{{Short description|Temple complex in Shanxi, China}} {{distinguish|Jingci Temple}} {{Expand Chinese|date=October 2021|topic=struct}} thumb|right|250px|Hall of the Holy Mother thumb|right|250px|Entrance of the Jinci {{multiple images|perrow=2| |footer=Song Dynasty statues and sculptures. |image1=Song dynasty sculpture of maids.JPG |image2=Taiyuan_2009_731.jpg |image3=Taiyuan_2009_739.jpg |image4=Taiyuan 2009 746.jpg}}
The '''Jinci''' or '''Jin Temple''' (晉祠) is the most prominent temple complex in Shanxi, China. It is located 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Taiyuan at the foot of Xuanweng Mountain at the Jin Springs. It was founded about 1,400 years ago and expanded during the following centuries, resulting in a diverse collection of more than 100 sculptures, buildings, terraces, and bridges.<ref>{{Cite web |title=晋祠旅游区 |trans-title=Jinci Tourist Area |url=https://www.hlhbsc.org/spot_detail.aspx?city=4&spot=32 |access-date=2026-04-04 |website=海峽兩岸旅遊交流協會}}</ref>
The best known structure at Jinci is the Hall of the Holy Mother (圣母殿, Shèngmǔdiàn), which was constructed from 1023 to 1032 during the Song dynasty. <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.china-tour.cn/Taiyuan/Jinci-Temple.htm |title=Jinci Temple |publisher=China-tour.cn |accessdate=15 August 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140819082531/http://www.china-tour.cn/Taiyuan/Jinci-Temple.htm |archivedate=19 August 2014 }}</ref> It has carved wooden dragons coiled around the eight pillars that support its upward-curving double-eave roof. Inside the Hall of the Holy Mother are 43 Song-dynasty clay sculptures, including a seated central goddess and 42 life-sized female attendants arranged in realistic poses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Julia K. |date=May 2011 |title=The Divine Nature of Power: Chinese Ritual Architecture at the Sacred Site of Jinci. By Tracy G. Miller. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007. xx, 265 pp. $45.00 (cloth). |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-asian-studies/article/70/2/535/340339 |journal=The Journal of Asian Studies |language=en |volume=70 |issue=2 |pages=535–536 |doi=10.1017/S0021911811000301 |issn=0021-9118|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The complex includes a classical garden with a 3,000-year-old cypress dating from the Zhou Dynasty. To the west of Hall of the Holy Mother is a temple dedicated to the deity Shuimu.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book |last=Hoevels|first= Fritz Erik|title= Mass Neurosis Religion: Collected Essays about the Psychoanalysis of Religion|publisher= Ahriman-Verlag GmbH|date= 1999|pages= 196–197|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rJ0xqNZSIuQC&pg=PA197 |isbn= 9788391176320}}</ref> Next to Jinci is the Wang Family Hall, a private villa built in 1532 for Wang Qiong, a high-ranking official during the Ming Dynasty.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} * [https://architecturasinica.org/place/000048 Jin Shrines, Architectura Sinica Site Archive]
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{{Shanxi topics|state=expanded}}
Category:Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shanxi Category:Taiyuan Category:Song dynasty architecture Category:Jin (Chinese state)