Guan Tianpei Temple

Guan Tianpei Temple

Guan Zhongjie ancestral hall, a simple and solemn ancestral hall, was built to commemorate general Guan Tianpei who died for his country in the Opium War.

Life of the characters

Guan Tianpei, named Zhongyin and zipu, was born in Shanyang County of Huai'an prefecture (now Huai'an District) in 1781. As a child, he didn't study much because of his poor family. He was admitted to Wu Xiangsheng in 1803. Later he joined the army.

After he became a soldier, he was promoted step by step because he was young and strong, knew combat skills, and was good at leading soldiers to fight. In 1834, he was appointed commander of Guangdong Navy.

During his six-year term in office, he made Guangdong's coastal defense a solid one with a whole bunch of military discipline and elaborate defense.

After Lin Zexu went to Guangdong to ban smoking, Guan Tianpei actively cooperated with Lin Zexu in collecting and destroying British Opium.

In November 1839, the British Invaders provoked a sea battle in the nose piercing ocean. About half a month later, they fought six times. Guan Tianpei took the lead in fighting the well-equipped British Invaders.

In the subsequent war, Guan Tianpei, with the cooperation of the boat people and fishermen, repeatedly created the British army, greatly increased the ambition of the Chinese people, and greatly destroyed the prestige of the aggressors. Later, because of the corruption of the Qing government, Lin Zexu was framed and dismissed.

After taking over Lin Zexu's post, Qi Shan betrayed his country to seek honor and destroyed all the army and coastal defense facilities that Guan Tianpei had worked hard to manage.

On February 25, 1841, the British took advantage of the rising tide and launched an attack. Guan Tianpei led his troops to fight to the death when he was isolated and helpless. He personally operated the artillery and angrily killed the thieves. He "suffered dozens of injuries" and "was dripping with blood and his armor was all wet". Guan Tianpei, the commander of Guangdong Navy, was equivalent to the commander of the South China Sea fleet.

With only a few hundred defenders, Guan Tianpei was determined to defend his position in the desperate situation. The British commander sent an ultimatum to Guan Tianpei to give up the fort in Humen, which Guan Tianpei ignored.

Finally, the British launched a fierce attack on the Qing army, and Guan Tianpei resisted. Before the sacrifice, Guan tianpeite sent sun Changqing, a member of the local committee, to return his official seal of Guangdong navy commander to the provincial capital. Sun Changqing lingered for a long time and couldn't bear to leave. When he got to the middle of the mountain, he saw that the enemy artillery had hit Guan Tianpei.

When Guan Tianpei's body was finally found, half of his body was charred by gunfire. His relatives and sun Changqing escorted his remains back to dongnanyao village in Huai'an district and buried them. On the day of burial, "hundreds of literati and bureaucrats were seen off in white robes, and onlookers were crying.". The ancestral hall was built to worship it.

Jianci

Hearing the news, Emperor Daoguang also felt that he had lost one of his generals. In May 1841, Emperor Daoguang made a memorial to Guan Tianpei. In addition, Guan Tianpei was given the posthumous title of Zhongjie, and was worshipped in Zhaozong Temple (located in Chongwen gate of Beijing, where he was worshipped as a minister of generals). Later, a special temple was built in Humen to worship Guan Tianpei, which was "buried as a rite".

In 1846 (the 26th year of Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty), the son of zhongjiegong built the "guanzhongjie ancestral hall" in the East Street of Xianxian county with the pension from the imperial court and the funds raised from the family, relatives and relevant departments in accordance with the will of his grandmother, Mrs. Wu Tai, to offer sacrifices to the national hero Guan Tianpei.

Architectural pattern

The gate of guanzhongjie ancestral hall faces south. Opposite the gate was Zhaobi. There is an open space in the south of Zhaobi, which is a place for temporary parking of sedans and horses for officials worshiping Zhongjie. The original hall is composed of three rooms with stalagmites on both sides and a lion's head on the door.

There is a fence in the middle of the hall, and the two sides are the Deacon Board of zhongjiegong. The worshippers entered the ancestral hall from both sides of the wooden fence.

On the South eaves of the hall, there are three plaques, one in the middle of which is "Shizhong Festival", the other on the left is "Chifeng Zhenwei general", and the other on the right is "fafuling abatulu" (a Manchu name for heroes) in October 1839. In the courtyard, there are six wing rooms in the west, three wing rooms in the East and two kitchens. There is a side door on the east side of the hall, from which people usually go in and out.

In the north of the ancestral hall courtyard are three main halls. In the middle of the hall is a six foot high altar. On the altar is a blue gauze cabinet made of Phoebe. Inside is a statue of Guan Tianpei's official costume, which is full of vitality, awe inspiring and lifelike.

On both sides are statues of two attendants, one holding a sword and the other holding a Book of war.

On the beam above the statue is a plaque inscribed with the words "sacrifice for the country" in 1841.

Hanging on both sides of Shentai, Lin Zexu was devastated by the news of Guan Tianpei's death. He wrote a pair of elegiac couplets in anger

Six years of Gujin soup, asked who suddenly damaged the Great Wall, lonely note empty teach bow exhausted;

Both of them are loyal to each other. When they hear about the strange things, they also celebrate the grand festival and return to their souls.

Lianyu is full of tears and complaints, but it is also very sharp. The spearhead is aimed at a group of traitors such as Qishan.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble and even cause trouble, Zhou Muzhai, a great calligrapher in Huai'an, was asked to change "who" to "when" when he wrote the couplet again. Lin Zexu's elegiac couplet, which is now hanging in Guan temple, is the revised one. During the period of the Republic of China, Zhou Fohai, former director of the Education Department of Jiangsu Province of the Kuomintang, also made a plaque hanging on the two beams above the statue, with the word "Wei Zhen Hua Yi" written on it.

Address: huailou East Road, Huaian District, Huai'an City, Jiangsu Province

Longitude: 119.14692687988

Latitude: 33.504177093506

Ticket information: market price: 5.0 yuan

Chinese PinYin : Guan Tian Pei Ci