Cao'e Temple

Cao'e Temple

Cao'e temple is located in xiaonvmiao village, Cao'e street, Shangyu District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province. It was built in the first year of Yuanjia (151) of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the early years, it was also called Lingxiao temple and xiaonvmiao. It is a memorial building built to highlight Cao'e, Shangyu's xiaonvmiao of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Cao'e temple is located in the West and faces the East. It is backed by Fenghuang Mountain and faces Cao'e River. It covers an area of 6000 square meters and has a building area of 3840 meters. The main buildings are distributed on three axes. The overall architectural scale is magnificent and the layout is rigorous. It is well-known at home and abroad for its carving, couplets, murals and calligraphy (ancient steles), and is known as "the first temple in the south of the Yangtze River".

In March 2013, Cao'e temple was listed in the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

Evolution of construction

In the first year of Yuanjia in the Eastern Han Dynasty (151), Dushang, the magistrate of Shangyu County, built a tomb and a temple for Cao'e, a filial daughter, and erected a stone tablet. The inscription was written by his disciple Handan Chun.

In the second year of Xingping (195) of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Yong wrote the eight characters of "yellow silk young woman, grandson Zhuoyu" in the inscriptions, and the four words of "wonderful words" are the first Chinese character riddle.

In the second year of Shengping (358) of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi, the right army, inscribed a stele of Cao'e, a filial daughter in regular script, in the temple, which was engraved by Wu Maoxian in Xin'an.

In 1066, the 10-year-old daughter of Zhu Hui, Shangyu, was killed to protect her grandmother. Kuaiji ordered Dong Kai to erect a statue for her in the temple during the reign of emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty.

In 1093, five main halls were built. The stele of Cao'e written by Cai Bianzhong, the Minister of state (now in the temple).

In the fifth year of Zhenghe (1115) of the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Gang, the prefect, expanded five back halls for Cao E's parents and Zhu e to share. In front of the tomb of his filial daughter, he built a "double cypress Pavilion" with a plaque inscribed by Zhang Jizhi.

In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1339), Mrs. Huigan was granted the imperial edict, and Yin Gongcheng rebuilt the palace.

In 1375, Liu Ji (Liu Bowen) of the Ming Dynasty held a memorial ceremony. There are Qingtian Leici books in the temple.

During the Hongwu Period of Ming Dynasty, the mountains were overcast by all the women. Her father Shiji died by falsely accusing him. Her second son called on her father to be wronged. She was eight years old, and she was killed by the three wrongs. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the statue of Governor Liu Gonggong was attached to the temple.

In 1510, the temple was rebuilt.

In 1522, the eunuch Lai en collected the characters of Li Yong (Li Beihai), the governor of the Tang Dynasty, to form a stele of Cao'e, which was built on the wall of the palace. In the fourth year of Jiajing (1525), nandaji, the prefect, built a temple corridor.

In 1582, Shen Dongjiang raised money to build Gaojian.

In 1649, Shen Wenkui, the chief minister of water transport, rebuilt the palace and raised the height of Dayan.

In 1672, Shen Zhili, a doctor of the Ministry of punishment, rebuilt the Palace (the third son of Shen Wenkui). In 1673, Wang zuolin, a descendant of the right army in the 12th year of Kangxi, copied the inscription on the stone temple wall of Wang Xizhi's Cao'e tablet. In February 1722, the temple of Cao'e was damaged by a hurricane. Yu Qing, the prefect, donated his salary to build the temple, which was completed in September. Shen Gong temple was rebuilt on the right side of the temple to praise Shen Wenkui for his contribution in building the temple.

In 1732, Gu Jimei, the governor of Yongzheng County, and Jianhua epigraph archway were in front of the tomb.

In 1783, the hall was destroyed by fire and rebuilt the following year.

In 1798, two stone gates were built in front of the temple. In 1802, three "corridors" were built in front of Shuanghui Pavilion (sacrificial Hall). In the 13th year of Jiaqing (1808), Fuying was granted the imperial edict, and the Gongle emblem of "imperial stele Pavilion" was built in front of the temple. Ruan Yuan, the governor of Zhejiang Province, belongs to Qian Yong of the golden chamber (now Wuxi). He wrote a tablet of Cao'e in the style of Li. Xu Yuanmei, the governor of Shanyin County, donated money to Shangshi, and Chen Hongxi, the Kuaiji County, transported the stone from Hangzhou to Shangyu to stand in the temple.

In the midsummer of the 19th year of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty (1839), a "tidal observation platform" was built on the left and right sides of the Shikuang in front of the temple. It was made by the family Xu of CAI Bujie in Lanxi.

In the fifth year of tongzhi (1866) of the Qing Dynasty, she was granted the title of inspiration lady. Empress Dowager Cixi gave a plaque of "Fu Bei Caojiang".

In March 1929, Chiang Kai Shek and his wife Song Meiling came to Cao'e temple to pay homage to their filial daughter. In July of the same year, Cao'e temple was completely destroyed by fire.

In 1934, Ren Fengkui, a local squire, raised money to rebuild Cao'e temple.

In 1936, Cao'e temple was completed.

In 1984, the people's Government of Shangyu County, Zhejiang Province, allocated 330000 yuan, and together with the nongovernmental fund-raising committee of Shangyu County, raised more than 80000 yuan to rebuild the Cao'e temple. It was basically restored in 1987 and opened to the public as a tourist spot.

In 1989, Cao'e temple was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Zhejiang Province.

