He was the son of Wu Jijue, the fifth Marquis of Gongshun, and inherited the title in the 27th year of the Wanli reign (1573-1620). He held important military positions in the imperial court and died in the 4th year of the Chongzhen reign (1628-1644).
As the sixth Marquis of Gongshun, Wu Ruyin witnessed the political and military changes in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty. His family held a special position in Ming history: they were both representatives of Mongolian aristocrats who surrendered to the Ming and were important members of the dynasty's meritorious minister system.
The fact that the steles were inscribed by Wu Ruyin, the Marquis of Gongshun, attests to the great importance of the Tianxian Palace.
The temple enshrined the Goddess of Mount Tai (Bixia Yuanjun), widely known in folklore as the "Lady of Mount Tai". This belief was extremely popular in the Ming Dynasty, and the goddess is revered as the protector of childbirth, children's health, farming and women's well-being.
The inscription on the other stele is even more blurred. It is presumed to be a list of donors for the renovation project, with the highest-ranked being Zhu Changying — Prince Gui of Ming. It also records the names of officials and eunuchs who oversaw the project. Zhu Changying was an unremarkable feudal prince of the Ming Dynasty, but his son Zhu Youlang became the Yongli Emperor (1646-1662) of the Southern Ming Dynasty, who led the resistance against the Qing Dynasty for 16 years and became a symbol of the anti-Qing struggle.
The inscription at the end of the second stele reads: "Erected on the auspicious 15th day of the first month of winter in the Guihai year of the Tianqi reign of the Great Ming Dynasty". Tianqi was the reign title of Emperor Xizong (Zhu Youxiao), ruling from 1621 to 1627. The Guihai year in his reign is 1623.
According to historical documents such as Beijing Local Chronicles and Studies of Ancient Accounts of the Imperial Capital, the temple was named "Tianxian Palace for Protecting the State, Blessed by the Sage and Prolonging Life", which differs from the inscription by the order of two characters: "Shengyou (Blessed by the Sage)" in the documents versus "Yousheng (Blessing the Sage)" in the inscription. Which one is correct?
Naturally, the inscription prevails. As original physical historical materials, stone steles are more credible than written records. Furthermore, "Yousheng" is linguistically logical: "Tianxian (Celestial Immortal)" is the subject, "Huguo" means safeguarding the nation,"Yousheng" means blessing wise men, and "Yanshou" means extending people's lifespan — whereas "Shengyou" would be grammatically incoherent in this context. The error in the documents was caused by the carelessness of copyists.
The document management system became lax in the middle to late Ming Dynasty. The Collected Regulations of the Great Ming Dynasty compiled during the Jiajing reign (1522-1566) recorded that "four or five out of 10 local documents submitted contain character errors or mistakes". My research on these steles has corrected errors in historical documents, which is indeed of great significance.
At present, the faint characters on the steles are still visible when zoomed in on, but they will fade away in the years to come. If no photographic records are made, the origin of the steles will be lost forever, a loss that can never be recovered. I am greatly heartened to have made a small contribution to the protection of cultural relics.
The author is a freelancer for China Daily.
