Xianshen Lou, Zoroastrian gate-tower and opera stage in Jiexiu, Shanxi, China

Xianshen Lou is a gatehouse, stage and street-crossing pavilion combined into one structure in Jiexiu, Shanxi. Its T-shaped plan is about 20 metres deep: the wider stage section has five bays and a surrounding corridor, while the projecting porch and the street-crossing upper level each have three bays. The lower storey serves as a gate, the upper as a theatre stage, and with the double eaves between them the building rises to four levels.

Built in 1048 by the Song chancellor Wen Yanbo after his victory over Wang Ze at Beizhou, Xianshenlou served the Zoroastrian temple. In 1532, during the Jiajing era, magistrate Wang Zongzheng converted it into the Temple of the Three Sworn Brothers. The temple burned in the Kangxi era; the present hall and stage date from 1667, and the offering pavilion from 1786.

The name Xianshenlou means "Zoroaster Tower", and the building served as the stage and gate of a Zoroastrian temple before becoming the entrance and opera stage of the Sanyi Temple. Its carvings carry Zoroastrian traces: a bull's-head wooden figure on each side of the top-floor beam, and camel-like beast heads on the lower eaves brackets, which Jiang Boqin linked to Verethragna, the Zoroastrian god of victory.

The tower stands in the northeast corner of Jiexiu's outer city, about 30 metres from the East Gate of the Dongguan gate. The street passes directly beneath the overpass level, so walk through it on foot; the raised platform and column bases sit about 1.5 m above the road after the 1985 lifting. Look up at the eaves for the carved animal heads.

This is the only surviving Zoroastrian building remaining in China and was granted national protection status in 1996. The recognition reflects how rare and important this structure is as a record of this particular faith tradition in the country.