China Chenghuang Temple viewing guide! Who is silently guarding your hometown?

*At the end of the article, there is a recommended list of city god temples worth visiting in China

If you suddenly traveled back to ancient times, how would you determine where the most prosperous area in the city is?

If you are sure that you have come to the Ming and Qing dynasties, then you will never go wrong by going to the Chenghuang Temple area !

As the center of the market culture at that time, Chenghuang Temple can be said to be one of the most prosperous places. Especially during the temple fair period, a wide variety of small commodities were displayed here, and the pedestrians coming and going were bustling and varied...

As a long-standing and unique urban culture in my country, even though the City God no longer enjoys sacrifices from citizens, the City God Temple is still a very special part of Chinese cities.

01

Why is it Chenghuang Temple?

If you want fame and fortune, you should visit the Temple of Wen - Confucius Temple ; if you want wealth and fortune, you should go to the Temple of Wu - Guandi Temple. If you want a good life with good weather and miscellaneous things, you must go to the "family temple" of the common people - the City God Temple .

A hundred years ago, Chinese towns and cities above the county level, regardless of size, generally had a City God Temple, where the City God was enshrined. If the patron saint of the Greek city-state was Athena, then our patron saint is the City God.

The name of Chenghuang was first seen in Zhouyi. Volume 4 of Zhouyi has the saying "If the city is restored to the moat, do not use the army". In Shuowen Jiezi, the two characters are explained separately: "Cheng means to make the people prosperous." "Huang means a city pond. If there is water, it is called a pond. If there is no water, it is called Huang." It can be seen that the name of Chenghuang was originally the name of a certain type of city.

The god of the city is naturally the embodiment of the belief in the city. As early as more than 2,300 years ago, the "Book of Rites" recorded a sacrificial ceremony in the Zhou Dynasty, that is, the "Ba La" sacrifice after the autumn harvest.

Among the "Eight La", the seventh is "Shuiyong" - the moat. In a sense, this is the earliest form of City God worship.

However, the real City God Temple appeared in the Three Kingdoms, Jin Dynasty and Southern and Northern Dynasties. During this period, wars were frequent and the people begged for protection and peace, so the worship of the City God came into being.

The Book of Northern Qi, Biography of Murong Yan, records a story about the worship of the City God:

In 555 AD, Murong Yan of Northern Qi was stationed in Yecheng. He was surrounded by the Liang army of Southern Dynasty and cut off from land and water supply. The situation was critical. "There was a temple in the city, commonly known as the City God". In this critical moment, the generals had no other choice but to lead the people to pray. The City God was responsive, and the wind and waves were raised, breaking through the obstacles set up by the enemy in the waterway, and the Northern Qi army was saved.

There are countless stories like this in troubled times, but it is undeniable that troubled times are indeed a hotbed for the growth of faith. As a result, the City God gradually ascended to the altar.

**By the time of the Tang Dynasty, people had already started to worship the City God. **During this period, each state and county basically had its own rituals for worshipping their own City God. In addition to regular worship, when encountering natural disasters such as drought or flood, local officials also needed to worship the City God and pray on behalf of the people.

At this time, the City God was still basically worshipped by people as the protector of the city.

"The City God is the protector, and the common people are the support"

——Zhang Jiuling's "Sacrificial Essay to the City God of Hongzhou"

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, there were decades of chaos with small countries ruling their own territories and frequent dynasties. Therefore, the status of the City God was once again elevated, even to the level of a national monarch. At that time, monarchs of various countries, in order to protect their country's prosperity, granted temples to the City God and conferred titles on the City God. For example, the current Hangzhou City God was conferred the title of "Shunyi Baoning King" by the King of Wuyue at this time.

On this basis, the worship of the City God became more popular in the Song Dynasty. In the founding period, the City God was officially included in the sacrificial rites and became one of the gods that must be worshipped in accordance with national rituals. The Yuan Dynasty inherited the sacrificial rites of the Song Dynasty and set up the "Capital City God" in Kyoto. The status of the City God's wife was elevated, and she was given a title and a place in the same sacrificial ceremony.

"Since the Kaibao and Huangyou periods, ... the city gods of prefectures and counties have responded to prayers and bestowed so many titles that it is impossible to list them all."

——"History of Song Dynasty·Book of Rites Volume 8"

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the belief in City Gods entered its golden age. The Hongwu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang conferred titles on the city gods of Kyoto as "Chengtian Jianguo Simin Shengfu Mingling Wang" and Kaifeng as "Xiansheng Wang". He also ordered all prefectures, states, and counties to rebuild their City God temples, and conferred titles on the prefecture, state, and county City Gods as positions equivalent to the second, third, and fourth ranks of the imperial court... Later, the Qing government followed the Ming system, and the belief in City Gods reached its peak.

