Renwei ancestral temple

Renwei temple is located in the front street of Renwei temple, Longjin West Road, Guangzhou, in the old pantang Township, covering an area of 2200 square meters. It is a temple dedicated to the Taoist emperor Zhenwu. It was the oldest and largest temple character in the eighteen townships of en Zhou, pantang at that time. According to historical records, Renwei temple was built in the fourth year of Huangyou (1052). Large scale construction was carried out in 1622, 1736-1795 and 1862-1874. During the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty, the temple was rebuilt with only the first three entrance houses in the middle road and the West preface, and the second entrance building and the East preface were added in the reconstruction. Renwei temple was called Beidi temple when it was first built. It is said that because emperor Zhenwu was responsible for water, people called him the northern emperor or the God of water. Because the God of Zhenwu Xuantian in the north is known as "Shenwei", it was later renamed Renwei temple. There is another saying about the name of Renwei temple. Pantang is located in the south of the five ridges. It is famous for its lotus root, water chestnut, mushroom, water chestnut and bamboo shoot. In order to "thank God and invite blessing to avoid disaster", the villagers of pantang "offer sacrifices and sincerity" to the gods. There were two brothers in pantang, named Ren and Wei. One day, the two brothers went fishing and found a strange stone. They picked it up and turned it into a statue of God. From then on, they "had a good life and were very handy". Later, they spread it all over the countryside and paid homage to many people within ten miles. When they went to the village to raise funds to build the temple, the villagers changed the name of the temple to "Renwei". Renwei temple is slightly trapezoidal in plane, facing south from north, with Guangsan road and five deep entrances, and a row of bungalows to the East. The first three buildings are the main building, the East and West are the side halls, the fourth is the Zhaitang, and the fifth is the back building. Along the north-south axis, there are the front gate, the main hall, the middle hall, the back hall and the back building in turn, with the East and West orders on the left and right. The front door is 11 meters wide and 8 meters deep. There are granite stone pillars on both sides of the gate, with stone lions carved on the head and auspicious clouds and two dragons playing with pearls carved on the body. The lines are smooth and vivid, commonly known as "dragon pillars". True to life, the sculptures in the glorious palace, including wood carving, wood carving, carving, and so on, are vivid and lifelike, and are the essence of South of the Five Ridges's ancient architectural art. At the same time, the shape of the whole temple is different, including square, octagonal and basin shaped. There are stone columns and wooden columns. The cross section of the columns is square, octagonal, circular, and there are also corner columns.

Renwei ancestral temple

Renwei ancestral temple

It was built in the fourth year of Huangyou reign of Song Dynasty. After maintenance and expansion in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Guangsan road has five deep entrances. It is the oldest and largest ancient temple in the eighteen townships of enzhou in pantang at that time. Its reputation has spread all over the world. The temple building is solemn and simple, full of distinctive Lingnan traditional craft characteristics, with great appreciation value and historical relics value. In 1983, the municipal government announced it as a municipal cultural relics protection unit.

Stone lion

Stone pillars and stone lions are the unique decorations of the temple. On the top of each pair of flat dragon stone pillars, there is a auspicious lion. It holds its head high and is majestic. On the stone pillars are carved two dragons playing with pearls, flying up and down among the auspicious clouds. It is lifelike and has extraordinary momentum. This pair of stone pillars, built in 1828, is a rare ancient stone carving in Guangzhou. It is said that during the cultural revolution, some people tried to dig it out, and they had to give up after digging more than one meter deep to pull it down.

The stone plaque at the gate of the west road is carved with eight characters of "Ying Fu Huan Shu" and "Hui Heng Yao Dou" at the gate of the East Road. The calligraphy is exquisite and vigorous. According to the legend, it was written by song Xiang, the number one scholar of the Song Dynasty, who spent thousands of gold to ask him to write. It is really worth the name. There were several exquisite brick carvings in Longtou at the entrance of the temple, but they were seriously damaged during the cultural revolution. Now we can imagine the original exquisite carving from the remaining carvings. Gold lacquer wood carving is the main traditional craft of Lingnan ancient architecture. Although the wood carvings sealed with eaves have been eroded by wind and rain for hundreds of years, their exquisite flower figures are still vivid and clear, which is full of the unique charm of Southern wood carvings.

