Exploring Shanxi with the Monkey King - Southeastern Shanxi Chapter

On August 20, the domestically acclaimed and groundbreaking game "Black Myth: Wukong" was globally unlocked, and it had already been pre-loaded on multiple platforms. Among the 36 filming locations across various provinces and cities, 27 are located in Shanxi Province. The game features magnificent and realistic Chinese landscapes, ancient architectural complexes, Taoist and Buddhist statues, and even bizarre images of celestial beings and demons, providing every gamer with an unprecedented experience. Notably, the Yuhuang Temple, the Qinglian Temple, and the Tiefo Temple in the southeast of Shanxi Province all appear in the game. Let's take a look!

Many of the game's visual elements are also drawn from the Twenty-Eight Mansions colored sculptures in Yuhuang Temple in Zezhou. Located approximately 13 kilometers northeast of downtown Jincheng City, the Yuhuang Temple was designated as a national key cultural relic protection unit in the third batch in 1988. The temple houses exquisite colorful sculptures from the Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, each exquisitely detailed and awe-inspiring in their grandeur. The Twenty-Eight Mansions colored sculptures in Yuhuang Temple are unique among the ancient sculptural relics discovered nationwide, representing the pinnacle of ancient Chinese sculptural art. As the only surviving examples of their kind in China, they are truly national treasures.

As sources of inspiration for game scenery design, Qinglian Temple, situated in the southeast of Jincheng City, was built during the Tianbao era of the Northern Qi Dynasty. Nestled against a towering mountain, it boasts picturesque scenery and comprises an upper and a lower courtyard. The lower courtyard, also known as the Ancient Qinglian Temple, marks the original site of the temple established in the Tang Dynasty. Within its Maitreya Hall, six exquisite Tang Dynasty colored sculptures stand as unique treasures nationwide. The temple further preserves historical relics such as Wei Dynasty steles, Tang Dynasty sculptures, Song Dynasty structures, Ming and Qing Dynasties murals, and poetic inscriptions.