Investigation And Research On The Murals Of Guandi In The Qing The Dynasty In Southern Shanxi Province

Southern Shanxi was the hometown of Guandi,and the associated Guandi belief whose prevalence was reflected in the following aspects-massive construction of Guandi Temples,the widespread of Guandi mural paintings and the worship and admiration of locals for Guandi,had peaked in Qing the Dynasty.The Guandi belief,originated in Wei and Jin the Dynasty,developed initially during Sui and Tang the Dynasty and promoted enormously in Song and Yuan the Dynasty,ultimately peaked in the Qing the Dynasty.The number of Guan Yu Temple which was built and renovated in south Shanxi province had increased in the Qing the Dynasty on account of the reasons,for example,the support from official,the geographical advantage of Guandi's hometown,the promotion of people,and the joint action of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism,then the prevalence of Three Kingdoms literary works in the Qing the Dynasty and so on.The number was reached 73 in Yuncheng,which the largest proportion was Xinjiang,Jiangxian and Linyi,and it was up to 164 in Linfen and the following three places account for the largest proportion-Yicheng,Quwo and Xiangning.Among them,the temples that had expanded the most are Changping Guandi Temple and Yuncheng Guandi Temple.It is believed that the Guandi mural paintings were prevailed here.Through conducting the field survey and undertaking the basic investigation of murals in temples in Yuncheng district of Sanyi Temple in Guanjiayao cave and Xiwei Village,Guandi Temple in Baoquan and Yongfeng Village,and in Linfen distract of Guandi Temples in Huanghua Valley,Songzhuang,Ditch East,Pu'an Village,Yangjiahe,Beizhang hamlet Yannan hamlet,Tunli,and Dujiahe and by analyzing and summarizing from the perspectives of composition,colors used,lines,character modeling,etc,facts could been figured out are: the contents of murals are all derived from the storyline in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.The most selected plots are Oath of the Peach Garden,Three Visits to the Hut,Resignation and Wealth Sealing Up,and Force Five Passes and Slay Six Captains-win glory in battle,there are also the most representative of Guan Gong's loyalty,braveness,and moral spirits;the composition uses a variety of forms such as split-lens,"S",triangle,comic,and parallel.Composition of eachtemple mural is also different.The composition of the east and west walls of the same temple also has its own diverse characteristics;the line is concise but sophisticated,the characters use round and natural lines,the most of mountain trees are drown the outline and dyed,both auspicious clouds and water flow are simply outlined but with a rich sense of rhythm;the main tone chooses dark and generally are earthy yellow,working in concert with the regional characteristics of the Loess Plateau.Some temples in dark background but characters,horses,mountains,trees,stones,or weapon accessories in mural are bright such as red,green,and yellow so that the theme of the mural is highlighted by such distinct contrast.The characters vary in shape especially Guan Gong's.Every mural with various themes differentiates facial expressions from each other,modeling varies with scenes and is natural and vivid.Guandi murals deserve to be protected and restored not just they are important historical materials for studying Guandi belief but essential wealth with indispensable academic and practical values.