**4. Bixia Yuanjun and Bixia Gong in Jiacun**

The harmonious coexistence of temples and shrines for various religions and beliefs in Jiacun and that of halls or shrines built for the worship of various gods and goddesses in the Bixia Temple, as we shall see, are a common and distinctive feature of Chinese local religion. The Bixia Temple lies at the centre of Jiacun's north–south axis that runs through the Pavilion of Guanyin, the Temple of Emperor Guan, the Hall of the Cui Family and the Temple of the Patriarch. 'Sitting to the North, facing the South' (*zuobei chaonan* 坐北朝南), the temple is 69.7 metres long and 34.6 metres wide, covering an area of 2411.62 square metres (Figure 9). Across from a small square in front of its entrance gate is the Pool of the Morning Clouds (Bixia chi 碧霞池), a six hundred square metre pool enclosed with a carved stone balustrade. Also called the Divine Pool (Shenchi 神池), the pool was rebuilt in 1992 when the Bixia Temple underwent an extensive renovation (see Figure 8).

**Figure 9.** Bixia Temple Viewed from Stage over the Temple Gateway.

The temple is a three-row-and-two-courtyard (*sanjin liangyuan* 三進兩院) complex. Situated along the north–south axis of the temple are, in turn, the first row (*qianjin* 前進) that is the mountain gate (*shanmen* 山門),<sup>18</sup> which is a two storey gatehouse with a roofless stage over the gateway (*shanmen xitai* 山門戲台) flanked by a corner tower (*jiaolou* 角樓) (Figure 9, see also Figure 8), the front yard (*qianyuan* 前院), the middle row (*zhongjin* 中 進), that is, the middle hall (*zhongdian* 中殿) or the main hall (*zhudian* 主殿), the rear yard (*houyuan* 後院) and the rear row (*houjin* 後進), that is, the rear hall (*houdian* 後殿), which serves as the sleeping hall (*qindian* 寢殿) for the goddess. The middle hall is the main building of the temple, at the centre of which stands an awe-inspiring statute of Bixia yuanjun, the principal deity of the temple, who receives sacrificial offerings and watches musical and theatrical performances presented in her honour during temple festivals; thus, the main hall is also called the hall for offering sacrifices or sacrificial hall (*xiandian* 獻殿) (Figure 10). The corner tower that flanks the stage is purpose-built to be multifunctional and is used by musicians and theatre actors as a lodge room, storage room, dressing room and entrance to and exit from the stage. The front section of the religious complex is designed to be a temple theatre with the stage over the gateway oriented towards the main hall across the front yard and conjoined on either side with seven side halls (*peidian* 配殿) extending westward all the way from the corner tower first to the middle hall and then to the rear hall, thus forming an enclosed space in the front section for staging and watching musical and theatrical performance.

**Figure 10.** Main Hall/Sacrificial Hall.

The fourteen side halls are each dedicated to a subsidiary deity (*fushen* 輔神) or a grouping of minor deities. On the eastern side, from north to south, are the Hall of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang dian 三皇殿),<sup>19</sup> the East-Side Hall of King Yama (Dong Yangwang dian 東閻王殿), the Hall of the Six Ding (Liuding dian 六丁殿),<sup>20</sup> the Hall of Sanzong (Sanzong dian 三嵕殿) (Figure 11),<sup>21</sup> the Hall of (Lady Who Heals) Eyesight (Yanguang dian 眼光殿) (Figure 12),<sup>22</sup> the Hall of the Locust Emperor (Huanghuang dian 蝗皇殿) (Figure 13) and the Hall of the Horse King (Mawang dian 馬王殿).<sup>23</sup> On the western side, from north to south, are the Hall of the Eight Trigrams (Bagua dian 八卦殿), the West-Side Hall of King Yama (Xi Yanwang dian 西閻王殿), the Hall of the Six Jia (Liujia dian 六甲殿) (Figure 14),<sup>24</sup> the Hall of Zhaoze (Zhaoze dian 昭澤殿),<sup>25</sup> the Hall of Sons and Grandsons (Zisun dian 子孫殿) (Figure 15),<sup>26</sup> the Hall of the Dragon King (Longwang dian 龍王殿) (Figure 16) and the Hall of Five Plague Spirits (Wuwen dian 五瘟殿).<sup>27</sup> These gods and goddesses make up the pantheon of the Bixai Temple, headed by the Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds or Bixia yuanjun.