In 1986, Shangyu County Cultural Relics Management Office displayed 120 ancient calligraphy steles in the Cao'e temple.

In 1999, Shangyu Cultural Relics Management Office raised funds to restore the back hall of parents and rebuild the statue of parents and the warm Pavilion.

Architectural pattern

Cao'e temple is located in the West and faces the East. It is backed by Fenghuang Mountain and faces Cao'e River. It covers an area of 6000 square meters and has a building area of 3840 meters. The main buildings are distributed on three axes. The north axis is divided into three bays, namely: stone archway, drinking Pavilion, stele Gallery, Shuanghui Pavilion and Cao'e tomb; the central axis is divided into five bays, namely: wall covering, imperial stele Pavilion, Mountain Gate, stage, main hall and Cao Fujun temple; the south axis is divided into three bays, namely: Mountain Gate, stage, Tugu temple, Shen Gong temple, stage, Dongyue Temple and Yama temple.

Cultural relics

main hall

The main hall is the main place for people to look forward to and commemorate Cao'e, the filial daughter. It is located in the center of the whole temple, with a height of 18 meters, a width of 21 meters, and a depth of 25 meters. The top of the hall is made of hard mountain style. The beams in the Ming and the second rooms are carried by beams, and the gables in the top are made of bucket style. The four gold pillars in Ming Dynasty are 15 meters high and 0.6 meters in diameter. The wood is as hard as iron. They are made from Nanyang copper. The three roll out shed not only provides convenience for the column reduction method in structure, increases the space capacity, but also creates a solemn atmosphere for visitors to enter the role.

Warm Pavilion

Warm Pavilion is located in the center of the main hall, with a height of 6.5 meters. It has three rooms and six columns. The roof is made of yellow glass. On the top of it are carved eight immortals such as tie Guai Li, Han Zhongli and Han Xiangzi. On the eaves purlin and forehead, there are Dou Gong, gold thread, several opencut flower boards and two dragon subduing plates in the Ming Dynasty. Cao'e, a dutiful daughter, was sitting in it with a high spirit.

Back hall

The back hall, also known as Cao Fu Jun temple and parents hall, is historically a place for worshiping the statues of Cao E's parents. The sheriff Wang Gang was built in 1224, the 17th year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty. In 1246, Emperor LiZong of the Song Dynasty granted Cao E's parents the titles of "heyinghou" and "Qingshan lady".

The structure of the back hall is basically similar to that of the main hall, except that the 22 red lacquer gates are thick and firm, with unique charm. There are three gates and six gates in the Ming Dynasty, two gates and four gates in the second and the third. The upper part of the door is round and skillful, while the lower part of the middle window and skirt board are full of relief, delicate and vivid. Especially in the middle of Ming Dynasty, the carving broke through the traditional way of drawing materials and created a new way to introduce Tang poetry into painting, reflecting the craftsman's solid skills and profound cultural accomplishment.

Cao E stele

In the first year of Yuanjia (151), Shangyu County reported Cao E's trace of filial piety to the imperial court and set up a monument for it. The inscription was written in Handan. The monument was lost in the early years.

In 358, the second year of Shengping in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Wang Xizhi went to the temple to write on the stele of Cao'e, which was engraved by Wu Maoxian in Xin'an. The handkerchief of this stele is now in Liaoning Museum, with the titles of Xu sengquan, man Qian and Huai Chong of Liang Dynasty, as well as the inscriptions of Han Yu and song Gaozong.

Cao'e stele was written by Cai Bianzhong, Wang Anshi's son-in-law, in 1093. The tablet is 2.3 meters high and 1 meter wide. It is in regular script. It is powerful, fluent and refreshing. It has a high position in the history of Chinese calligraphy. It has been thousands of years and is precious.

Shuanghui Pavilion

Shuanghui pavilion was built in 1224 in front of Cao'e's tomb. It was named after two cypress trees planted in front of the pavilion. At first, the three character plaque of "shuanghuiting" was written by famous calligrapher Zhang Jizhi.

The double cypress Pavilion is square in plane, three rooms in width, four meters in width in the open room, two and a half meters in width in the secondary room, and nine meters in depth. The hard mountain roof is constructed by lifting beams. In the Ming Dynasty, the ground flower cover was carved with twig patterns such as "rat steals grapes". Yingmenbaodui is Wang Zhen's handwriting, with a plaque of "filial piety thinking", which is Lin Sen's old title and Ren Zheng's supplementary book. Jinzhu is engraved on Youren's hand written couplet. The corbels on the front and rear eaves are respectively carved with four talented persons Xu Wei, Cai Yong, Wang Xizhi and Li Bai, and four beauties Diao Chan, Yang Yuhuan, Wang Zhaojun and Xi Shi. Under the window, there are gold-plated flower board reliefs such as Fengshenbang and romance of the Three Kingdoms. The screen door is engraved with the stories of the characters in the romance of the west chamber and a dream of Red Mansions. On the top of the screen door is a large plaque with the words "Shuanghui Pavilion" written by Xiong Xiling in his later years.

Cao E's tomb

The old tomb of Cao'e was located in the east of the Yangtze River. Later, it was damaged by the storm and moved to the present place. Old stone maid, stone horse and stone sheep faced each other on both sides of the tomb. The tomb was destroyed in the early years.

Cao'e's tomb was rebuilt by private capital in 1982. In 1987, it was made according to the shape of Cao'e's tomb in Qing Dynasty

Chinese PinYin : Cao E Miao