Qingyang Palace （West Gate）
Twin bronze goats before a Taoist altar, one a fantastical composite of twelve zodiac animals.
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About this audio guide
This guide to Qingyang Palace in Chengdu starts with two bronze goats before the altar of Sanqing Hall, one an impossible creature stitched together from all twelve zodiac animals. It traces how a Qing dynasty scholar, Zhang Penghe, bought the strange goat at a Beijing street stall in 1723 and carried it a thousand miles home, and how a second, ordinary goat arrived nearly a century later. Along the way it follows the temple itself through a Tang dynasty rebuilding, a Qing dynasty reconstruction, and the silence forced on its priests during the Cultural Revolution. Look for the fused goat's mismatched parts, a rat's ears beside a dragon's horn and a tiger's claws.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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