A Construction Study of the Qianfo Hall (Hall of a Thousand Buddhas) at Lingyan Temple, Jinan

Abstract

The Qianfo Hall (Hall of a Thousand Buddhas) at Lingyan Temple in Jinan is an important surviving Buddhist building in northern China. Its construction and repair history spans the Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, embodying a layered fusion of building techniques from multiple eras. This paper takes the Qianfo Hall of Lingyan Temple in Jinan as its research subject and conducts a construction analysis, examining successive rebuildings and repairs, the exterior appearance, the floor plan, the column grid, and the roof-frame system, among other aspects. The hall's main body is seven bays wide and four bays deep, employing the “gold-box dou-di-cao” (jinxiang doudicao) plan recorded in the Song-dynasty Yingzao Fashi (Treatise on Architectural Methods), combined with the “column-reduction” (jianzhuzao) technique to enlarge the space for worship. The surviving primary timber frame dates from the Ming-dynasty reconstruction of the sixteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1537). The roof form is a single-eave hipped roof (wudian) covered with green glazed tiles. The bracket-set (dougong) arrangement is sparse, with only one intercolumnar bracket set per bay; the timber module conforms to the fifth grade of material specified in the Yingzao Fashi, with a member depth of 0.21 m and thickness of 0.14 m, reflecting the profound influence of the Song-dynasty modular system. The roof frame is of the tailiang (raised-beam) type, using four-purlin beams joined end to end with two-purlin beams, and applies the “tuishan” (hip-ridge extension) technique to shape the curve of the roof ridge. The rise-to-span ratio is approximately 1:3.3, close to the Song-dynasty standard for palace-hall (dian'ge) buildings. The hall houses a lacquered rattan-core Vairocana Buddha from the second year of the Zhiping reign of the Northern Song (1065) and forty painted clay arhat (luohan) statues from the Song and Ming periods, all of exceptional artistic and religious value. In its building form, structural methods, and sculptural art, the Qianfo Hall integrates features from multiple historical periods, making it an important physical case for studying the evolution of ancient Chinese building technology, the local application of the Yingzao Fashi in the Ming dynasty, and the development of Buddhist art.