The cult of Bixia yuanjun is closely associated with the cult of Mount Tai (Taishan 泰 山), which has its roots traceable to the ancient official state ceremonies of *fengshan* 封禪 performed on Mount Tai to offer sacrifices to Heaven (*feng* 封), and on Mount Liangfu 梁 父, a small hill nearby, to Earth (*shan* 禪).<sup>28</sup> Also known as Daizong 岱宗, Daishan 岱山, Daiyue 岱嶽 and Dongyue 東嶽 or the Eastern Peak, Mount Tai is a sacred mountain in present-day Shandong province, ranking as the first of the five sacred mountains (*wuyue*

五嶽) in China.<sup>29</sup> As the most revered of the five sacred mountains, Mount Tai enjoyed a privileged relationship with the royal court in imperial China.

**Figure 11.** Hall of Sanzong.

**Figure 12.** Hall of Eyesight.

**Figure 13.** Hall of Locust Emperor.

**Figure 14.** Hall of Liujia.

**Figure 15.** Hall of Sons and Grandsons.

**Figure 16.** Hall of Dragon King.

Mount Tai was worshipped not only as the sacred mountain for the imperial ceremonies of *fengshan* but also as the final destination or disposition for the souls of the dead in Chinese folk religion. In pre-Buddhist China, it was widely believed that the Lord of Mount Tai (Taishan fujun 泰山府君) ruled from Mount Liangfu over the souls of the dead in the Dark Realms (*yinjian* 陰間) (*Gaiyu congkao* 35: 3a–4b; see also Okamoto 1943, cited in Yü 1987, p. 389), as does King Yama over ghosts in Hell in Chinese Buddhism. The

mountain was deified and its cult was incorporated into the officially mandated 'Register of Sacrifices' (*sidian* 祀典) during the Tang dynasty. In the thirteenth year (724) of Kaiyuan 開 元, Emperor Xuanzong 玄宗 (712–756) of Tang granted Mount Tai the noble title of the King Who Equals to Heaven (Tianqi wang 天齊王) following an imperial ceremony of *fengshan* on Mount Tai (*Jiu Tangshu* 23.901, 24.934). The following dynasties witnessed higher and higher royal titles conferred on the Eastern Peak (*Gaiyu congkao* 35.2b–3a). Among them were the Benevolent and Holy King Who Equals to Heaven (Rensheng tianqi wang 仁聖天 齊王) (*Songshi* 102.2486), the Benevolent and Holy Emperor Who Equals to Heaven (Tianqi rensheng di 天齊仁聖帝 (ibid.) and the Benevolent, Holy and Greatly Life-Giving Emperor of the Eastern Peak Who Equals to Heaven (Tianqi dasheng rensheng di天齊大生仁聖帝) (*Yuanshi* 72.1900). In late imperial China, the god was popularly referred to as the Great Emperor of the Eastern Peak (Dongyue dadi 東嶽大帝). With his rank promoted from prefect (*fu* 府) to king (*wang* 王) to emperor (*di* 帝), the mountain god was firmly established as the supreme deity of the Eastern Peak. His ascension to the status of *di* comes as no surprise considering the grea<sup>t</sup> popularity the mountain god had enjoyed for centuries as one of the Ten Kings of Hell alongside King Yama in Buddhism (*Foshuo Dizang pusa faxin yinyuan shiwang jing* X01n0020.1: 0405a24, 1.0407a13) and as the supreme ruler overseeing the life and death of mortal beings in Daoism and folk religion (*Hou Hanshu* 82.2731).<sup>30</sup> Beginning in the Song dynasty, his cult spread across the country, and the god became so popular that one could hardly find a county or district without a Dongyue miao 東嶽廟 or Temple of the Eastern Peak.

His popularity reached its zenith in the mid-to-late sixteenth century when there occurred a sudden shift of focus in the cult of Mount Tai to Bixia yuanjun, whose image or statue as the daughter of Dongyue dadi seems to have found its way overnight into a grea<sup>t</sup> many of Dongyue miao in northern China (Goossaert 2011, p. 379). This is amazing given that the name Bixia yuanjun does not appear in any text earlier than the fifteenth century (Gyss 2011, p. 235). Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century at the latest, Bixia yuanjun replaced Dongyue dadi as the most popular deity in the pantheon of Mount Tai. In 'Epigraph for the Primordial Sovereign' ('Yuanjun ji' 元君記), Han Xizuo 韓錫胙, a High-Qing scholar-official, writes: 'The Eastern Peak ranks as the first among gods and spirits under Heaven from past to present, so does the Primordial Sovereign among the gods and spirits of Mount Tai.' The first half of the statement is an exaggeration; the second half is not. In Qing times (1644–1911), for example, Shandong boasts more than three hundred temples and shrines devoted to the goddess, and this is also largely true of her cult in Qing Beijing, Hebei and Shanxi (Ye 2009; Tian 2004).

