Phoenix Temple

Phoenix Temple

Fenghuang temple, located on Zhongshan Middle Road (Southern Song Yu Street), Shangcheng District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, covers an area of about 2600 square meters, with a building area of about 1370 square meters and a worship Hall of about 570 square meters. The temple has water rooms, mortuary rooms and other ancillary facilities. It is the main place for Islamic religious festivals and the worship center of Islam in Hangzhou.

Fenghuang temple, awarded the honorary title of "national model mosque" by China Islamic Association in January 2000 and listed as "China's key cultural relics protection unit" in 2001, is one of the four mosques of Islam in China and has become a famous tourist attraction in Hangzhou.

Historical origin

Fenghuang temple, also known as "Zhenjiao Temple", is located in Zhongshan Middle Road, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is one of the four ancient Islamic temples in China's coastal areas (the other three are Xianhe temple in Yangzhou, Qingjing temple in Quanzhou and Huaisheng temple in Guangzhou). It also enjoys high reputation in Arab countries. Phoenix Temple is the mosque, because the temple building structure is like Phoenix wings, so the name. The main hall in the temple is the oldest building.

There are no beams in the main hall. There are three Jianding on the top of the hall, which are relics of the Song Dynasty. The middle one is engraved with the Koran, which is said to have been set up when it was rebuilt in 1451.

There are also Arabic inscriptions such as the tombstone of laoding in the temple. As far back as the Five Dynasties, Hangzhou had friendly exchanges with Arab countries. Today, it is the worship center of Islam in Hangzhou.

It was built in Tang Dynasty

Fenghuang temple, with a long history, was founded in Tang Dynasty (618-907) and destroyed in Song Dynasty (960-1279).

In 1281, a famous Islamic figure, laoding, began to rebuild in the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it was expanded and rebuilt again in the period of 1451-1493, eventually forming the scale of Fenghuang temple complex.

In 1646, the Qing government ordered another reconstruction, becoming one of the largest mosques in China at that time.

Cultural relics protection

Fenghuang temple, which has been preserved since its overhaul in 1953, was listed as the "key cultural relics protection unit of Zhejiang Province" in 1961.

In 1929, due to the municipal construction, the temple gate and the five storey wooden moon tower on the top of the gate were demolished, which greatly damaged the complete image of Fenghuang temple. After that, the temple was rebuilt many times.

Layout structure

In Song Dynasty, it was called wenjinfang, commonly known as yangbatou port. Because of the Phoenix like layout of the original building complex, it was renamed in 1838. There are different opinions on the date when the temple was first built. According to the hangcustom legacy written in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty by yuan Zushu of the Northern Song Dynasty, "Huihui hall is located in wenjinfang, South Street, where Muslims gather to worship, so it is called a worship temple. Its hall stands on all sides, five or six feet high, with face-to-face color paintings, a mosque plaque, a round door in the middle, and a chicken cage roof on it. "

According to the West Lake Tour annals, Zhenjiao temple is located in the south of Wenjin square, between Yanyou and Huihui master a laoding. In 1670, the stele of Zhenjiao temple was rebuilt in the ninth year of Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty. It is recorded that "the temple was founded in the Tang Dynasty and destroyed in the Song Dynasty. In the year of Xinsi of the Yuan Dynasty, there was a master, a laoding, who came from the western regions and lived in Hangzhou. He paid a visit to the site and donated money with emotion. This is a new move. It shows that he worshipped Hong and built a veranda.

Historical records

According to records, the temple may have been built in the Tang and Song dynasties. It was rebuilt in the Yuan Dynasty and rebuilt in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 1929, due to the reconstruction of the road, the original five storey tower gate was demolished, which reduced the site of the temple. On June 25, 2001, Fenghuang temple, as an ancient building from Yuan Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, was approved by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit.

On December 17, 2014, with regard to the construction of a new mosque, the Municipal Planning Bureau, the Bureau of land and resources, and the Construction Commission selected 20 mu (1 / 15 hectare per mu, the same below) of land in Jianggan District, of which 10 mu was allocated for the construction of a Mosque by administrative allocation, 10 mu was used for the construction of a national hotel by public bidding and auction, and the funds from the auction were returned for the construction of a mosque.

tourist attraction

The ethnic hotel should integrate tourism, accommodation, Muslim food, etc. as a reception and Service Center for Chinese and foreign Muslims, and form a multi-functional landmark with strong Islamic style, such as tourism reception, religious activities, foreign exchanges, etc., so as to meet the needs of Muslim people to live a religious life. At the same time, it should also consider solving the self-supporting problem of Islamic Association, and carry out the reform The party's ethnic policy and freedom of religious belief policy have attracted entrepreneurs from Islamic countries to invest, do business and study tourism in Hangzhou.

