Since I had booked the first half of the tickets for the ancestral temple in Foshan on the Internet the night before, I turned on my mobile phone to check in and entered the temple gate when I arrived at the ancestral temple. The area of the ancestral hall is much larger than I expected. There is no strong incense here, but it looks very quiet. Carved beams and painted buildings are dotted among the trees, as if it were a paradise. No matter Foshan people or foreigners, the purpose of going to the ancestral temple is not to burn incense and pray, but to find the pure land where the soul belongs, to relax, to entertain, to visit the ancient times, to make the impulsive heart comfortable for a while, and everyone can do whatever they want. This is the power of history. A heavy sense of history has liberated and changed human thinking. The ancestral temple is like a big family, and the Northern Emperor in the temple is like the parents with the highest status in the big family, which makes the wanderers feel at home and gives spiritual sustenance and comfort.
There are many buildings in the ancestral hall, but they are all alternating, inheriting a vein of Lingnan architectural art. I visited the Ip Man Hall, the forest of steles, the "Baochong" archway and the Huang Feihong Memorial Hall, and then visited the main buildings of the ancestral hall, Wanfutai and Jinxiangchi. Wanfutai, located directly opposite the ancestral hall, was built during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty. It is the place where Foshan people have staged Cantonese opera for hundreds of years. It is called the birthplace of Cantonese opera. Now, from time to time, Quyi clubs will perform and play songs on the stage to inherit Cantonese opera and Cantonese opera culture. Fortunately, I met Longjiang Quyi Society in Shunde on Wanfutai to play famous Cantonese operas such as Hua Tian CuO Hui, Meng Linghua's Ten Years in Sui Palace and Female Ma Xu, and I was able to enjoy Cantonese opera at close range under the stage, which benefited a lot and was unforgettable.
Between the main hall and Wanfutai are the "Ling Ying" archway and Jinxiangchi Building. Huang Xiaoyang in Ming Dynasty "worshiped Buddha"? After the "Sheep" Rebellion was put down, the old squire of Foshan wrote to the court, calling it the contribution of the Northern Emperor's blessing and silent praise, so Emperor Jingtai of the Ming Dynasty named the ancestral temple of Foshan as Ling Ying Temple, which became the only official memorial temple in Foshan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. So far, there are two archways in the temple, "Praise and Pets" and "Ling Ying" to commemorate this great event. Jinxiangchi is located behind the Ling Ying archway. Huo Kaijian will be built in the next eight years and completed in three years. During the reign of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty, a stone arch bridge was built above the pool, which was demolished, surrounded by stones and then surrounded by carved fences. This is what we see today. There is a stone statue of tortoise and snake in the center of the pool, symbolizing the god of Xuanwu, and there are murraya on both sides. The tree is 500 years old and its fragrance still exists, so the name of "Jinxiang Pool" will come from it. There are cloisters on both sides of Jinxiangchi, and there are bell and drum towers on the cloisters.
After walking through Jinxiangchi, you arrive at Sanmen, the main entrance of the ancestral hall, which is named after the number of doors is three. There is a plaque of "Feng Ling Yingsi" hanging above the middle of Sanmen, and there are couplets on both sides of Sanmen. The couplet in the middle gate says: the phoenix is gushing in three places, and the dragon is born with a hole in the sky. The left gate is connected with the cloud: solemnly view the Zen Temple, and the spirit should be blessed and respect the God. The right door couplet reads: Shop 27 is dedicated to this ancestor and has been enjoyed exclusively for hundreds of millions of years. The three couplets can be said to embody Foshan people's reverence for the ancestral temple and the Northern Emperor to the fullest. The main idea of the Chinese couplet is that the map of Ji Hua Township (known as Foshan in ancient times) is like a phoenix. During the Zhenguan period of Tang Dynasty, the local people dug up three Jin Buddha statues in Tapogang, hence the name "Foshan". The location of the ancestral temple in Foshan is as noble as a dragon, naturally generating a paradise. Zuomen couplet means: the ancestral temple in Foshan, with solemn appearance, is the tallest of all temples in Foshan; Betty Ling Wei is a noble god in Foshan. People in Shop 27 (Foshan) regard Ling Ying Temple as their ancestral temple. For hundreds of millions of years, only the Northern Emperor is the most distinguished. In the old days, good faith entered the hall to pray, and it must enter from the right door and leave from the left door, which means walking clockwise and smoothly.
Go through three doors and you will arrive at Yimen, where there are many mighty statues and exquisite furnishings. According to legend, the statues in the ancestral temple were all products of the Ming Dynasty, and they were restored in the Qing Dynasty and modern times. The prototype of these statues should be Wuwen County Board under the rule of Northern Emperor. Their modeling is to obey the Northern Emperor, who is the "Duke Duan of Chen Ju". There is a sacred case in the late Qing Dynasty in Yimen, which is beautifully made and engraved with historical stories. Although the name of the story is "Li Yuanba Fu Long Ju", both ends of the sacred case are embossed with the image of a squatting foreigner, which is also the reason why craftsmen at that time reflected their antipathy to foreigners in their works. At the bottom of the mystery, the word "Daming Jiangshan" was returned, which expressed the craftsmen's nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty and their disgust for the Qing Dynasty.
