Notre Dame Temple

Notre Dame Temple

Notre Dame temple in Jiangxi Province is one of the most famous cultural landscapes in Hakka area. It is located in bailuwan, Ganxian South Development Zone, Meilin Village, Meilin Town, Ganxian County, Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. It was first built in the period of Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 360 years. Its historical and cultural connotation is very rich.

Jiangxi Meilin Notre Dame Temple

Notre Dame temple, formerly known as smallpox palace. Smallpox is one of the most infectious diseases in the world. It is a severe infectious disease caused by smallpox virus. This virus propagates rapidly and can spread in the air at an amazing speed. According to legend, smallpox often broke out in Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangdong areas in history, resulting in the death of countless Hakkas. In order to overcome smallpox, the biggest epidemic in human history, the Hakka people have carried out a long-term and indomitable struggle, including the special form of building smallpox palace and praying to eliminate diseases and disasters. According to legend, after the completion of the smallpox palace, it was very effective, so there was a scene of constant incense. Every year on April 20 of the lunar calendar, people from Jiangxi, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan and other places will gather at the Notre Dame temple in Meilin Village, Meilin town to catch up with the temple fair

It has been hundreds of years since the temple of Notre Dame was built. Even businessmen from Nanchang, Jiujiang, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, who are engaged in water trafficking in the Gongjiang and Ganjiang river basins, will come to the smallpox palace to burn incense, pray for blessings or lodge when it rains and the river rises sharply. Unfortunately, after the Cultural Revolution broke the superstition and the four old traditions, only the people around Ganxian County, such as Nankang, Xinfeng, Yudu, Xingguo, Zhanggong District of Ganzhou City and Suichuan, Wan'an, Taihe of Ji'an City, came to attend the temple fair.

In history, the smallpox palace has been repaired three times. The first renovation was in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty; the second renovation was in Bingchen year of the Republic of China (1916); the third renovation was in 2002 of the 21st century. In addition to the villagers in Meilin Town, there are also many voluntary donations from the villagers in Sifang. In addition to singing folk Tea Picking Opera, dragon lanterns are also played at the temple fair on April 20 of the lunar calendar. After the founding of new China, smallpox was eliminated, and the villagers changed the name of smallpox palace to Notre Dame temple to worship the "Yinxiao empress" who worked for the people.

Notre Dame temple is the revolutionary memorial and the Red Army command post. In March 1932, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Peng Dehuai and other proletarian revolutionaries of the older generation held a meeting here to study and formulate the battle plan for the fourth attack on Ganzhou City.

In recent years, with the continuous expansion of economic development and urbanization in Ganxian County, the traditional Hakka historical and cultural resources become more and more precious, and it is urgent to strengthen the protection. Therefore, the people's Government of Ganxian county and the people's Government of Meilin town attach great importance to the protection of Notre Dame temple, a non renewable and precious historical and cultural resource. They believe that Notre Dame temple has hundreds of years of history, carries the spirit of Hakka ancestors, inherits Hakka folk culture, and is related to major historical events, revolutionary movements or famous figures, which has important commemorative, educational or historical significance The value of historical materials is an important historical site, material object and representative building of Hakka culture. It is believed that "this temple has not been registered" is the dereliction of duty of the relevant government departments, which requires the relevant departments to enter the procedure in time and protect it immediately.

Now we see the Notre Dame temple is a conjoined building, divided into the front, middle and back three buildings, covering a total area of more than 700 square meters. There are still three thousand year old banyan trees and a pond on the site. The elderly association of Meilin Village, Meilin Town, Ganxian county is also located here.

Notre Dame temple in Fenyang

Also known as the temple after the closure. It is 2 kilometers northwest of Fenyang City. It was built in the Tang Dynasty and rebuilt in the 28th year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty (1549). There are two existing halls. Hall for the single eaves Xieshan style, hall full of murals, a total area of 59.49 square meters. There are three walls. The north wall is the foil of the statue of the virgin. The title of the painting "Yan Yue Tu" shows the life of the virgin's harem; the east wall is "Yingjia Tu", which shows the scene of the virgin's return to the palace; the west wall is "Xun Xing Tu", which reflects the scene of the virgin's return to the palace. The murals are painted with Meticulous Brushwork and gilded with powder. The picture is magnificent and there are many figures. Pavilions, pavilions, curved bridges, corridors and veranda are carefully arranged.

Notre Dame Temple

It is the largest Mazu temple in Taiwan. It is said that in 1661, Zheng Chenggong, a national hero of the Ming Dynasty, led 25, 000 soldiers and 350 warships across the Taiwan Strait, driving away the Dutch colonists who had occupied Taiwan for 38 years. It is said that when the ship arrived at luermen harbor, Mazu was a saint to help fight, so this Mazu temple was built in the harbor. After the victory of the war, Zheng Chenggong recruited many immigrants from Guangdong and Fujian to develop here. These immigrants regarded Mazu as their patron saint. Now the statue of Mazu in the temple is also from Meizhou, Fujian Province. Because of the strong incense, it is smoked black, so it is also known as "black smoke Mazu".

