Aoshan ancient temples

Aoshan ancient temples

Aoshan ancient temples

It is located in Sanshan village, Shawan Town, Panyu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. Behind the Temple group is Aoshan, a group of distinctive ancient temples. The buildings are neat and the appearance is magnificent. Because the central main temple worships Guanyin, the local people call it Guanyin temple. Aoshan ancient temples were built in the Ming Dynasty. According to the inscriptions in the temples, they were rebuilt twice during the reign of Daoguang and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. In 2012, the Guangzhou municipal government invested in the renovation, making the ancient buildings take on a new look.

Aoshan ancient Temple group is a typical Lingnan style ancient building, and its saddle fire wall is rare, with high historical value.

Composition of Aoshan ancient Temple Group

Aoshan ancient temples

It covers an area of 557.7 square meters, with Aoshan in the West and the main gate in the East. In front of the temple are the vast pingtian and Dazhou sea. From north to south, the temple groups are in the order of "Shennong ancient temple, Xianshi ancient temple, Aoshan ancient temple, Baoen temple and Chaoyin Pavilion", so it is called "ancient Temple group".

Aoshan ancient temple is the largest one in the Temple group, because the temple is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva, which is commonly known as Guanyin Temple by local people. Aoshan ancient temple is made of green brick, white stone foot, grey ridge, saddle style gable and wooden frame structure. On the gate of the temple, there are four big characters "Aoshan ancient temple" engraved on the white stone forehead, which are in regular script and filled with blue stone. On the stone couplets on both sides of the gate, a couplet in willow style is engraved in the shade: "Aoyang will always build a fragrant lamp house, and mirage will ring the water moon platform", which indicates that the temple is in the Yang of Aoshan mountain, facing the sea of continents, and the platform is called the water moon platform. In the temple, there were two stone bottom pools in front of and behind, where a few big turtles were kept. But now the back seat has been removed, and there are no pools or turtles. The temple was once used as the residence of the township government, then moved out and rebuilt in 1986.

Sheji temple, commonly known as "shegong", is on the left side of Aoshan temple, with a total width of 3.52 meters and a total depth of 13.90 meters. There is a stone forehead on the top of the door, and the word "sheji" is engraved on it. The door is now sealed. Inside the door is a patio. After the Ming Dynasty, there is a divine platform, which has been demolished and turned into a kitchen.

Xianshi ancient temple is commonly known as "Luban Temple". There is no door in the front, only a large square window is opened. The front is the hall, and the middle is the rolling shed roof corridor. There is a door leading to the entrance and exit of "Shedao". The latter is the main hall with a hard top structure. On the top of the gate, there are four characters "Xianshi ancient temple" engraved in the stone. Many statues holding rules, moments, axes and rulers, such as Lu Ban, were originally worshipped in the hall, but now they have been removed. Because most of the residents in Sanshan village had been engaged in the construction industry, the Luban temple was built. This temple used to be the office of the township government, but now it has moved out.

Shennong temple is on the left side of Xianshi temple, separated by a fire lane. In front of the gate is a square pavilion with an area of about 19 square meters. It is supported by four square white stone pillars with carved wooden beams. The stone pillars are about 7 meters high. On the top of the stone pillars are engraved couplets, such as "special books on farming, twenty volumes of Art and literature records in Han Dynasty; the fragrance is long in ancient times, and it has made great achievements in agriculture for thousands of years". The couplets are inscribed with the names of "Guangxu bingshen (1896) Zhongdong Jidan" and "he laishe and so on". The temple is connected with the eaves of the Square Pavilion, and is a gable with green bricks, white stones and grey ridges, with a hard top. "Shennong ancient temple" is carved on the stone forehead of Toumen. On the lintel, there are several paintings of flowers and birds, landscapes and figures, which are very exquisite. Among them, the longest one in the central part of the painting is titled "peach and plum garden on a spring night banquet" in seal script, drawing 10 characters of different sizes according to Li Bai's preface to peach and plum garden on a spring night banquet.

Baoen temple is a special temple in memory of the governor Wang lairen in the early Qing Dynasty. Wang Lai, who was in office, spared no effort to explain the malpractice of moving to the sea, advocated lifting the ban and restoring the people, asking for their orders, and the people built this special temple for gratitude. The temple was built in the reign of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty. After several times of renovation. The main entrance of the temple is inscribed with the words "Memorial Hall of gratitude" on the stone forehead. Under the eaves, there are more exquisite murals. The top of the mountain is hard with a gray ridge. The front and back of the temple go into the middle of a patio, which is now used as a storage room.

Baoen temple, Aoshan ancient temple and sheji temple are a group, which are built on a platform with a height of 1.56 meters. The red stone of the platform is the wall, the white stone is the surface, and the plane is in an inverted "convex" shape. The protruding part of the "convex" shape is a "gold" shape white stone platform, with 11 steps on the left and right, and climbing the "gold" shape stone steps is the main entrance. Standing on the platform, there are two white stone pillars on the left and right, with a small stone lion carved on its head. The South pillar is engraved with "Yihai, the first year of Guangxu (1875)", and the North pillar is engraved with "muenqixuantang Jingsong", recording the time of the temple's reconstruction. The front, left and right sides of the platform are surrounded by white stone railings, covering an area of about 100 square meters.

Like the ancient temples in Aoshan

This kind of "group Temple group" is very rare in the world, especially the Luban temple and Shennong temple, which are not comparable to ordinary temples of Buddhism and Taoism. Take Guanyin Temple as an example. It is the God of the South China Sea and full of local color. The architectural layout and mural art of the Temple group represent the Lingnan culture and art at that time.

Architectural features: saddle fire wall

The Aoshan ancient temples, with a total width of 43.80 meters and a total depth of 19.30 meters, face the East and face the West with three entrances. The buildings of the temples cover an area of about 2240.30 square meters. From north to south, there are five temples, namely Baoen temple, Aoshan temple, sheji temple, Xianshi temple and Shennong temple. It is a unique group of ancient temples. The building materials and style of the Temple group are Lingnan buildings in Qing Dynasty. The building is neat and magnificent in appearance.

During the construction period of Aoshan ancient Temple group, most temple buildings in Guangdong were built according to the style of Foshan ancestral temple, and the internal structure of Aoshan ancient Temple group was basically constituted according to this. The difference lies in the design of the fire sealing wall. Foshan ancestral temple adopts the wok ear house type fire sealing wall, which is representative of Lingnan architecture, while Aoshan ancient temples adopt the saddle type fire sealing wall.

Atlas of Aoshan ancient temples (1 sheet)

Atlas of Aoshan ancient temples (1 sheet)

With the development of history, there are few buildings with fire walls in the south of the five ridges, except Fengning temple in Shiwan Town, Foshan City and pan clan ancestral hall in Shixiang village, duyang Town, yunfuyun city.

Cultural relics protection

Aoshan ancient temples were built in the Ming Dynasty. According to the inscriptions in the temples, they were rebuilt twice during the reign of Daoguang and Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty.

In 2000, it was announced as Guangzhou internal control historical and cultural reserve;

In July 2002, it was announced as a cultural relic protection unit in Guangzhou.

In 2012, the Guangzhou municipal government invested in the renovation, making the ancient buildings take on a new look.

Address: Sanshan village and Zini village, Shawan Town, Panyu District, Guangzhou

Longitude: 113.29571084656

Latitude: 22.892960016899

Ticket information: free.

Chinese PinYin : Ao Shan Gu Miao Qun