Just because the name Bixia yuanjun is not found in any text earlier than the fifteenth century, it does not mean that the goddess appeared out of thin air in sixteenth-century China. Although it remains a subject for debate as to how the goddess emerged from the cult of Mount Tai and how she came to replace Dongyue dadi as the most popularly worshipped deity in the pantheon of Mount Tai, there is evidence that her cult began at the turn of the eleventh century at the latest, when the goddess was worshipped as the Jade Maiden of Mount Tai (Taishan yunü 泰山玉女), a title granted to her by Emperor Zhenzong 真宗 (r. 997–1022) of the Song dynasty (*Wenxian tongkao* 90.22b-23a; *Rizhi lu* 25.9b–10a). Among various other titles the goddess was known by are the Holy Mother of Mount Tai (Taishan shengmu 泰山聖母), the Old Lady of Mount Tai (Taishan laonainai 泰山老奶奶), the Lady of Mount Tai (Taishan niangniang 泰山娘娘), Lady Jade Maiden (Yunü niangniang 玉女娘娘), Jade Maiden the Great Immortal (Yunü daxian 玉女大仙), the Jade Immortal and Holy Mother (Yuxian shengmu 玉仙聖母), the Heavenly Immortal, Jade Maiden and Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds (Tianxian yunü Bixia yuanjun 天 仙玉女碧霞元君) and the Heavenly Immortal, Holy Mother and Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds (Tianxian shengmu Bixia yuanju 天仙聖母碧霞元君) (Ye 2007).

There are more titles that can be added to the list, which accounts for the grea<sup>t</sup> popularity of Bixia yuanjun in late imperial China. Noteworthy is that the goddess is also known in the Shangdang area as the Three Immortals, Child-Giving Lady and the Primordial Sovereign of Mercy and Wisdom (Sanxian songzi niangniang ciyi yuhui yuanju 三仙送子娘娘慈懿育慧元君)<sup>31</sup> and the Fecund Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven, Guardian of the Delivery Room and Primordial Sovereign (Duo'er duonü jiutian weifang shengmu yuanjun 多兒多女九天衛房聖母元君), which are recorded in the 'Stele Inscription of Rebuilding the Palace of the Primordial Sovereign of the Moring Clouds' ('Chongxiu Bixia gong beiji' 重修碧霞宮碑記) (Figure 17). Located in Chengjiachuan 成家川 of Lucheng, about ten kilometres east of Jiacun, this Bixia temple is locally called 'Temple of the Lady of the Ninth Heaven' (Jiutian niangniang miao 九天娘娘廟) or simply as 'Temple of the Lady' (Niangniang miao 娘娘廟).

In the celestial bureaucracy of Daoism, there is an agency called the Office in the Ninth Heaven for Childbirth (Jiutian jiansheng si 九天監生司) in charge of human baby delivery and nursery. The Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven and Guardian of the Delivery Room (Jiutian weifang shengmu 九天衛房聖母) is one of the eighteen major deities staffed in the office, as described in the thirteenth-century liturgical text titled *Golden Book for Universal Salvation According to the Sect Leader of the Numinous Treasure Tradition* (*Lingbao lingjiao jidu jinshu* DZ 466: 57.15a, 239.1a–4a)<sup>32</sup> and also in the two anonymous Daoist scriptures: the Oracular Slip of the Great Compassionate, Life-Loving Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven, Guardian of the Delivery Room and Primordial Sovereign (Daci haosheng jiutian weifang shengmu yuanjun lingying baoqian DZ 1300: 1a–2b) and the *Precious Scripture of the Celestial Worthy and Jade Pivot of Universal Transformation on the Echo of Thunder from the Ninth Heaven to the Primordial Origin* (*Jiutian yingyuan leisheng puhua tianzun yushu baojing* DZ 16: 6a–7b).<sup>33</sup>

