Goddess Temple

Goddess Temple

Niangniang Temple is located in Miaoshang village, Lanshan street, northwest of Linyi City, Shandong Province. It was rebuilt in the Jingde period of the Northern Song Dynasty and the 36th year of the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (1697).

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Panorama

Linyi, Shandong

The temple is 10.6 meters long and 9.4 meters wide. It has a Xieshan style roof with animals on it. It was destroyed in the "Cultural Revolution". There are three halls and front porches with one light and two dark.

The gate of the temple faces east and is intended for the Dragon girl to see the sea. In front of the temple, there were Liuyi temple, Guandi temple, bell tower, stage and other buildings. Now there is only one ancient ginkgo tree with a trunk circumference of 8.2 meters. It is listed as a municipal cultural relic protection unit.

Chengdu, Sichuan

brief introduction

The ancient Niangniang Temple on ximadao street behind Manjusri temple in Chengdu, Sichuan, is said to be Liu Bei's family temple. Sun Zhixing, an old man who has lived there for 80 years, became a monk here when he was seven years old. In her life, she witnessed the bustling scene of "joy God meeting" on March 3 in Old Chengdu and the destruction of Niangniang Temple during the cultural revolution. When it comes to the old temples and folk activities that have disappeared, sun Zhixing talks a lot

Eighty years ago, an ordinary peasant woman in Jianyang made a wish to the kitchen god to let her daughter become a monk. Sun Zhixing, seven and a half years old, came to the ancient Niangniang Temple in ximadao street of Chengdu and became a little Taoist. Under the guidance of master Xu Yuande, young sun Zhixing soon became familiar with this big place with nearly 30 halls, such as Sanqing main hall, ancestral hall, Zhenwu hall, Guanyin hall and huangjinlou. She shuttled through the halls every day, arranging offerings and cleaning. What she was most interested in was the two vivid statues of empress carved in the temple with high-quality ginkgo wood, and many people came to worship them. Some pilgrims said to her that it was a statue of the empress for her son. But how could there be two maidens? Sun Zhixing was puzzled by where these two maidens came from.

Joy Club

The life in the temple is always worshiping gods and chanting sutras. It is monotonous and boring. On weekdays, only some pilgrims come. What sun Zhixing looks forward to most is the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar. It is said that this day is the birthday of the empress who gives birth to her son. People in Chengdu will go to the ancient empress temple, Yanqing temple and other temples to play and participate in the bustling Festival.

As for the grand occasion of the ancient Niangniang Temple on this day, Fu Chongju of the Qing Dynasty has long recorded in "Chengdu Tour": "use wood carvings of four or five inch long boys and girls to throw them in front of the temple and wait for others to fight for them...." Speaking of the situation at that time, old sun Zhixing was very happy. She said that this was the most interesting and lively scene she had ever seen in her life. As she drew her thin arms, she talked about it vividly.

The most interesting thing on the day of the joy club was robbing children. The head of the meeting (the person who paid for the event) prepared a lot of wood carving children in advance and threw them to the people crowded outside the hall. It is said that whoever grabs the boy will get the child, continue the incense, and make people prosperous. Those women who want to have children but have not been able to do so, often three or four women fight for a boy, you twist my arm, I press your head, no one is willing to let go, make everyone blush, hair disheveled, even if they fall to the ground, they will never stop, make the crowd laugh.

hang lamp

The streets near the temple are also crowded. This is often the world of young people. They stretch their necks and wait for the exciting "hanging lamp" and "chicken foot God" to appear. After a while, the man with the lamp appeared. Each of them was bare, and they used fine iron to go through the skin of their arms, back and chest, and hung oil lamps. They struggled with the pain and walked slowly down the street, their forehead covered with sweat. The people who hang the most lamps have at least ten or twenty burning oil lamps all over their bodies. It is said that it is to pray to God. Sun Zhixing was stunned for a long time by such a terrible scene. Later, she learned that these people who dare to "hang up the lights" are paoge and their subordinates from Chengdu docks.

Chicken feet

Compared with hanging lamp, chicken feet is much more interesting. "Chicken foot God" is actually a person who steps on stilts, dressed up as impermanence or monster, to entertain people. "Chicken feet God" has a long blood red false tongue on his mouth, iron shackles on his feet, and plays a strange look to catch people everywhere. The onlookers pretend to be afraid and flee everywhere. Sun Zhixing said that it's the same every year. There's nothing new. Only once is the most special. At that time, the artist dressed up as "chicken foot God" spent a lot of time, and the long false tongue was actually made of a whole piece of fat intestines. He put all the fat farm in his mouth, and when he got to the place where there were many people, he vomited it out, which scared some children to cry on the spot. The only inconvenience is that every time he spits out, he has to have a helper to help him put the fat intestines back in his mouth. And the iron shackles on his feet are also unusual, which make a "whoosh" sound. Because of this dedicated artist, the parade was in high spirits that year. They walked from ximadao street to qinglongchang with "chicken feet God" and just returned. After the festival, the artist took a rest in the ancient Niangniang Temple and poured bitter water on Sun Zhixing: "after walking so far with iron shackles, his feet are swollen!"

