Who is Anxi Chenghuang?

The temple is dedicated to "Uncle Qingxi" (commonly known as "Uncle Chenghuang") and "Mrs Chenghuang" (commonly known as "Mother Chenghuang").

Anxi Town God Temple

Anxi Town God Temple is one of the earliest built Town God temples in Fujian Province, which was founded in the third year of Xiande in Zhou Dynasty after the Five Dynasties (956). In the temple, there is a sacrifice to "Master Qingxi" (commonly known as "Master Chenghuang") and "Lady Chenghuang" (commonly known as "Mother Chenghuang"). The temple was originally built in Zhidong County (in the experimental primary school of Anxi County, Fumin Street, Chengguan), and now there is an old temple and a new temple. The architectural style is unique, the decoration is magnificent, and the incense is at its peak at four seasons, which has great influence in Fujian, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Over the past 1 years, Anxi City God Temple has experienced vicissitudes, been repaired, rebuilt and relocated several times, and the existing buildings are relics of the early Qing Dynasty. According to historical records, the old temple of Anxi Town God, located beside the experimental primary school in Fuminjie County, Chengguan, was built on May 28th, the third year of Xiande in the Five Dynasties (956), and completed on April 15th, the seventh year of Xiande in the latter Zhou Dynasty (96). Reconstruction in the first year of Hongwu in Ming Dynasty (1368); In the second year of Jingtai (1451), Chen Zhende, a local citizen, rebuilt it; In the eighth to fifteenth year of Chenghua (1472-1479), Gu Yanyi and Wu Ying, the magistrate of a county, rebuilt it, and Cai Zhen, the classical historian, added three kitchens; In the 18th year of Jiajing (in 1539), Yin Ju, the magistrate of a county, and Qi Zou, the canon history, were rebuilt. In the thirty-ninth year of Jiajing (156), the temple was destroyed by the Japanese, and in the forty-fourth year of Jiajing (1565), it was rebuilt by Cai Changyu, a magistrate of a county. In the 12th year of Qing Emperor Kangxi (1673), Xie Chenquan, a magistrate of a county, rebuilt the front and rear temples; In the fortieth year of Kangxi (171), Rong Shihong of the magistrate of a county was rebuilt, and Cao Yun of the magistrate of a county continued to repair; In the fifty-fourth year of Kangxi (1715), Zeng Zhichuan, a magistrate of a county, built the abbot's abbot's room in Houtang; In the tenth year of Qianlong (1745), He Long, a magistrate of a county, met Shiping in front of the paved worship pavilion; In the twentieth year of Qianlong (1755), Zhuang Cheng, a magistrate of a county, was rebuilt.

The old temple is a palace-style building facing south, with five entrances and four patios. There is a well outside the gate, which is full of sweet water for the people to use. Inside the gate, there are two rooms connected with the roof, leaving a pedestrian passage in the middle. If the two rooms are paved with wooden boards, they can be used as a stage facing north and inward. Stepping through the gate, you can reach the big embankment in the temple. There is an ancient banyan on each side of the embankment, which makes people feel cool and refreshing. The second is a hatchback, and the statue is separated. The left compartment is composed of three divisions: inspection, examination of merits and appreciation of goodness, and the right compartment is composed of three divisions: quick report, hell and punishment of evil. Its statue is majestic and awesome. The third entrance is the main hall, with a pavilion in front and a bedroom in the back. It is five rooms wide and three rooms deep, with double eaves and a beam frame, which is exposed on the top. There are Panlong stone pillars outside the temple, which are exquisitely carved, flexible and spectacular. There is a vault in the center of the hall, and the outward is a round window decorated with gold through holes, carved with beams and painted with buildings, which is solemn and magnificent; In the temple, the body of the Lord of the Town God is enshrined, and behind the seat, there is a tall statue of the Lord of the Town God, with a yellow robe and a golden crown, which is dignified and serious and awe-inspiring. There are east and west hatchways on the outer wing of the hall, each with a wide corridor. The east hatchway is hung with a big clock, and the messenger is molded under the clock, followed by the protector Wei Tuo and the judge Yang. On the west wing, there is a big drum, and next to it is a duty messenger, a master book and a yin judge. There are doors in the two corridors leading to the fourth entrance to the moat, and the hall is dedicated to the Lord and his wife of the city god and sits with statues, commonly known as the mother hall of the city god. The fifth entrance behind the hall is the monastery. The whole temple is solemn and generous, with a green tile roof, and the eaves are decorated with double dragons grabbing pearls, lined with figures, flowers and plants, and colorful. The temple is full of beautiful couplets and plaques, which shows the simplicity of the temple and is admirable.