At this time, the City God, in addition to being a protector god, also served as a local official in the underworld.

The Ming Dynasty’s “Taishang Laojun’s Scripture on the City God’s Ability to Eliminate Disasters and Blessings” summarizes the City God’s duties as follows: “To govern the world on behalf of Heaven, to eliminate evil and eliminate evil, to protect the country and bring peace to the nation, to bestow blessings, to determine life and death, and to grant people blessings and longevity.”

The legendary guide to the underworld issued by the City God (data map)

From a certain perspective, the City God Temple at that time was more like a government office set up in the underworld.

The government offices in reality were not to be approached, and the high and mighty county officials were not to be sought. The City God Temple, however, stood between yin and yang, and was the best channel for the people at that time to contact him. Therefore, the City God belonged to Dongyue above, and governed the land gods below, becoming an important link in the underworld system. The City God Temple could be regarded as a supplement to the government offices in the world.

Looking back at the historical evolution of the City God Temple, the role assigned to the City God has changed subtly with the times. In the turbulent wars, people prayed to the imaginary city protector to protect their hometown and the people; in peacetime, people imagined that the City God had the ability to communicate with mountains and rivers and to make the wind and clouds.

From then on, the City God, as a deity specifically dedicated to protecting a certain area, shared the people's worship with the founders of Buddhism, Taoism and Buddhism.

02

Who is the City God?

Having said this, we still have a great doubt. As the official of the underworld recognized by the people, who is the City God?

It is difficult for him to be the same person. After all, there are City Gods all over the country. Each prefecture has its own City God, each state has its own City God, each county has its own City God, and there are no more below that, because only counties and above are qualified to have City Gods.

If it were just one person, all these levels would be messed up.

At this point, we might as well return to the origin. In the Chinese concept of gods, gods are born from both nature and the secular world. Even if gods are created by nature, they must have a personified experience. We are afraid of the power of nature, afraid of gods, and fear gods, but at the same time, we also believe in "gods are created by humans" as masters.

The same is true for the City God, which was born out of the belief in the city and originally had no self-awareness. However, since the Tang Dynasty, people have often conferred the ghosts of upright officials, rural celebrities, and those brave and righteous people who have made contributions to the people as City Gods, hoping that their heroic spirits can protect the people as they did when they were alive.

Hai Rui, a famous official in the Ming Dynasty

There are countless examples of this. During the Chu-Han Contention, Xiang Yu named Ying Bu the "King of Jiujiang" and a "Jiujiang Yingbu Temple" was built in Liuhe City. In the Song Dynasty, the temple was changed into a City God Temple and the statue of Ying Bu was revered as the City God of Liuhe County.

The City God of Zhengzhou, Lanzhou and other places is the brave warrior Ji Xin, who once disguised himself as Emperor Han, Liu Bang, and assisted him in his escape, sacrificing his life for justice.

Portrait of Ji Xin

Sometimes, a city has more than one such city god. For example, the City God Temple in Shanghai enshrines three city gods: Huo Guang, the great general of the Western Han Dynasty; Chen Huacheng, a patriotic general in the late Qing Dynasty; and Qin Boyu, who helped Shanghai avoid a massacre in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty.

In Zhejiang, after Wen Tianxiang died, the people of Lin'an (now Hangzhou) in the Southern Song Dynasty admired his ambition to serve the country, so they made Wen Tianxiang the "Capital City God" and built a temple to worship him. Zhou Xin, the Zhejiang Censor of the Ming Dynasty, was an honest and upright person. He was later framed and killed, leaving behind his last words: "To be an upright minister in life and to be an upright ghost in death!" After being rehabilitated, Zhou Xin was also named the Capital City God of Zhejiang, and a temple was built on Wushan Mountain.

Wen Tianxiang

These are mostly city gods at the prefecture level. If it is at the county level, then the ancestors of the same hometown and the wise men of the village may become the city gods. Imagine that when people living below the county level worship gods, they are most likely to pray to their own ancestral halls or land temples.

From this perspective, the succession of the City God seems clear - after all, the City God system with a strong official background also needs to be promoted.

Perhaps it is for this reason that although people revere the City God, compared with the images of Buddha and Bodhisattva in Buddhism, who are the embodiment of perfection, the City God is more of a personified deity that is easy to communicate with.

A story from a Chinese studio: "Examination of the City God" The City God is the responsibility of the people

It is even more interesting to investigate the attitude of the literati towards the City God. When the last No. 1 scholar and Nantong sage Zhang Jian offered sacrifices to the City God, he first reasoned with the City God and then gave him an "ultimatum", threatening to stop offering sacrifices forever, which is hilarious.

Although this is the end of the history of City God worship, it can be traced back to Han Yu's City God worship text and other works, and this attitude of treating the gods with neither servility nor superiority is also a continuation of the tradition.

