A Moving Tribute: Yongle Palace and its 700-Year-Old Murals

Today, we’ll talk about the Yongle Palace which stands as a testament to ancient artistic mastery and religious devotion, while its mid-20th-century relocation highlights China’s remarkable efforts in cultural heritage preservation.

Transcript

A Moving Tribute: Yongle Palace and its 700-Year-Old Murals

Today, we’ll talk about the Yongle Palace which stands as a testament to ancient artistic mastery and religious devotion, while its mid-20th-century relocation highlights China’s remarkable efforts in cultural heritage preservation.

In January 2025, the exhibition The Glory Within Authenticity, a grand display of cultural relics and digital art from Yongle Palace in Shanxi province, was launched at the National Museum of Classic Books in Beijing. As the sixth stop on the nationwide tour of the Yongle Palace Exhibition, this event features over 150 precious artifacts from Yongle Palace, including 13 sets of top-tier cultural relics. The previous five stops of the exhibition cumulatively attracted more than one million visitors and received widespread acclaim. The exhibition will run until August 2025.

Located in Ruicheng County, central China’s Shanxi Province, Yongle Palace is the only surviving official architectural complex from the Yuan Dynasty, which lasted from 1271 to 1368. It is also the earliest, largest, and most well-preserved Taoist temple complex in the country. Yongle Palace is renowned worldwide for its magnificent architecture, its dynamic murals that seem to move with the wind, and the remarkable feat of its relocation project.

Yongle Town in Ruicheng County is traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Lü Dongbin. Lü Dongbin lived approximately 1,200 years ago during the late Tang Dynasty. He is a prominent Taoist figure, regarded as the patriarch of the Taoist Dan Ding sect, which focuses on alchemy and the pursuit of immortality. He is commonly referred to as Lü Zu, the patriarch Lü. Additionally, Lü Dongbin is one of the legendary Eight Immortals and is known for his extraordinary magical powers, often aiding those in distress. He has a large following among Chinese people.

One of the most famous stories is about Lü Dongbin and the celestial Howling Sky Hound, a divine dog. Legend has it that the hound secretly descended to the mortal world and caused havoc. Lü Dongbin was ordered, using his magical treasure, the Silken Painting, to trap it. However, out of compassion, he decided to release it. Unexpectedly, once freed, the Howling Sky Hound turned on Lü Dongbin and bit him. This story later evolved into the saying “A dog biting Lü Dongbin”, which is used to describe those who fail to appreciate kindness and misunderstand the goodwill of others.

During the late Tang Dynasty, a shrine called Lü Gong Temple was built in Yongle Town to honor the patriarch. Every year, on his birthday, local people would visit the temple to pay their respects. As Lü Dongbin’s popularity grew, the temple was expanded into a Taoist temple. Unfortunately, in 1231, it was destroyed by fire. At that time, Quanzhen School of Taoism, also the School of All Authenticity – a Taoist sect founded by Wang Chongyang during the Jin Dynasty – was flourishing. The leader of Quanzhen Taoism petitioned the imperial court and sent Quanzhen disciples to construct a grand palace in his honor.

Song Defang was one of the key figures in promoting the construction of this grand project. He was an influential Taoist leader of his time and visited Yongle Town twice, in 1240 and 1244, to pay homage to Lü Dongbin. Following these visits, he collaborated with fellow Taoists to plan the construction of Dachunyang Wanshou Palace, which would later become known as Yongle Palace. Construction began in 1247. That same year, Song Defang passed away and, according to his wishes, was buried within Yongle Palace.

During the relocation of Yongle Palace in the 1950s and 1960s, Song Defang’s tomb was also moved to the vicinity of the new site. However, when his stone coffin was opened, it was found to be empty. Some believe that Song Defang might have achieved shijie – the Taoist belief of transforming into an immortal by shedding the physical body – while others think it was merely a cenotaph. Today, his stone coffin is classified as a national first-grade cultural relic. The coffin is intricately carved with exquisite patterns, and visitors to The Glory Within Authenticity can view it as part of the exhibition.

