Guan Yu

The Guan Yu Forest is actually the memorial temple and the tomb for Guan Yu. It is called "Forest" merely because there are many ancient pine and cypress trees surrounding the area, which is located right in Guanlin Town, south of Luoyang City.

Guan Yu (160 - 219 AD) who originally came from Shanxi province and was also called Guan Yunchang, was a famous general of the Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 277 AD). Legend has it that Guan Yu's head was buried here after he was captured and decapitated. General Guan Yu, well-known for his loyalty, faithfulness, boldness and power, had been regarded as the peerless hero and raised to the level of quasi-religion and therefore worshiped as a Buddha from the Three Kingdoms period to the Sui Dynasty,.

The main entrance is a 5-room-wide tower with three doorways leading to the inside. Each door of the gate tower, red in color, is inlaid with 81 golden rivets, the treatment reserved only for Chinese kings and emperors. The halls behind the gate tower are magnificent and full of power and grandeur. Inside the first hall there is the statue of General Guan Yu in a sitting position wearing an imperial crown and robe with the design of the dragon on it, which is the attire only for a Chinese king or emperor.