In the 3th year of the Republic of China (1941), Qiu Qiuxing, deputy head of the National Corps, sent troops to Anxi Town God Temple, and the statues of the Lord and the deputy of the Lord of the Town God were moved out and temporarily enshrined in the Aizitou Folk House in the north street of the county, while the statues of other gods were demolished. In 32 years of the Republic of China (1943), due to official infrastructure, the temporary temple of Aizitou Town God needed to be demolished, and the contractor chose another place to build a hall and two rooms beside the North Gate Bridge as a temple and moved in the same year. In 1953, Lord Chenghuang moved to the East Chamber of Dongyue Temple to worship, and in 1985, he moved to Tanyue Temple of Dongyue Temple to worship. In 1958 and 1986, the first and fifth halls of the old temple were demolished and built into dormitories by the education department. Today, there are only two or four halls left in the old temple. In December 1988, Anxi Chenghuang Temple was announced by the county people's government as the second batch of key cultural relics protection units at the county level. On January 16th, 199, at the initiative of Ms. Chen Meiying, an overseas Chinese living in Singapore, and with the support of relevant county departments, the site was chosen to the east of Dongyue Temple, and the new Temple of Anxi City God was built according to the original temple regulations, and Ms. Chen Meiying solely invested to build one to three temples. The reconstruction of the new temple was completed on January 5, 1992. Since then, overseas Chinese relatives in Leekpaba and Yangtaoyuan in Singapore have donated money to continue the construction of the fourth and fifth halls, and then many furnaces and believers have donated supporting facilities one after another. Anxi City God New Temple and Dongyue Temple are arm in arm side by side, which is a five-entrance hall, built along the mountain, north-south direction. It covers an area of more than 2, square meters and has a building area of 1,1 square meters. The first hall is five rooms wide, with three doors, diabase dragon columns at the eaves, and the door plugs and window sills are carved with blue and white stones respectively. There are patterns such as carp jumping on the dragon gate, playing with pearls in double dragons, throwing the ball with two lions, lion phoenix peony, pine crane lotus, bamboo deer, etc. The roof truss components, such as hanging barrels, are carved with flowers, lotus flowers, the Goddess Chang'e flying to the moon, and flute to attract phoenix. The second hall is the City God Hall, with double eaves and a mountain-resting style, which is exposed on the top and made in a bucket style. It is five rooms wide and five rooms deep, with a worship pavilion in front. The statues of the gods in the first to third halls all imitate the old temple style. The three statues of the city god are sitting in the main hall, facing the three round lattice windows respectively, and the eight lords and nine lords stand on both sides. The three halls are the sleeping halls of the city god. The fourth hall is the Lohan Hall, dedicated to Guanyin Buddha. The five halls are the Sakyamuni Hall, dedicated to the Three Treasures Buddha. The whole temple has red walls and green tiles, resplendent and magnificent; Flying eaves and ridges, flying gold and colorful; Carving a dragon and carving a phoenix is a wonderful feat, which is even better than the old view. In January, 1999, the County Cultural Relics Management Committee erected a symbol of cultural relics protection in Xincheng God Temple. Anxi City God Temple has a long history, and there are many cultural relics. The seal of the Lord of the Town God in the Treasure Temple is said to be given by the Emperor of the Song Dynasty. It is square in jade with a side length of 7.5 cm and a height of 5 cm. The seal is a traditional seal script of "sealing the Qingxi River to show the blessing of the seal". On the seal seat, there is a lying toad with the word "Wang" carved on it, which symbolizes Anxi Town God's understanding of yin and yang and showing the spirit of Weah. A pair of diabase dragon pillars standing in front of the new temple were originally built in the old temple, which were made by famous craftsmen of the previous generation. They were meticulously carved and lifelike. There are two ancient inscriptions in the temple, "Oracle" and "Shipbuilding Inscription", which were erected in February of the 12th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (187) and written by Xia Yihuai, a magistrate of a county. The "Oracle" tablet is 44 cm long and 7 cm wide. The inscription reads "An Yi Feng Xian You Bocheng God, Li Yin Zan Yang, and every year in Ji Chun, the scholars imitate the ancient ceremony and set up a banquet to welcome him." The tablet of Shipbuilding Monument is 21 cm long and 11 cm wide. It is recorded that in order to solve the problem of fasting and welcoming Nuo every spring, two creek boats were built to transport salt from Quanzhou to Anxi, and the tax was exempted, "taking the rest as the expense". There is an ancient couplet in the worship pavilion of the new temple in the city god: "the pet tin robe is the first in eight Fujian;" Praise the earl of Wuyi unparalleled. " Legend has it that since the Song Dynasty, the Lord of Anxi Town God has been given a royal robe by the emperor for curing the stubborn diseases of the Empress Dowager Song, and he is also the protector of the five neighboring counties (namely Nan 'an, Anxi, Jinjiang, Tong 'an and Hui 'an) to protect the people from drought, waterlogging, wind, insects and animal disasters, so he was twice sealed by the court and given a golden crown by the Emperor Song Dynasty. Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty gave him the imperial edict of "Qinjiapu protects Qingxi and helps Bo", but the city gods in other counties in the province did not have this honor, because it was "the first in eight provinces" and "the unparalleled in five cities".

