5 metres under three tiers of eaves; the bell hung in the bell tower is 3 metres high.

The main hall joins a front worship hall to a rear offering hall, 736 square metres in all. The worship hall shows 21 Ming and Qing paintings of the Ten Kings of Hell (十殿阎君), with 711 deities and demons between them. In the offering hall a 6-metre City God figure is said to portray Li Jing (李靖), a Sanyuan man whom Emperor Xuanzong of Tang made a City God; Guanyin and the City God's wife flank him, with Zhong Kui (钟馗) behind and the Four Heavenly Kings on the east and west sides of the hall. In the sleeping palace, begun in 1486, the two-storey, 18-metre sleeping hall displays mostly Ming and Qing wooden, stone and bronze religious statues. The side halls by the opera stage exhibit Tang-dynasty finds and original calligraphy by Yu Youren (于右任). Sanyuan County holds a City God Temple fair (城隍庙庙会) with folk parades and traditional opera on the temple's opera stage; the 34th opened on 23 September 2026.

What to look for

• The 'Mingling Dianyou' wooden archway (1588, rebuilt 1853) with 58 carved boys on its brackets
• The opera stage (1757), double-eaved at the front and single-eaved at the back
• The twin bell and drum towers from 1375, 17.5 metres high, with a 3-metre bell
• Twenty-one Ming and Qing paintings of the Ten Kings of Hell in the worship hall
• The 6-metre City God figure said to portray Li Jing, in the offering hall
• The sleeping palace (begun 1486), whose 18-metre hall displays Ming and Qing religious statues
• Tang-dynasty finds and Yu Youren's calligraphy in the side halls beside the stage

Location & getting there

Getting to Sanyuan City God Temple

• Search for 三原城隍庙 with 咸阳市 and 三原县.