In the twenty-fourth year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty, villagers rebuilt the temple, but at this time, residential buildings gradually appeared near Tapogang, which brought inconvenience to the construction of Buddhist temples. They chose the reconstruction site in the suburbs (formerly known as Shige, which belongs to the East Production Brigade of Suburban Commune, that is, part of the current site of the Party School of Foshan District Committee) and named it Tapo Ancient Temple. During the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, Qin An, a monk, went to Beijing to celebrate the birthday of Empress Dowager Cide and received a batch of Buddhist scriptures from the imperial court. Qin 'an also raised funds to expand the Buddhist temple in Beijing, and built a Buddhist scripture building in the temple to store these Buddhist scriptures, so Tapo Ancient Temple is also called Jingtang Ancient Temple. As for the original Tapo Temple, it was the villagers here who converted it into an ancient temple. Dedicated to the statue of Dongyue Emperor, renamed Tapo Temple.
Later, it was a long time ago, and after many renovations, in order to commemorate the first place in Foshan, during the renovation, the villagers specially embedded two stones in front of the bottom, one engraved with "the first place in Foshan" and the other engraved with "the legacy of pastoral songs" (there were eight scenes in ancient Foshan, one of which was called "Tapo pastoral songs"). In addition, a stone tablet engraved with the words "two years of Zhenguan in Foshan" was installed on the well in front of the temple.
The historical relics of these stone carvings have been removed from the ancestral temple by Foshan Museum and preserved after liberation.
People often ask: Although this place is called "Foshan", why is there neither Buddha nor mountain?
Here is called "Foshan" (also known as "Chancheng"), which began in the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (628). At that time, some residents found three small bronze Buddha statues on Tapogang. People thought it was a mountain of Buddhism, so they named it "Foshan" and rebuilt the Buddhist temple. It has gradually become the Buddhist center of the Pearl River Delta, so it is also called Chancheng.
According to legend, in the second year of Long 'an in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (398), a monk named Dapiyeshe in Shibin State (present-day Kashmir) took three small bronze buddhas and set up a shed in Tapogang to talk about Buddhist scriptures and preach Buddhism. Later generations called "shed" "hall". Since then, the number of men and women who believe in Buddhism has been increasing. People donated money to build Tapo Temple, where the Grand Piesche lived and worshipped Buddha. After David returned to China, the temple collapsed because of disrepair. The three small Buddha statues excavated in the second year of Zhenguan may be the original Buddha statues in the temple. In the 24th year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (139 1), Tapo Temple was demolished. It was rebuilt later. In the seventh year tomorrow (1627), Tapo Mountain has been leveled, and people are rebuilding Tapo Temple in Wanshoufang, Yilingpu. In the fourth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1854), Chen Kai, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, and Li, a famous Cantonese opera player, failed in their rebellion against the Qing Dynasty in Foshan. Tapo Temple and Qionghua Hall of Dajiwei Cantonese Opera Troupe were burned by Qing soldiers and disappeared. In the third year of Guangxu reign (1877), the abbot of Hualin Temple in the province donated money for reconstruction. Diligent hands-on, praying for the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi, was awarded a golden book by Empress Dowager Cixi, and was named "Wanshou Tapo Ancient Temple". Later, the temple was expanded and renamed "Jingtang". After Qin 'an's death, people were angry because the host and monks who succeeded him did not obey the law and discipline. The crowd tried to catch the monks, and they all ran away. Everyone destroyed the "Jing Tang", and three small bronze Buddha statues were nowhere to be found. By the time of the Republic of China, although there was an old monk guarding the temple, it was abandoned because of disrepair. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, "Jing Tang" was incorporated into the Foshan Party School (which still exists today).