03

Celebration of entertaining gods - temple fair

Many gods have their own exclusive sacrificial ceremonies, and the City God is no exception. As an important part of secular gods, the City God, like the Kitchen God, has his own unique ceremony - the temple fair .

Although the City God Temple is decorated solemnly for the sake of majesty, the streets around the City God Temple are often the most interesting recreational places in the minds of citizens.

As the most cohesive commercial and entertainment space in the city, on the first and fifteenth day of every month, the City God Temple's large and small altars are always piled with various offerings, and devout believers go into the temple to burn incense, ward off disasters and pray for blessings.

At certain times of the year, such as the birthday of the City God, the birthday of the City God's wife, and important days such as the 15th day of the first lunar month, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, and the 1st day of the tenth lunar month, grand ceremonies to worship the gods are held.

"The temple market is named after the City God Temple in the west of the city. It stretches about three miles from the temple in the west to Xingbu Street in the east, and is roughly the same as the Lantern Market. The market opens on the first, fifteenth, and twenty-fifth day of each month."

——Yandu Youlanzhi (Travels in Yandu) in Ming Dynasty

This is the busiest time around the City God Temple. There are plays on the stage day and night, and small vendors compete to set up shops near the City God Temple; astrology, fortune-telling, Chinese medicine, drama, juggling, magic...

Artists from all walks of life gathered here, and pilgrims and tourists came in an endless stream, making it extremely lively. The Ming Dynasty documents even described it like this: "Blue-eyed foreign merchants, pilgrims from overseas, with millions of dollars in their pockets, talked in shops."

In addition to the Beijing City God Temple Fair, the birthplace of the temple fair, different customs of City God worship and City God temple fairs have been formed throughout the country.

For example, in the coastal areas of Jiangnan, there is a custom of holding a "City God Parade" on Qingming Festival, carrying the City God to the suburban cemeteries to inspect and judge ghosts.

On the eve of the procession, dozens of people in the temple would walk around the streets, which was called "street patrol"; on the next day, the City God would be carried out for a procession, with gongs and drums leading the way, followed by a full range of ceremonial guards holding various weapons, and later there would be stilt teams, wind and percussion bands, incense-worshiping teams, etc.

People each holding a stick of incense sticks followed behind, and altars were set up along the way... In such secular joy and even carnival, a harmonious atmosphere of "people and gods rejoicing together" was formed.

Although the purpose is to "show the secular style for the City God" and "please the City God", people also get the necessary medicine to comfort their ordinary lives. The City God Temple Fair is repeated over and over again and has long become an indispensable part of urban life.

04

How to view Chenghuang Temple?

After all, the City God is still worshipped in temples.

As the government office in the underworld, the specifications and shape of the City God Temple are similar to those of the government offices in the world of the living . It is a layout with multiple halls symmetrical along the central axis and a "hall in front and bedroom in the back".

The "front hall" is the main hall, which is responsible for enshrining the City God's deity; the front steps and porch are the offering halls for people to worship; the "back bedroom" is the back hall, where sacrifices are offered to the City God's parents or his wife.

In most cases, the side halls or two wings of the City God Temple are closely related to the "Twelve Officials" of the underworld. In addition to indicating that the City God belongs to the Dongyue system, statues of the underworld hell gods are also sculpted to depict the underworld in an intuitive and simple way.

The plaques and couplets in the City God Temple often remind and exaggerate the unique artistic conception and theme of the City God Temple, forming a unique style and a magnificent sight.

In addition, most City God Temples have a two-story music tower or stage that is richly decorated and used for performances during festivals to please the City God.

Today, although the worship of the City God has long been unworthy of its name and has fallen into decline, traces of the prosperity of the City God in the Ming and Qing dynasties are still passed down from generation to generation in the remains of historical buildings.

Today, the City God Temple still exists in the countryside of my country. The combination of the City God Temple Fair, snack street and commercial street still adds color to our lives.

1) Shanghai City God Temple

The City God Temple, located on Fangbang Middle Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, is one of the most important Taoist temples in Shanghai.

Legend has it that the Shanghai City God Temple was built by Sun Hao, the King of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, and was not converted into the City God Temple until the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.

The front hall is dedicated to the Jinshan God General Bolu Hou Huo Guang, the main hall is dedicated to the fourth-rank Xianyou Bo Chenghuang Shenming Daizhi Qin Yu Bo Yushi, and the back hall is the sleeping palace. There is a memorial archway built in 1535 in front of the gate, and the stage was built in 1865.

The Shanghai City God Temple is a large southern-style building with red walls and mud tiles. The main buildings in the temple consist of the square in front of the temple, the main hall, the Yuanchen Hall, the God of Wealth Hall, the Cihang Hall, the City God Hall, and the Niangniang Hall.

