二郎廟，高平，山西，中國

Erlang Temple, Gaoping, Shanxi, China

二郎廟位于高平市城西北8.5km寺莊鎮(zhèn)王報村，建筑于村北的土崗上，這里地勢平坦，西面群山連綿如屏，東面丹水潺流含煙，是一塊美麗富饒的地方。2006年5月25日，國務院公布二郎廟為全國重點文物保護單位。

二郎廟坐北面南，單進院，占地面積1433m2。該廟創(chuàng)建年代不詳，至遲在唐代時已有。歷代屢有修葺?，F存建筑有：戲臺、獻殿、正殿、東西垛殿、廊房等。戲臺為金代遺構，其余均為明清遺物。

正殿居于廟院的后部，建筑在高1.5m的臺基上，殿身面闊5間，進深6椽，平面長方形。懸山式屋頂，前出廊。筒板布瓦蓋頂，琉璃脊飾。柱頭斗栱5踩雙昂，補間斗栱各一朵。通長施用大額枋，無普拍枋。柱為砂巖石，方形青石柱礎，雕刻精美。此殿為明代遺構。

正殿前建有獻殿3間，進深4椽，懸山式屋頂，斗栱3踩，無補間斗栱，建筑在高1m的臺基上，明代建筑。

戲臺，倒座式，面闊1間，進深4椽，歇山式屋頂，筒板布瓦蓋頂，平面正方形，建筑在高1.1m的臺基上，臺基略呈長方形。戲臺四角施用粗大圓形木柱，前檐兩角柱下墩接沙巖石礎。柱頭上四面置大額枋，額枋上置斗栱，轉角栱4朵，斗栱每面兩朵，看上去每面皆為4朵斗栱。額枋下施雀替，轉角栱施45°斜栱。斗栱四鋪作，單抄單下昂，昂形耍頭。戲臺內無梁枋，斗栱直接支撐屋面。華栱之上置一小斗，再施墊木承托昂尾，斗栱后尾置一小斗，斗上置枋，枋上設置檁椽，整個建筑簡潔而牢固。由斗栱直接支撐層面的建筑形制，是王報村二郎廟戲臺的獨創(chuàng)，在其他建筑中實屬罕見，整個建筑柱、斗栱、枋等皆為金代原制。在臺基的束腰處有線刻畫3塊，有化生童子、蓮花、纏枝花等，并刻有“時大定二十三年歲次癸卯秋十有三日，石匠趙顯、趙志刊”的題記，為該戲臺提供了確切的創(chuàng)建年代，金大定二十三年（1183），距今已有831年的悠久歷史，這是我國目前發(fā)現年代最早的建筑戲臺。二郎廟金代戲臺的發(fā)現，不但為研究我國的戲劇發(fā)展史提供了重要的實物資料，而且結構簡潔牢固，形制獨特，創(chuàng)造了不用梁架直接由斗栱支撐屋面的建筑手法，為我國的古建筑增添了新的篇章，具有極其重要的文物價值。 （撰文：常四龍）

Erlang Temple is located at Wangbao Village of Sizhuang Town, 8.5 kilometres to the northwest of Gaoping City. It sits on an earth hummock to the north of the village. The land here is relatively flat, with rolling mountains in the west and the Danshui River in the east. It is beautiful and fertile. On 25 May, 2006, the temple was included in the list of State Priority Protected Site by the State Council.

The temple is a simple enclosed compound facing south and covering an area of 1433 square metres. It remains unclear when the temple was built, but it had been there no later than the Tang Dynasty and been repaired many times in the following dynasties. The structures preserved include the roofed opera stage, sacrificial hall, main hall, east and west side halls, and appended houses (lang-fang, subsidiary structure adjoining or between principal buildings). The opera stage was built in the Jin Dynasty, and the rest were all constructed in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The main hall sits on a 1.5-metre-tall base in the back of the complex. Five bays wide, with a sixpurlin framework and a rectangular plan, it features an overhanging gable roof, a porch in the front and a roof paved with tubular tiles and decorated with glazed ridge ornaments. Each bracket set on top of a column consists of five cai and two ang. There is a bracket set at every intercolumnar interval. Greater architraves that run from side to side are adopted, but there is no flat tie-beam (pu-pai-fang). Columns, made of sandstone, rest on square bluestone bases and bear exquisite carvings. The hall was built in the Ming Dynasty.

In front of the main hall, there is a three-bay sacrificial hall featuring a four-purlin framework and an overhanging gable roof. The bracket set features three cai, and there is bracket set between columns. The structure, built in the Ming Dynasty, sits on a 1-metre-tall base.

The roofed opera stage, facing north, is a onebay structure featuring a four-purlin framework and a hip and gable roof paved with tubular tiles. With a square plan, it sits on a 1.10-metretall roughly rectangular base. At each of the four corners, there is a thick, cylindrical column. The two

corner columns under the front eaves each rest on a sandstone base. Greater architraves are employed on all the four sides of the column capital, on which bracket sets are built. There are four corner brackets, so it looks as if there are four brackets on each side. Que-ti or "sparrow braces" are employed under the architraves, and brackets slanting at an angle of 45 degrees are used for the corner bracket sets. Each bracket set consists of four pu-zuo with single overhanging gong and single ang and an angshaped nose (shua-tou). Above the stage there is no beam, and the bracket sets directly support the roof. On every flower arm there is a small bearing block (dou), on which a filler board is employed to support the ang tail. In the back of each bracket set, there is a small bearing block on which the beam is placed. On and above the beams are rafters and purlins. The entire structure is neat and solid. The use of bracket sets to support the roof directly is a unique technique rarely seen in buildings other than the Erlang Temple opera stage at Wangbao Village. The columns, bracket sets and tie-beams are originals from the Jin Dynasty. At the waist of the foundation base, there are three carvings representing the Boy of Nature (Hua-sheng Tong-zi), lotus flowers, interlocking flowers, etc. There is also an inscription which writes, "Created by stonemasons ZHAO Xian and ZHAO Zhi on the 3rd day of the 10th moon in the year of Kui Mao, namely the 23rd year of Dading period." The inscription shed light on when exactly the opera stage was built-the year of Dading (1183) in the Jin Dynasty, which means that the structure has a history of 831 years. This is the oldest Jin Dynasty roofed stage that has been discovered so far in China. It constitutes important material evidence for studies on the history of Chinese opera; moreover, as a neatly and solidly constructed structure of a unique design exemplifying the use of bracket set to support the roof directly, it updates our understanding of ancient Chinese architecture and thus has very great value as cultural heritage.