Another key contributor to the construction of Yongle Palace was Pan Dechong, a disciple of Quanzhen Taoism. After Song Defang’s passing, Pan Dechong officially took charge of the palace’s construction. He passed away in 1256 and was buried on the northwest side of Yongle Palace, by which time the palace had begun to take shape. Like Song Defang, his tomb was also relocated to nearby the Palace’s new site. However, not many artifacts were unearthed from his tomb, and the exhibition only features the front cover panel of his stone coffin, which is also adorned with intricate carvings.

The construction of Dachunyang Wanshou Palace did not stop after Pan Dechong’s death. It continued until 1358, taking a total of 111 years to complete. Due to its location, people gradually came to call it Yongle Palace.

In its current location, Yongle Palace is oriented north to south, and its main architectural structures include the Palace Gate, Wuji Gate, Sanqing Hall, Chunyang Hall and Chongyang Hall. Except for the Palace Gate, which was rebuilt during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, all the other buildings date back to the Yuan Dynasty. The layout of a Taoist temple complex typically features the Sanqing Hall as the tallest and most imposing structure, with other halls arranged behind it in descending order based on the rank of the deities they enshrine. Yongle Palace follows this hierarchy along its central axis, with no auxiliary buildings on either side. It is enclosed by two layers of palace walls, a key feature that classifies it as an official-style architectural complex.

At the exhibition, visitors can see a chiwen, a legendary animal-shaped ornament on the roof ridge that was removed from Chunyang Hall during the relocation of Yongle Palace in the mid-20th century. This glazed chiwen stands 2.2 meters high, 1.5 meters wide, and 0.52 meters thick. It was sculpted and fired using red clay, featuring an exaggerated yet dynamic form that conveys a sense of power and tension.

The reason Yongle Palace took more than a century to complete was primarily due to the slow process of painting its murals. In the history of Chinese painting, the murals of Yongle Palace are considered a continuation and refinement of the Tang and Song artistic traditions. They are masterpieces of Yuan Dynasty Taoist art, embodying the ideals of truth, goodness, and beauty. Alongside the Dunhuang murals, they are recognized as one of China’s most celebrated artistic treasures, earning the title of the “Eastern Gallery”.

The murals of Yongle Palace are categorized as Taoist murals, or Taoist propaganda paintings, designed to convey doctrine and inspire devotion. Their creation predates the European Renaissance and spanned almost the entire Yuan Dynasty. The existing murals cover an area of more than a thousand square meters, and are mainly distributed across four Yuan Dynasty halls: Longhu Hall, Sanqing Hall, Chunyang Hall and Chongyang Hall.

The murals in Longhu Hall and Sanqing Hall were painted using traditional, meticulous brushwork techniques and feature vibrant colors. They depict grand scenes of guardian deities overlooking vast natural landscapes, as well as numerous Taoist deities worshiping Yuanshi Tianzun, the supreme deity in Taoism. These murals depict natural elements such as mountains, rivers, the sun, the moon and the stars, integrating them into a cosmic order dominated by the Taoist principle of “all things returning to the One”, reflecting the Taoist understanding of the universe.

In contrast, the murals in Chunyang Hall and Chongyang Hall employ the blue-green landscape technique in a narrative style, illustrating the life stories of Lü Dongbin and Wang Chongyang. These murals highlight Taoism’s principles of punishing evil, promoting virtue, aiding the needy and supporting the oppressed. They embody an active engagement with social justice, satirizing corrupt officials, while promoting the humanistic ideals of “respecting heaven and loving the people”.

