Cultural Heritage Protection Sign of the Zoroastrian God Tower

The Zoroastrian God Tower, commonly known locally as Xuanshen Tower, stands on the eastern side of Shunchengguan Street in Jiexiu City. It is a towering wooden pavilion featuring a distinctive architectural style. Integrating a mountain gate, opera tower and cross-street building into one structure, it adopts a triple-eaved cross hip-and-gable roof. The building boasts a unique design, rigorous framework and well-proportioned layout. Its roof is covered with exquisite glazed tiles, and the wood carvings beneath the eaves are extraordinary. It serves as a "living fossil" for the study of Zoroastrian culture in China. On a par with the Qiufeng Tower and Feiyun Tower in Wanrong County, it ranks among the three most famous towers in Shanxi Province.

The main hall inside the courtyard is the Temple of the Three Sworn Brothers, originally a Zoroastrian temple. During the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, when the emperor upheld Taoism exclusively, an imperial edict was issued to demolish unofficial shrines nationwide. Wang Zongzheng, then magistrate of Jiexiu, argued that "to eliminate heretical deities, orthodox gods must be venerated". He thus converted the Zoroastrian temple into the Temple of the Three Sworn Brothers. The Zoroastrian God Tower then functioned as both the mountain gate and opera tower of the temple, as well as a cross-street building spanning Shunchengguan Street.

The tower has a long history, yet the original stele recording its founding is no longer extant. Historical research indicates that the tower and its affiliated temple were erected between the Tang and Song dynasties, no later than the period from the 7th year of the Qingli reign (1047) to the 2nd year of the Zhihe reign (1055) of Emperor Renzong of the Northern Song Dynasty. After reunifying the whole country in the early Northern Song Dynasty, decades of warfare came to an end. People lived in peace, the economy flourished, commerce thrived and cities prospered. Politics, culture and religions all enjoyed robust development, creating conditions for the spread of Zoroastrianism. In particular, large numbers of Persian merchants gathered in Bianjing, turning Zoroastrian shrines into their gathering places. More Zoroastrian chapels and temples were built across numerous cities.

In 1047 (the 7th year of the Qingli reign), Wen Yanbo was appointed Vice Minister of State. A year later, he crushed the uprising led by Wang Ze of the Maitreya Sect in Beizhou. Besides military force, he also drew strength from his faith in the Zoroastrian deity. In 1055 (the 2nd year of the Zhihe reign), Wen Yanbo was conferred Grand Academician of the Zhaowen Guan, appointed Chancellor and ennobled Duke of Lu, rising from deputy prime minister to prime minister. Later, in his hometown Jiexiu, not only the Memorial Shrine to Duke Wen of Lu was built, but also a Zoroastrian temple. The ornate Zoroastrian God Tower was constructed as the mountain gate in front of the temple.

The fierce divine beast statues, glazed figurines of horsemen in Central Asian costumes riding auspicious beasts on the roof ridge, as well as the acanthus patterns widely seen on its glazed ornaments, all bear strong West Asian and Persian characteristics. The ground floor of the tower is a lofty mountain gate, and the upper floor is a spacious opera tower facing north toward the Temple of the Three Sworn Brothers. Although the tower underwent repeated renovations and reconstructions over successive dynasties, its original structural layout was well preserved, along with carved patterns on purlins, beams, rafters, columns, doors and brackets. Traces of Zoroastrian temple culture can still be clearly identified today. Most notably, despite several renamings and reconstructions of the temple, the name of the tower and the adjacent Lane of Zoroastrian God Tower have remained unchanged to this day, making it a unique surviving specimen of Zoroastrian architecture in China