Clearly, Bixia yuanjun is confused or merged with Jiutian shengmu, the goddess of childbirth and childcare, into the Office in the Ninth Heaven for Childbirth or vice versa with Jiutian shengmu, merged into the pantheon of Mount Tai and identified with Bixia yuanjun, the goddess of Mount Tai, as one and the same deity. The confusion or identification of Bixia yuanjun with Jiutian niangniang as we have seen in the Bixia Temple of Chengjiachuan also occurs with the Bixia Temple in Gaocun 高村, a village in Changzhi county about twenty kilometres southwest of Jiacun. The temple plaque (*miao'e* 廟額) bears three Chinese characters—*shen* 聖 (holy), *mu* 母 (mother) and *miao* 廟 (temple), and the three bronze censers in the temple are all marked with *jiutian shengmu miao* 九天聖母廟, meaning 'Temple of the Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven', whereas its main hall is named the 'Shrine of the Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds' (Bixia ci 碧霞祠) with a statue of the goddess seated at the centre of the hall. Inscribed on a temple stele erected in the eighth year (1580) of Wanli 萬, a reign period of the Ming dynasty, is 'A Record of Rebuilding the Traveling Palace of the Primordial Sovereign' ('Chongxiu Bixia yuanju xinggong ji' 重修碧霞元君行宫记). In the inscribed text, the goddess is referred to as 'the Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven and the Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds of Mount Tai the Eastern Peak' (Dongyue Taishan Jiutian shengmu Bixia yuanjun 東嶽泰山 九天聖母碧霞元君) (Fanzhou 2021). Here and again, we see the cult of Mount Tai being integrated with that of the Ninth Heaven and the Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds being entrusted with the divine responsibility for childbirth and childcare that used to be almost exclusively undertaken by the Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven in Daoist mythology. Significantly, the Travelling Palace of the Primordial Sovereign of the Morning Clouds in Gaocun was rebuilt (and probably renamed at the same time) during the reign of the Wanli emperor (1573–1620)—a period that witnessed the mountain goddess rising quickly to fame as one of China's three principal female deities alongside Guanyin and Tianhou 天后 (Queen of Heaven, also known as Mazu 馬祖) thanks to royal patronage (Pomeranz 2007, p. 29; Li 2018, pp. 60–61). The dual naming of the temple as we have seen above also appears in the Bixia Temple in Jiacun, as indicated by the temple plaque above the mountain gate that leads to the entrance hall of the temple, which reads 'Temple of the Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven (Jiutian shengmu miao 九天聖母廟) (Figure 18). Interestingly, however, its main hall is named Bixia gong or the Palace of the Morning Clouds, and the temple is locally called Nainai miao 奶奶廟 or Grandma Temple as well.

Clearly, Bixia yuanjuan and Jiutian shengmu are worshipped as one and the same goddess in Jiacun, as elsewhere in Shangdang (Li 2016).

**Figure 17.** Chengjiachuan Bixia Temple Stone Stele.

**Figure 18.** Temple Plaque above the Gate Leading to the Entrance Hall.

With a verifiable record of history going back to the fifteenth century or even earlier, the Bixia Temple is the largest and oldest of all the temples and shrines in Jiacun village and is also the oldest of Bixia temples and shrines still extant in the Shangdang area. Available to us are eight stone stelae, on which are inscribed records of renovating and reconstructing the temple over the past few centuries (Du 2011b, pp. 2–7). The oldest of them was erected in the first year (1506) of Zhengde 正德 during the Ming dynasty with a short text inscribed on it about the background to the reconstruction of the temple in that year (Du 2011b, p. 2). The text traces the history of the cult of the Holy Mother of the Ninth Heaven to the Tianyou 天祐 period (904–924) of the Tang dynasty but stops short of giving any detail or evidence; when it comes to the rationale behind the reconstruction of the temple, the text reveals that no one knows exactly when the temple was first built due to a lack of records. Apart from the eight stelae, there is one that fails to survive in its entirety except for a fragmentary piece preserved in the temple. Still visible on it is a vertical line of Chinese characters, which read: 'Rebuilt on the twenty-fourth day of the second month of the eighth year of Zhengtong' (Du 2016; Wang 2007, pp. 18–19). Zhengtong 正統 was a reign period (1435–1449) of Emperor Yingzong 英宗 of the Ming dynasty. The stone stele, albeit extant only in fragmentary form, strongly suggests that the temple was first built much earlier than 1443—that is, the eighth year of Zhengtong. The history of the temple may even be traced to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) (Li 2016), as evidenced by the main structure of the main hall of the temple which demonstrates a style characteristic of the architecture of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) (Wang 2007, p. 21; Guo 2020, p. 52).
