Jinghai Temple

Jinghai temple, located at the foot of lion mountain in the northwest of Nanjing City, was built in the early years of Yongle in Ming Dynasty. In order to honor Zheng He's seven voyages to the West and pray for the protection of the sea god, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, built the Jinghai temple for the arhat portraits, Buddha's teeth, jade toys and other objects brought back by Zheng He from foreign lands, as well as the living plants with exotic flowers and trees.

It is adjacent to Shizishan in the north, Tianfei palace in the East and moat in the west, covering an area of about 20000 square meters. There are more than 80 buildings, including Daxiong hall, Tianwang, zhengfo, Guanyin, Jialan, lunzang, Maitreya, zushi, Chaoyin Pavilion, bell tower, Jingting, Huayan tower, Wanxian Pavilion, etc. It is a famous temple in Jinling. Zheng He lived here in his later years.

Jinghai Temple

Jinghai temple is located outside Yifeng gate, Gulou District, Nanjing city. It is adjacent to Shizishan in the north, Tianfei palace in the East and moat in the West. It is a royal temple built by Zhu Di, the founder of Ming Dynasty, to praise Zheng He's navigation merits. It is one of the top ten law temples of Ming Dynasty. It is an important historical relic of China's Maritime Silk Road and Zheng He's going to the Western Ocean. It has been listed as China's patriotism education base with 48 scenes of new Jinling one of.

The name of the temple takes the meaning of "the world is peaceful and the world is peaceful". In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the temple was large-scale, with numerous temples and magnificent momentum. It was known as "the crown of Jinling law Temple" and "the top of Jinling eight temples". It was built to worship the arhat portraits, Buddha's teeth, jade toys and other objects brought back by Zheng He from a foreign land, as well as the living plants of exotic flowers and trees. Jinghai temple has been damaged by wars for many times. It has been repaired in all dynasties, and the expansion has finally become the present system.

On August 29th, 1842, the place where the Treaty of Nanjing was negotiated between China and Britain was the beginning of modern Chinese history.

In November 2012, Nanjing Jinghai temple, as one of the heritage sites of China's Maritime Silk Road project, was included in the preparatory list of China's world cultural heritage.

Historical evolution

In the ninth year of Yongle (1411) of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, made great contributions to "overseas Pingfu" for Zhang Zhao and Zheng Heyang. At the same time, he built Jinghai temple for worshiping the arhat portraits, Buddha teeth and jade toys brought back by Zheng He, planting rare tree species such as Xifu Begonia. (on the other hand, it is believed that Jinghai temple was built by Emperor Renzong of Ming Dynasty in the first year of Hongxi when Zheng He was guarding Nanjing, and was named "Jinghai" for the sake of "emperor zhaotaizong's virtue", because Zhu Di "ordered Zheng He to sail". As for the theory of "Chengzu Chijian", Yan Zhong thinks that it was caused by some local chroniclers' misunderstanding of the previous local chronicles since the late Qing Dynasty. Chengzu of Ming Dynasty died in 1424 after Zheng He returned from his six voyages to the West. After Zhu gaochi, the emperor of Ming Dynasty, succeeded to the throne, he did not seem as enthusiastic about sending ships to sea as his ancestor, so Zheng He was appointed as the garrison of Nanjing. Whether or not Jinghai temple was built at this time, Zheng He lives in Jinghai temple at this time.)

At the beginning of its construction, Jinghai temple was large-scale, with the main hall and the palaces of heavenly king, zhengfo, Guanyin, Jialan, lunzang, Maitreya, zushi, etc., surrounded by the bell tower, Jingting, Guanyin Pavilion, Huayan tower, Wanxian Pavilion, sanshuyan and other buildings and landscapes, together with the Abbot's room and monk's room, covering an area of more than 20000 square meters. Li Shizhen compiled compendium of Materia Medica and traveled around the world during the Jiajing and Longqing periods of the Ming Dynasty (the middle of the 16th century). He once inspected overseas medicinal materials, such as frankincense, myrrh, dragon's blood, in Jinghai temple. Jinghai temple, known as the "crown of Jinling law Temple", is famous in history at this time.

During the reign of Zhengde, Wanli and Qianlong of the Ming Dynasty, it was rebuilt three times because of the damage caused by old beetles. According to records, after the restoration in Zhengde period, Jinghai temple had four halls, six halls, four pavilions, as well as Abbot's rooms, buildings, pavilions and galleries.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jinghai temple had a large scale, known as "the crown of Jinling law Temple" and "the top of Jinling eight temples". Jinghai Temple once worshipped a bronze tripod cast by Zheng He in the first year of Hongxi to commemorate the six voyages to the West in Yongle period. The tripod was still worshipped in the temple during the reign of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty. There was a statue of Zheng He in Jinghai temple, which still existed in Xianfeng and Tongzhi years of Qing Dynasty.

In February of 1832, Jinghai temple was destroyed by fire, leaving only the Tianwang hall in Shanmen, which was rebuilt later.

In June of the 20th year of Daoguang (1840) in the Qing Dynasty, Britain launched a war of aggression against China, known as the Opium War.

In 1842, when the British invaded Nanjing, the Qing government was forced to negotiate a treaty with the British government in Jinghai temple. The two sides discussed the treaty four times. On August 29 of the same year, the first unequal Sino British "Nanjing Treaty" in modern Chinese history was officially signed on the British flagship "kanghuali". Therefore, Jinghai Temple became the symbol of the starting point of modern Chinese history.