Located in the most prosperous and famous Yu Garden scenic area in Shanghai, Shanghai City God Temple is an important Taoist temple in Shanghai with a history of nearly 600 years. With the vicissitudes of life and the change of dynasties, Shanghai City God Temple has also experienced rise and fall.

2) Beijing City God Temple

There were four famous City God Temples in the old capital. Among them, Xichengdu City God Temple is the only one of the four that still exists. It is also the oldest and largest one in the capital.

Image source: Beijing Xicheng District Government

It is located at No. 33 Chengfang Street, Xicheng District, Beijing. It was first built in the seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (1270) and was named Yousheng Wang Lingying Temple. In the second year of the Tianli period (1329), it was consecrated as the King of Protecting the Country and Protecting Ning. It was rebuilt during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty and renamed Dawei Lingci.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the City God of Beijing was the chief of all the City Gods in the country, in charge of the City Gods of 13 provinces. Outside the main hall of the Beijing City God Temple in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are statues of 13 City Gods holding tablets standing on both sides. Inside the temple, there are tablets of Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty and Emperor Shizong and Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty, as well as couplets written by Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yongzheng, which fully reflect the status of the City God of Beijing.

3) Xi’an City God Temple

Xi'an Duchenghuang Temple is one of the only two Taoist temples in Xidajie, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province. It was first built in the 20th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1387). The original site was in Jiuyao Street inside the East Gate. It was moved to its current location in the 8th year of Xuande in the Ming Dynasty (1432). It was one of the three largest city god temples in the world at that time, governing the city gods of several provinces in the northwest, so it was called "Duchenghuang Temple".

Image source: Xi'an Tourism Development Committee

The City God Temple in Xi'an was rebuilt and destroyed many times during the Qing Dynasty. The temple is large in scale and is divided into two major parts: the temple courtyard and the Taoist courtyard. Now only the main hall rebuilt in the first year of the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty (1723) remains. It has brackets and eaves, and is majestic and magnificent. The roof is covered with glazed tiles, and the front eaves, lattice doors and windows are embossed with various patterns and designs, with fine carvings and exquisite patterns.

Originally there were statues of the City God, the Judge, and little devils in the hall. The building is majestic, simple and magnificent, showing the wisdom and artistic creativity of the ancient Chinese working people.

4) Guangzhou City God Temple

The Guangzhou City God Temple was first built in the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1370). It was the largest and most magnificent City God Temple in the Lingnan region during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

According to historical records, Guangzhou's City God was originally just a provincial City God Temple. Because he was worshipped by provincial officials, his status was higher than that of other prefecture city gods in the province. During the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou's prefecture City God was upgraded to a capital City God with jurisdiction over the entire province, and Guangzhou's prefecture City God Temple was upgraded to a capital City God Temple.

The original City God Temple had a ceremonial gate, a middle gate, a worship pavilion, a main hall, etc. There were lodgings on the left and right of the worship pavilion, which was once rated as one of the "Eight Scenic Spots of Guangzhou" in the Qing Dynasty. When the temple was demolished to build a street in 1920, the buildings in front of the worship pavilion were demolished, and only the main hall and the worship pavilion remained in the City God Temple. Now it has been rebuilt, but all the original art in the temple has been destroyed.

5) Hangzhou City God Temple

Wushan City God Temple was moved here in the ninth year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1139 AD), and began to worship Zhou Xin during the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty.

The newly built Zhou Xin Temple houses a statue of Zhou Xin and an introduction to his life and deeds, expressing the Hangzhou people's remembrance of this ancient upright official.

The Chenghuang Pavilion is a seven-story antique building with an area of ​​3,789 square meters and a height of 41.6 meters. It has multiple corners on each floor, reflecting the momentum of soaring into the sky . The top is designed as a flying pavilion, symbolizing the spread wings of a phoenix and the fairy mountain pavilion, which reminds people of the myth of "dragons flying and phoenixes dancing to Qiantang". It can be called the fourth most famous tower in Jiangnan.

References:

[1] Xie Lingyu. Research on the Belief in City Gods in the Song Dynasty[D]. Shanghai Normal University, 2011.

[2] Song Yongzhi. Research on the Belief in City God and City God Temple: 1101-1644[D]. Jinan University, 2006.

[3] Wang Zhanhua. Belief in City Gods and Politics in Ming and Qing Dynasties[D]. Central China Normal University, 2005.

[4] Shi Jia, Fu Yan. A brief discussion on the culture of Chenghuang Temple [J]. Urban Issues, 2003(02):5-8+13.

[5] Yu Zhibin. A Study on the Folk Customs of Offering Sacrifice to the City God[J]. Journal of Suzhou University, 1998(01):74-77.

[6] Hamajima Atsushi. On the Reform of the City God System in Zhu Yuanzhang's Regime[J]. Historical Journal, 1995(04):7-15.

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Source: Art Travel Culture