Among these murals, The Assembly of Immortals in Sanqing Hall is the most remarkable. The Glory Within Authenticity features an AI-assisted restoration and digital display of the mural. Covering an area of 429.56 sq m, with an average height of 4.4 meters and a total length of 97 meters, the mural is painted on the northeastern and western interior walls. It depicts a grand procession of 290 Taoist deities paying homage to Yuanshi Tianzun. The eight principal deities stand at an impressive 3 meters tall, while the smallest celestial maidens are 1.9 meters – both exceeding human height. Completed in 1325, this 700-year-old mural boasts a majestic composition, powerful momentum, dynamic brushwork and rich coloration. It represents the pinnacle of Yuan Dynasty mural art and remains the largest known ancient Chinese painting depicting figures, holding a significant place in global art history.

The depiction of these figures in Chaoyuan Tu is its most remarkable achievement. Each of the 290 characters is distinct, with full, expressive faces and individual features. Their clothing and headwear are all unique, with no repetition. The deities, in particular, are carefully designed to reflect a wide range of human characteristics, representing people from different social classes, temperaments, experiences and emotions. Across the vast 400-square-meter mural, hundreds of figures, intricate patterns, vessels, and flowing clouds are outlined with delicate and fluid lines, demonstrating the highest level of traditional Chinese line drawing.

The mural’s brilliant color scheme is another highlight. The artists employed the heavy color filling technique, a decorative painting method that enhances the visual impact of the artwork. Carefully planned use of mineral pigments such as azurite, malachite, cinnabar and ochre creates a dynamic interplay of colors. Small patches of bright white, trichrome blues and four-tone greens are strategically placed to add vibrancy and movement to the composition. To emphasize the supreme deities, the painter used striking red and green tones, along with gelled patterning and gilding to highlight flowing sleeves, pearl and jade ornaments, and floral hairpins. From a distance, the mural appears grand and imposing, while up close, viewers can appreciate the delicate lines and exquisite details of the garments. The use of pure natural mineral pigments, a hallmark of traditional Chinese painting, has ensured that, even after 700 years, the colors remain as dazzling and majestic as ever.

Beyond the grandeur of the Yuan Dynasty architecture and the dynamic murals, the relocation of Yongle Palace was itself an extraordinary engineering feat.

In the 1950s, the Chinese government initiated the construction of the Sanmenxia Reservoir on the Yellow River to control flooding and develop hydroelectric power. However, the original site of Yongle Palace was within the planned flood zone. To protect this priceless cultural treasure, the government undertook a decade-long effort to relocate the entire architectural complex 20 kilometers from Yongle Town to Longquan Town.

The most challenging aspect of this relocation was the extraction of the murals. At the time, there was no precedent for such a process in China. Without prior experience or foreign assistance, experts had to rely entirely on their own ingenuity. They designed and built all the necessary tools themselves, including large traditional saws, manually operated lifting machines, and wooden support platforms. Some of these tools are displayed in the exhibition, offering visitors a glimpse into the immense difficulty of, and dedication required for, this remarkable preservation effort.

Archaeological experts Qi Yingtao and Chai Zejun conducted multiple experiments before finalizing the relocation plan. Prior to the move, Professor Lu Hongnian from the Central Academy of Fine Arts led a team of students in meticulously copying the entire set of Yongle Palace murals over seven months. These reproductions were preserved as invaluable references for restoration after the relocation and are now, themselves, considered national treasures and are housed in the Palace Museum.

To ensure the safe transport of the artifacts, workers carefully packed the murals in wooden crates, securing them with wooden frames and filling any gaps with old cotton and wood shavings. Before full-scale transportation began, they conducted vibration tests using handcarts before transitioning to trucks. A special riverside road was even laid for the relocation.

At the time, the core members of the Yongle Palace relocation team were, on average, under 30 years old, yet they accomplished an extraordinary feat. Many of them later became leading figures in their respective fields. Their names are forever etched in history, as their efforts not only saved Yongle Palace, but also became a defining chapter in their own careers.

Well, that’s the end of our podcast. Our theme music is by the famous film score composer Roc Chen. We want to thank our writer Lü Weitao, translator Wang Yuyan, and copy editor James McCarthy. And thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed it, and if you did, please tell a friend so they, too, can understand The Context.