During the Xianfeng Period of the Qing Dynasty and the Japanese occupation of Nanjing in 1937, the main hall was destroyed, leaving only a pile of broken walls and a few dilapidated monk rooms. After liberation, only a few side halls were left.

In 1986, in order to preserve the historic site, Nanjing Municipal People's government decided to rebuild it in the style of Ming Temple. The temple and main hall were built on the ruins, and the monk's house was restored, covering an area of 628 square meters. The reconstruction project was designed by Professor Pan Guxi, an expert in ancient architecture of Southeast University.

In 1990, it was opened as the historical materials exhibition hall of the Treaty of Nanjing.

In 1992, it was listed as a cultural relic protection unit in Nanjing, and later became a patriotic education base. The contents of the exhibition hall are divided into three parts: "smoke of gunpowder moved northward, invaders entered the Yangtze River"; "peace negotiation, humiliating the country"; "vicissitudes of a hundred years, do not forget the national humiliation", recording the history of the Opium War. A total of 173 pictures, historical materials, photos and objects are displayed in the exhibition room. The exhibition line is 50 meters long, including the photos of treaty signing and the full text of Nanjing Treaty.

In 1996, on the first anniversary of the return of Hong Kong, in order to welcome the return of Hong Kong, people from all walks of life in Nanjing held commemorative activities in Jinghai temple one after another to wash away the humiliation of a century and celebrate the glorious future. A countdown sign was erected in front of Jinghai temple to mark the resumption of the exercise of sovereignty by the Chinese government over Hong Kong.

In November 1996, the people's governments of Jiangsu Province and Nanjing invested 3.05 million yuan to make the total floor area of the exhibition hall reach 1010 square meters. The total building area of Jinghai temple was expanded to 2800 square meters. There are five main and auxiliary exhibition halls behind the existing side hall, and a group of three storey Ming and Qing style buildings were built. The overall building has Jiangnan garden style, simple and elegant. It also produced the model of the "kanghuali" warship, sand table, wax figure, etc., which was the signing place of the treaty. It enriched the exhibition of historical materials of the "Nanjing Treaty" by means of sound, light and electricity. It also displayed more than 1050 unequal treaties that China was forced to sign between 1842 and 1949. Around the temple, the huiguting Pavilion is used to connect the Southern Song Dynasty historic site beside the original temple - "sansuya" left by Yu Yunwen, a famous anti Jin general, and the "Tianfei palace monument", one of the only two Ming Dynasty monuments left in Nanjing, which is beside the original temple. The monument is set up as Zheng He memorial hall, and the Yuejiang tower in Shizishan behind the temple is connected with it, which makes the Jinghai Temple more concentrated. Professor Pan Gusi is still in charge of the expansion work. On July 1, 1997, Jinghai temple will welcome the return of Hong Kong with a new look.

In 1997, it was rated as one of the 100 patriotic education demonstration bases in China. There are "sansuyan", "Tianfei palace stele", bronze mirror "Shijian" and warning bell in the courtyard.

Main attractions

Tianfei palace stele

Located in Jinghai temple, Gulou District, Nanjing City, the full name of the stele of Tianfei palace is "imperial Hongren Puji stele of Tianfei Palace". The stele is 5.48 meters high, 1.5 meters wide and 0.5 meters thick. It bears Guifu below, and is engraved with dragon, seal script and block letters.

Tianfei palace stele is the only imperial stele written by the Emperor himself, and it is also the largest extant stone carving of Zheng He's voyages to the West in China, with high cultural value. It is not only the only cultural relic left by the imperial concubine palace in Nanjing in Ming Dynasty, but also one of the Ming Dynasty inscriptions that directly reflect Zheng He's voyages to the west, which is of great value to the study of Zheng He. As early as 1957, the stele was designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Jiangsu Province (national second-class cultural relic), and its value can be seen. One of the steles on display in Tianfei palace is a replica, while the original stele is placed in the backyard of Jinghai temple with a glass cover and half sealed.

A wake-up call

The newly cast alarm clock embodies the feelings and painstaking efforts of the people of Nanjing. The shape of the bell is calm and dignified, the color is simple, and the height of the main body is 1.842 meters, which symbolizes that Hong Kong was cut and occupied by the powers in 1842. The top of the clock is a "fireball" with a height of 7.1 cm, which symbolizes Hong Kong's return to the motherland on July 1. Twelve doves of peace are cast on the shoulder of the bell, which symbolizes that 1.3 billion Chinese people will always love peace. On the top of the bell skirt are two dragons, and between the two dragons is the flower plum blossom of Nanjing city. On the back of the bell is engraved with the eternal motto "never forget what happened before, the teacher of what happened after". On the front of the bell are three big words of "warning bell". The inscriptions on both sides record the vicissitudes of history from the signing of the Nanjing Treaty to the return of Hong Kong to its ancestors in 1997. It is an important embodiment of the historical connotation of the "alarm clock", which makes the alarm clock have more cultural taste.

The commemorative inscriptions engraved on the alarm bell vividly record the vicissitudes of the Chinese nation's history of more than 100 years, from the decline of national strength and the cutting of Hong Kong to the rise of resistance and the enhancement of national strength, until Hong Kong finally returned to the motherland. On the night of June 30, 1997, representatives from all walks of life gathered in front of the wake-up call. At 0 o'clock, the bell rang, the crowd was boiling, and 155 bells rang, symbolizing that Hong Kong finally returned to its mother's arms after 155 years. Keep in mind the national humiliation, the alarm will ring forever! On the night of June 30, 1997, Jinghai temple, which had been silent for a long time, finally finished the process of humiliation, and finally called out Naji

Chinese PinYin : Jing Hai Si