Mianxian Wuhou Shrine 勉县武侯祠

About Mianxian Wuhou Shrine

Mianxian Wuhou Shrine (勉县武侯祠) is a memorial temple to Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮), chancellor of the Three Kingdoms state of Shu Han (蜀汉), in Mian County (勉县), Hanzhong (汉中), Shaanxi. It stands close to his tomb near Dingjun Mountain (定军山).

The ground here saw the Battle of Hanzhong (汉中之战) between Shu Han and Cao Wei (曹魏) from 217 to 219. It ended when Huang Zhong (黄忠) killed Xiahou Yuan (夏侯渊) in combat and Liu Bei (刘备) took Hanzhong and declared himself king; Zhuge Liang coordinated supplies for the campaign. From 228 to 234 Zhuge Liang launched his five northern campaigns from Hanzhong. Before he died at the Wuzhang Plains (五丈原), on the south bank of the Wei River, he asked to be buried at Dingjun Mountain in a grave just big enough for his coffin, dressed in ordinary clothes and with no burial goods.

After his death people across Shu held private rites for him. In the spring of 263, 29 years later, the Shu ruler Liu Shan (刘禅) decreed a shrine. A shrine in the capital would have pressed too close on the imperial ancestral temple, so it went up at Wuhouping (武侯坪) below Dingjun Mountain, beside the tomb. Chinese Wikipedia calls it the only state-founded Wuhou shrine and the earliest of them. That autumn the Wei general Zhong Hui (钟会), marching on Shu, stopped to sacrifice here and barred his troops from grazing animals or cutting wood around the grave.

The present buildings date from the Ming dynasty to the Republican period. The shrine was added to the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units on 5 March 2013 and is a national AAAA-rated tourist attraction; the nearby Wuhou Tomb (武侯墓) has its own national listing. Among the inscriptions at the shrine is a 1928 couplet by Feng Yuxiang (冯玉祥) praising Zhuge Liang's lifelong caution, and the Qing official Song Fengsui (宋丰绥) wrote the plaque reading "first rank under heaven" (天下第一流).

What to look for

• The Ming-to-Republican shrine buildings on the site chosen in 263
• Feng Yuxiang's 1928 couplet (冯玉祥题词) on Zhuge Liang's caution and integrity
• The "first rank under heaven" (天下第一流) plaque written by the Qing official Song Fengsui
• Wuhou Tomb (武侯墓), Zhuge Liang's grave near Dingjun Mountain, a separate national protected site
• Dingjun Mountain (定军山), where Zhuge Liang chose to be buried

Location & getting there

Getting to Mianxian Wuhou Shrine

• Search for 勉县武侯祠 with 汉中市 and 勉县.