Main buildings

Phoenix Temple in Hangzhou is as famous as Xianhe temple in Yangzhou, Huaisheng temple in Guangzhou and Qingjing temple in Quanzhou. It combines the characteristics of Chinese and Arabic culture with traditional architectural style. The overall layout of Phoenix Temple is built in accordance with Islamic doctrine. The main buildings face Mecca and are arranged on the east-west axis. The architectural style of the main hall has the unique elegance and simplicity in the south of the Yangtze River, which is one of the most popular buildings in Phoenix Temple Old buildings.

The temple is surrounded by tall brick walls. The main buildings in the temple are hall, auditorium and main hall. The main hall is the main building of the whole temple, which was built in the Yuan Dynasty. It is connected by three domes and grows into a square brick structure without beams. The appearance of the hall is made into three cusps, with double eaves and octagons in the middle and single eaves and hexagons on both sides. It is the product of the integration of Chinese and Western architectural culture. The interior is connected by a round arch, and the upper corner of the four corners of the inner wall is made of water chestnut teeth. The color paintings inside the hall are relics of the Ming Dynasty, and the exterior walls are painted white. There are several ancient steles in the stele Gallery of the temple, and the inscriptions record the maintenance of Fenghuang temple in the past dynasties.

The scale

The temple covers an area of about 2600 square meters, with a construction area of 2203 square meters. According to the identification of Chinese architects, the middle group was built in the Song Dynasty, and the other two groups were added in the Yuan Dynasty, and then rebuilt according to the prototype in the Ming Dynasty. It's all made of bricks, with water caltrop teeth at the upper corner of the four walls folded and contracted. It's covered with a hemispherical vault without beam frame, so it's called "no beam hall".

The middle of the hall is 28.15 meters wide and is divided into three rooms by arched gate. Each room has a hemispherical dome. The dome has three Chinese style cusps, with octagonal double eaves in the middle and hexagonal single eaves in the north and south, with tubular tile slab ridges and warped wings. In the hall, the worship facing wall is built with concave wall. The wall is decorated with exquisite Ming Dynasty wood carvings and engraved with the exquisite calligraphy of the Koran. Red lacquer and gold are magnificent.

On the back wall of the hall, there are four "jingxiangtai" made of green sand and stone. On both sides are carved bamboo watchposts. Flowers and plants are engraved on the waist. The composition is refined and the sabre technique is powerful. It should be a relic of the Yuan Dynasty. In the middle of the hall is a wooden "Sutra letter", carved in Arabic, with exquisite craftsmanship. It may have been set in the second year of the Ming Dynasty (1451) when it was rebuilt. It is a treasure of Islamic Art in China. Enter the main entrance and pass through the hall, which was newly built in 1953. In the north wall of the temple, there are 24 steles in Arabic and Persian, as well as the steles of Yongle, Hongzhi, Shunzhi and Kangxi.

The temple is characterized by the combination of Islamic and Chinese architectural styles, which is a historical witness of cultural exchanges between China and Arab countries.

Cultural relic value

In the main hall of Fenghuang temple, there is a tombstone of laoding inscribed in Arabic. In the three rooms at the bottom of the back wall, there are treasures of Islamic art, including "Sutra incense platform" made of green sandstone, bamboo watchpost, waist carved flowers and plants, wooden "Sutra letter" and other special crafts. On the top of the hall, there are three octagonal remains of the Song Dynasty, one of which is engraved with "Koran" According to legend, it is a cultural relic left in the second year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty. The stone carving platform and pillar base stone in Fenghuang temple are also identified as relics of the Song Dynasty by the cultural relics department, which has profound historical value.

Cultural relics protection

The Municipal Bureau of garden culture has included the protection of Fenghuang temple in the cultural relics protection plan, helping the municipal Islamic Association to do a good job in planning, construction and protection

. Fenghuang temple, as a cultural tourist attraction in Hangzhou, no longer holds daily religious activities except major Muslim festivals and VIP reception activities at home and abroad.

Cultural heritage

There are many cultural relics and works of art in the temple, including wooden "scripture letters" and some inscriptions.

Tour route

Fenghuang temple covers an area of 2600 square meters, including hall, auditorium, worship hall, etc. Among them, the worship hall was a beamless building in the Yuan Dynasty.

Address: Chashan Township, Pingqiao District, Xinyang City

Longitude: 113.934975

Latitude: 32.41421

Chinese PinYin : Feng Huang Si