In the Yimen, there are also four statues with local cultural colors, two of which are called "Su Zhenren, a master of good advice in our temple" and "God of Honesty in guangzhou fu City God", and the other two are collectively called "God of Virtue and Honesty in guangzhou fu". There is another story about these four gods. According to legend, Su Zhenren presided over the ancestral temple in Ming Dynasty. When the ancestral temple was renovated one year, the local squire enthusiastically donated money, but Su Zhenren forgot to keep an account of some money. Everyone suspects that Su Zhenren is greedy for money, and Su Zhenren is hard to refute. So he held up the fireworks that had been set off in the ancestral hall to prove his innocence. As a result, the fireworks died and the gun was not fired. Everyone was shocked. Later, when Su Zhenren died, his apprentice found a pile of bills under the bed of Zhenren when sorting out his relics. It is the bill that was forgotten by real people when repairing the ancestral temple. The apprentice showed it to the public. Everyone felt the kindness of Su Zhenren, so they created their idols in the ancestral hall to show their eternal memory. It is easy for everyone to understand that the ancestral temple is dedicated to the statue of Su Zhenren, but there is also a statue of Guangzhou City God, which many people may not understand. In fact, the ancestral temple was located in Nanhai County in ancient times, and Nanhai County belongs to guangzhou fu. At that time, Foshan was just a town, and there was no town god. Therefore, in order to get the blessing of the city god, Foshan people sent a team to guangzhou fu City God Temple to welcome a set of sacrificial ceremonies, and then brought them back to Foshan's ancestral temple, taking it as "the city god of guangzhou fu". However, it was this move of the ancients that caused a storm of contemporary people in Guangzhou and Foshan vying for the God of the City God. After visiting the Foshan Ancestral Temple, relevant people in Guangzhou saw the statue of "guangzhou fu City God, God of Honesty" enshrined in the ancestral temple, and thought that this city god should belong to Guangzhou and should be "invited" back to Guangzhou City God Temple for worship. However, Foshan literature and history researchers believe that the statue of the city god of Foshan ancestral temple was originally made in Foshan, and the ancient Foshan people only accepted a set of symbolic sacrificial ceremonies in Guangzhou, so it is impossible for the statue of the city god of Foshan ancestral temple to be "invited" to worship in Guangzhou. And I think, on this issue, Foshan's statement is reasonable, and Guangzhou's statement is the embodiment of not understanding history.
After crossing Yimen, we arrived at Xiangting, where a plaque of "Loyalty, Righteousness and Famous Place" was hung, which also reflected the rich human history of Foshan. According to legend, in the Ming Dynasty, the floods in Guangdong and Guangxi, the loss of farmland, and the exorbitant taxes and levies by the imperial court finally led to the Huang Xiaoyang Uprising in the 14th year of the Ming Dynasty. In February of the first year of Jingtai in Ming Dynasty, Ming Taizu Dong Xing led an army, Huang Xiao was defeated and captured, the uprising failed, and Foshan City was besieged. In the second year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Jingtai appointed 22 Foshan people, including Lian Tong, as "loyal ministers" and built the "Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness". Foshan was named "Zhong Yi Township" and the ancestral temple was named "Ling Ying Temple", enjoying the worship in the Spring and Autumn Period forever. This is the famous "national sacrifice ceremony". Since the establishment of Zhong Yi Town, there have been many talents, such as modern martial arts masters Huang Feihong and Ip Man. Therefore, it is well-deserved to hang the plaque of "loyalty and fame" in the ancestral hall.
After passing the Champs Elysé es, we arrive at the main hall, also called Zixiao Palace, which is the most important building in the whole ancestral temple. In the center of the main hall, there is a huge statue of the Northern Emperor. According to legend, this statue was cast in Jingtai period of Ming Dynasty, weighing about 2.5 tons (more than 5,000 kilograms) and 9 feet 5 inches high, which means "the statue of the Ninth Five-Year Plan". This statue of the Northern Emperor is one of the representative works of Foshan foundry industry and the largest bronze statue of the Northern Emperor in China in the Ming Dynasty. There are two small statues next to the colossus of the Northern Emperor, one is Guanyin and the other is the statue of the Northern Emperor. The figurine of the Northern Emperor is like a "worship of the gods", that is, every year when the temple organizes a "worship of the gods" activity, the temple will take this statue to the neighbors, especially during the "Northern Emperor Sitting in the Village" activity from the first month of the lunar calendar to March. In front of the statue of the Northern Emperor in the hall, people admire not only the wisdom of the ancients, but also their craftsmanship. Being able to spend huge sums of money to build this magnificent art hall also shows how lofty the belief of the Northern Emperor has been in the eyes of Foshan people for thousands of years.
Behind the main hall is Qingzhen Building, also known as "Parents' Hall", which is a temple dedicated to the God of the Northern Emperor's parents. After visiting Qingzhen Building, the tour of Foshan ancestral temple basically ended. When I left, I went to a shop specializing in selling handmade artworks in the temple and bought a statue of a pottery turtle as a souvenir of this trip. Finally, I left the ancestral temple in Foshan and went back by subway.