Notre Dame temple in Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province

Notre Dame Temple (the third batch of provincial protection)

Times: yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties

Address: Shangfeng village, nianzhang Town, Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province

Founded in Song Dynasty, it was repaired many times in yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Now only Notre Dame hall and Bagua Pavilion (incense Pavilion) are left.

Notre Dame hall was built in the third year of yuanyanyou (1316). It has three wide faces and two deep faces, and is suspended on the top of the mountain. All the columns are octagonal, with obvious curling of the column head, side angle and appendix protruding. In front of the eaves, the Dougong is spread on four sides, and the mouth is raised for the piano face. The beam frame is made of Luming. There are eight ridge shaped melon columns under which there are Heda, flat beams under which there are humps, low columns between the flat beams and the four rafters, and climbing Dougong between them. On the walls of the two mountains in the hall, there are painted sculptures and qionggong pavilions.

In the temple, three steles were preserved, namely, the first year of Yongchang (1644), the 25th year of Daoguang (1845) and the 9th year of Guangxu (1883).

Zetian Notre Dame Temple

The temple of Lady Zetian was built more than 1000 years ago to commemorate Wu Zetian.

Wu Zetian is the only female emperor in the history of China, and also a figure with different opinions from historians. Some focus on her achievements, saying that she helped Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty and reigned for several decades, inherited Zhenguan and enlightened Kaiyuan, ruling a dynasty into a powerful oriental country, which is called a "discerning and good judge" monarch; some focus on her "women's virtue", saying that she is a licentious historical figure with different reasons, and even today, she still has quite different evaluation. However, in Chinese history, this is the only queen who can enjoy such a great honor.

Wu Zetian, a native of Nanxu village, Wenshui County, Shanxi Province, was born in 623, the seventh year of Wude, Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, and died in 705, the first year of Shenlong, Emperor Zhongzong of the Tang Dynasty. She entered the palace at the age of 14 and became emperor at the age of 67. She was born in an official family. Her father was Li Yuan, the founder of the Tang Dynasty. She once served as the Minister of the military department and the governor of Jingzhou. Therefore, Wu Zetian was the governor's daughter when she was young.

The goddess temple is located in Nanxu village, 5 kilometers north of Wenshui County and the hometown of Wu Zetian. It is close to Luliang Mountain in the West and Wenyu River in the East. The temple covers an area of 26000 square meters. Seen from the central axis, it has mountain gate, statue, stage and main hall; the two wing halls have bell and Drum Tower, stele Gallery, side hall and side hall; on both sides of the statue are monument, Prince Shengxian Monument and octagonal echo Pavilion; the courtyard is covered with willows and flowers.

Although the scale of Zetian temple is small, the architecture of the remains is quite Tang Dynasty style, belonging to the national cultural relics protection unit. According to experts' research, the temple was originally built in the Tang Dynasty, no later than the Tianbao year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. It has been repaired many times in the later dynasties. The existing structure was rebuilt in 1145. Up to now, there are still some Tang tiles and bricks on the top of Zetian temple and the base of the shrine. The two thick gold pillars behind the shrine are still the original objects of the Tang Dynasty. These are precious cultural heritages. In the construction of the beam frame in the hall, the triangle combination and lever principle are used to disperse the pressure on the beam from the top, so the beam span is very large. After more than 800 years of bearing pressure, there is no bending. The whole building is rated as a masterpiece of the Tang and Song dynasties by experts. Echo Pavilion is a stone carved octagonal pavilion with double roofs, supported by eight stone pillars. The pavilion is made of 50 tons of sedimentary rock. A special sound reflection area is formed within one square meter in the center of the pavilion. Therefore, in the center of the pavilion, whether high fives or singing, there will be a loud echo, just like the echo wall of the temple of heaven in Beijing.

In the early Qing Dynasty, the goddess of Zetian was renamed jellyfish temple for two reasons: first, after the Song Dynasty until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the feudal rulers belittled Wu Zetian most, so the official changed the name of the temple to belittle her; second, Wu Zetian was related to water. There was a small river in the southeast of Nanxu village called Qinshui, which was formed from the deep well of Wu family. For thousands of years, it irrigated hundreds of hectares of farmland to benefit one side, Therefore, the local villagers call this well spring Shenfu spring, and think it is given by the goddess Zetian. But it's an old story. During the reign of Xuantong, the original name of the temple was restored.

For more than a thousand years, this temple of Lady Zetian has been famous in ancient and modern times. In 1985, Shanxi Province and Wenshui County renovated it and built a statue of Wu Zetian in front of the mountain gate. On the front of the statue stand was engraved with an inscription written by the late honorary president Song Qingling, which read "Wu Zetian is the only female emperor in Chinese history and an outstanding female politician in feudal times". This can also be regarded as a fair evaluation of Wu Zetian by contemporary great people.

Goddess of Heaven Temple

Chinese PinYin : Sheng Mu Miao