Zhuge's Loyal Shrine Constructed for the sake of remembering the son and grand son of Zhuge Liang, a famous military strategist of the tree Kingdoms period, Loyal Shrine (Zhuge Shuangzhongci), one of the important ancient traces of Shu Kingdom in the Sichuan, lies in the west gate of Mianyang City, taking up an area of more than one hectare, facing Wuhou Shrine, built up for remembering Zhuge Liang, in the Chengdu far apart. In front of grand tomb of Zhuge Zhan, the son of Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Zishang, the grandson of him in the shrine, which is inlayed with stone railings decorated with exquisitely engraved patterns of sword and musical instrument around the tomb which is 30 meters round and 3 meters high, there is a stone tablet with 4. 6 meters high and 0.77 meter wide on which is carved ‘The tomb of Zhege Zhan and his son Zhuge Zishang being escort generals and ministers of Later Han Dynasty’ in the upper of tablet and the tablet is sacrificed by Lu Qiyong, the mayor of Mianzhu in the 61st year of Kangxi’s reign at the edge of it. On both sides of the towering tomb field shaded by green trees, there are two-century ancient pines with dragon figures and hard blades by the tomb likening two armored sentries with swords guarding the loyal souls so that visitors standing before the tomb would be filled with deep esteem. The Shrine for a pair of loyalists was firstly built in the third year of Qian Long’s reign in Qing Dynasty (1738) because of the tomb, there are lot of buildings in the field, including Zhongxiaomen, Baidian which is the ancient structure built in the 7th year of Dao Guang’s reign in Qing Dynasty (1827), Guoting, Main Hall, Qishengdian which was built in the 3rd year of Qian Long’s Reign in Qing Dynasty, Western House, Eastern Room, Guanshe and Guest Hall, etc. Besides, in the ancient Baidian, there are painted modern sculpture 'soul of Mianzhu Pass', offering sacrifices to Zhuge Zhan and his son for their spirit of sacrificing themselves to defending every inch of land of the country in Mianzhu Pass and reproducing the scene of war in the ancient Shu Kingdom, and the inscribed board of hall with characters ‘Loyalists of Han Dynasty’ and another inscribed one above the modern sculpture with characters‘Souls of Mianzhu Pass’ written by Zhang Aiping, the general of PRC, and Cao Yu, the renowned dramatist of China respectively. Therefore, the death of Zhuge Zhan and his son in the war of defending country should be the last touched act in the history of the Shu Kingdom and the Shrine of theirs is the last and best site for those who appreciating scenic spots in connection with the period of the Three Kingdoms. |