Popular

Before 1949, the "joy God Festival" on March 3 had always been a folk festival familiar to Chengdu citizens. Programs such as "robbing children", "hanging lanterns" and "chicken feet God" were almost the same in all temples in Chengdu. However, there was a folk custom only in the ancient Niangniang Temple, that is "sending Niangniang to get married". Sun Zhixing said that on the day of the "joy God meeting", people lifted the two empresses from the altar, bathed them with clean water and put on beautiful clothes. After dressing up, they marched on the streets in sedan chairs to show that they were married. This is a very special and strange folk custom.

At first, sun Zhixing did not understand the origin of this custom, so she asked master Xu Yuande. The master told her that the ancient Niangniang Temple was originally the family temple of Liu Bei, the emperor of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period. After Liu Bei's death, the Wei army attacked Shu. Liu Chan, the later leader, was so scared that he ordered to surrender. Liu Chen, Liu Bei's grandson, wanted to fight to the death, but he didn't get permission. Liu Chen came to the temple and cried to Liu Bei. Then he killed his two concubines. He ran to the tomb of Hui in the south of Chengdu and killed himself. Sun Zhixing then realized that the two beautiful statues of empress worshipped in the temple were not the empress who gave birth to her son, but the two concubines Liu Chen who died for the country.

In fact, sun Zhixing's words came from his predecessors. There is no direct evidence whether the ancient Niangniang Temple is Liu Bei's family temple or not. However, Wang Jiayou and other scholars have made textual research on the ancient Niangniang Temple: Liu Bei is located in the south of Wudan mountain in Chengdu, which is near today's Shuqian street. The ancient Niangniang Temple is located in the east of Wudan mountain, which is probably Liu Bei's family temple. According to historical records, it was in the family temple that Liu Chen killed his concubine. So later generations use the strange folk custom of sending their wives to get married to miss the two concubines.

Get back up

One day in 1937, sun Zhixing was busy working in the hall when he heard some birds flying from the eaves, screaming and hitting her. She knew immediately that something had happened to the master. These javanica sparrows are the friends of the master. The master has a big iron bucket full of peanuts and peanuts. The group of javanica sparrows often stand on the shoulder of the master and pull his ears with their mouths to ask for food. It's very human. Sun Zhixing rushed to the master, who had emerged. Soon after, those converted disciples also came in a hurry. It turned out that the javanica sparrows had already flown to each disciple's home and reported the letter in the same way. The emergence of the master means that the only man in the ancient Niangniang Temple is no longer there. The burden of guarding the temple falls on Sun Zhixing and her master Peng Mingzhen, two weak women. The ancient Niangniang Temple also begins to have a bad fate.

After 1949, the ancient Niangniang Temple, once surrounded by incense, became a bustling courtyard. Dozens of families moved in one after another and lived in more than 20 halls of the ancient Niangniang Temple. In the past, the temple surrounded by incense became a place for people to wash clothes, eat meals and play mahjong. The broadest main hall has also become the workshop of the No.1 weaving factory run by the street. The workers set up their looms here, and the production is going on all over the world. In the face of this situation, although sun Zhixing did not give up, he had to leave the temple where he had lived for more than 20 years and return to Jianyang home. Her master also left the temple. It was not until 1953 that sun Zhixing returned to the ancient Niangniang Temple. At this time, the temples in the temple were dilapidated due to years of disrepair, and the scenery was not as good as before. Sun Zhixing was very sad when he looked at the peeling red paint pillars and the lost color statues. But she did not expect that a greater disaster was coming.

During the special period of the cultural revolution, the temples in Chengdu were doomed, and the ancient Niangniang Temple was no exception. The statues worshipped by people in the past were removed from the altar and smashed into pieces. Referring to this matter, sun Zhixing just shook his head, "it's a pity that those two ladies are so beautiful and broken. Not to mention the statue of empress carved in wood, even the statue of jade emperor and the statue of Qiu Zu made of copper, which are so hard and heavy, more than 40 kg and more than 30 kg each, have been smashed into pieces. "

Seeing the temple destroyed, there are no gods, sun

Chinese PinYin : Niang Niang Miao