The craftsmen perform art according to their materials. On the vertical and horizontal beams and columns, they carve beautiful auspicious patterns and animal patterns, or carve a group of historical drama characters' stories. They can form a chapter independently and echo each other. The dense movement and the static interweave with each other to form a gorgeous and magnificent three-dimensional golden lacquer wood carving scroll. As soon as you enter the headgate, on the left is Zhuge Marquis Wu's Yibing out of Qishan, and on the right is Cao Cao's Tongque banquet. The heroes arched to win the robe. Beyond the front door, the eaves of the two corridors are engraved with stories of characters such as "Wu Song beating the tiger", "Zhou Chu slaughtering the dragon", "Zhong Kui beating the ghost" and "immortal guiding the way", as well as auspicious flower patterns such as peony, Ruyi and longevity

Woodcarving art

Patterns, and wood carved gold lacquer "Bergamot", exquisite carving, fine lines, four Bergamot pitch, wild fun.

There are many woodcarving works in the hall, such as eight immortals celebrating birthday, plum magpie reporting good news (also known as looking up to see happiness), dragon and Phoenix presenting auspicious, Phoenix offering auspicious, fish leaping over the dragon's gate, etc. Wood carving adopts the techniques of round carving, through carving, relief carving and sinking carving, which combines various wood carving arts together, and also lays golden color, which reflects the elegant and gorgeous characteristics of wood carving art in Qing Dynasty. It is pleasing to watch carefully.

The main hall of Renwei Temple

The main hall of Renwei temple is dedicated to the northern emperor. Its full name is the northern Zhenwu Xuantian God, which is abbreviated as Zhenwu emperor, Xuanwu emperor and Northern emperor. According to the legend, Xuanwu was born in the Yellow Emperor's time. He went to Taihe mountain in Hubei Province to practice. After a long time, he became the real king of Xuanwu. Therefore, Taihe mountain was renamed Wudang Mountain. It is also said that in the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the emperor ordered the Jade Emperor to summon Xuanwu to accept demons. Xuanwu fights with the six day demon king in the field of cave Yin. The demon king turns into a turtle and a huge snake. Xuanwu's divine power is under his feet. He locks all the ghosts in Fengdu cave. The Jade Emperor gives him the name of Xuantian God.

Xuanwu is the combination of tortoise and snake. It is the God of the north in ancient China. The North belongs to water and its color is black, so it is called Xuanwu. Tortoise has armor to defend it, so it is called Wuwu. Together with Qinglong (wood in the East), Baihu (gold in the West) and Zhuque (fire in the South), they are called the gods of the four directions. Emperor Wudi was in charge of water, and pantang was located in a water town. It was famous for its five beauties of shepherd's purse, lotus, mushroom, water bamboo and rhombic. In order to be grateful, the villagers invited gods to bless them, so as not to cause disaster. They were very sincere in offering sacrifices to the northern emperor.

There are only three antiquities left: one is the stone carving sprinkling wine dish, the other is the hanging of quot in the hall; the horizontal plaque of "sow liquid and send spirit" was sent by the villagers of Yanbu (then called toad step) in 1876. During the cultural revolution, factories used it as a Pavilion floor to place objects, so it was preserved. The fate of another broken wooden plaque is different. It was originally a wooden plaque sent by local villagers. It was abandoned in Liwan Lake for more than ten years during the cultural revolution. Although it was corroded and perforated, the wood was still very hard. It can be seen that the selection of materials was meticulous at that time. "The sea does not make waves" and "sow liquid to send spirit" all reflect the good wishes of the villagers to pray for the blessing of the northern emperor for a smooth year, abundant grain and abundant resources.

Address: Miaoqian street, Longjin West Road, Liwan District, Guangzhou

Longitude: 113.23500061035

Latitude: 23.123100280762

Tour time: 1-2 hours

Ticket information: free visit

Opening hours: 08:00 ~ 17:00

Stop time: 16:50

Tips: open from 06:30 to 17:00 on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar new year.

Chinese PinYin : Ren Wei Zu Miao