◎Jade Emperor Hall of Dadao Temple

Dadao Temple is a Taoist temple built in the Yuan Dynasty.Facing south,the building,covering an area of more than 2,000 square meters,adopts a rigorous layout and has a magnificent bearing.

The Jade Emperor Hall is a place of Taoism for worshiping the Jade Emperor.The wooden frames in the hall are decorated with Taoist patterns,and all the walls in the hall are painted with murals,which are embossed paintings with gold foiling decoration showing gods worshipping the Jade Emperor painted in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty.The murals,with auspicious clouds everywhere,look splendid and magnificent.There are more than 130 immortal figures in the murals,which were painted with the traditional Chinese painting techniques,the tenet of“painting to show ideas”and the methods of“depicting the spirit through the form”and“depicting the form with the spirit”to embody the requirements of Taoism for drawing immortal figures.The figures feature delicate lines and harmonious colors,showing the powerful composition ability of the Taoist painters.The murals can be compared with the murals of Shanxi Yongle Palace.Providing precious physical materials for studying the Taoist culture,architectural history and the development history of the mural art in Dingzhou,the Jade Emperor Hall of Dadao Temple has high historical,artistic and scientific value.In 2006,the Jade Emperor Hall of Dadao Temple was listed in the sixth batch of key cultural relics under national protection.