Throughout the ages, romantic celebrities have been impressed by the exquisite beauty of Anxi City God Temple, and have made great contributions to their poems, leaving many famous plaques and beautiful couplets. There are ancient tablets such as "Yin and Yang" by Zhang Ruitu in Ming Dynasty, "Yin and Yang" by Ye Shaofen in Qing County, "It's a dream" by Huang Zhai, "Protect me and benefit the people" by Cindy Lee and "True Spirit" by Zhuang Cheng. Qin Zhongzhen, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, wrote, "If evil does not die, the remaining virtues of ancestors will die; If the good is not prosperous, the ancestors will prosper if they have the rest. " Zhuang Junyuan, the champion of the Qing Dynasty, wrote, "Merits show rivers and mountains, former Longjin, later Fenglu, and eighteen miles return to the blessed land; The sound is bright and bright, Dongyang Bell, West Crocodile Drum, and the first long Zhan Baigong Gate. " Qing Yaosheng Chen Zirui wrote, "God depends on virtue; Don't deceive yourself when you are alone ","Look at the sly heart of the world, don't blame this public for spitting; Seeing that the color of Sri Lanka is black and mixed, it really makes our generation shocked. "There are also ancient couplets, such as" rewarding and punishing good and evil causes and consequences; There is no difference in the judgment of yin and yang ","good and evil are rewarded, and there is no such thing as the past; When you compete for fame and fortune, you must know that there will always be an end. "When you come to the temple, ask yourself what you do on weekdays; When you go home, don't forget to bow your head and be sincere today, "what goes around comes around, what goes around comes around, what goes around comes around, and what goes around comes around, will eventually be rewarded; Heaven knows the earth, you know me, what is ignorance? "and" The evil mirror hangs high, and the kind-hearted person may wish to take the lead; There are many shadows, and those with evil thoughts should be afraid of peeping. "Good and evil are hard to hide here, so there is no need to kowtow in front of the stage; Yu has never been completely flawed, so I can't bear to shake my lips under the stage. "Hell is just around the corner, and I can't realize it until I commit a crime. The mirror of evil once hung on the stage, but if you want to be proud, you will be merciful, "and many other couplets to persuade good." Historically, the government attached great importance to the annual spring tour of Anxi Town God. In the Qing Dynasty, a ceremony was held to welcome the city god and set up a sacrificial ceremony to pray for the gods, which later specifically referred to the Dojo set up by the monks and Taoist priests to eliminate disasters. It was very lively. In February of the 12th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (187), Xia Yi Huai Te, a magistrate of Anxi County, made a "oracle" tablet. Over the years, it was stipulated that a cup was thrown in front of the gods on the 16th day of the twelfth lunar month of last year, and a proclamation was posted on the 2nd day of February of the following year, indicating the date to the whole county. It was stipulated that a cup should be set up in rain or shine, and the next day was greeted (an ancient ceremony to expel epidemic ghosts). Every year, when the altar is removed after finishing the cooking, at 12 o'clock that night, the four first people respectfully ask the owner of Qingxi Town God to tidy up his clothes and sit on the top eight seats. At about 5 o'clock in Rosty Yi, the first person advocated welcoming out of the temple. The patrol route of Chenghuang is: from the East Gate, along the river ditch and the hillside to Xiangyun Ferry, to the tomb of Huang's ancestors in Fengshan (commonly known as Champion Tomb), and then back to the Fengchi Temple in Xiangyun Ferry to set up a curtain for security (Note: the current route is: east out of the mountain gate → Fengshan Road → 831 Road → Xiangyun Road → Shennei → County Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. → Fengshan Huangzu Tomb → Return → Shennei. Between 1: and 11: , the gate of the temple was closed, and all the officials, Cao chief, military and horses in the temple (all of which must be replaced by human decoration), led by the eighth and ninth lords, marched in sequence. Four first people burn incense to serve, and the presiding monk is responsible for the roll call. At the end of the afternoon, the whole team went around the hall, then shouted out with the temple gate wide open, lined up with the ceremonial and big preaching, the Eight Tones, the Taige, and the theater array, and went out to the west gate to welcome the uncle into the city to tour the streets, lanes, county government, Confucianism, and schools (the current route is: Fengshan Road → 831 Road → Xiangyun Road → Shennei → County Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. → Fengshan Huangzu Tomb → Return. In ancient times, ceremonies were very complicated. When the team marched to the entrance of the county yamen, the county magistrate arranged the incense table and greeted it personally; When the procession reached the south gate lane, the whole team stopped for a while, and the master of Qingxi Town God put on his coat and hat (that is, the judge's costume), and then the guard of honor lined up to drive, sounded gongs to clear the way, drums and flutes rang, and the four first people followed the eighth and ninth lords and the master of Town God into the Confucius Temple to go around Panchi for a week. Then he went down to the south tinker (execution ground), presided over the monks wearing cassock and carrying instruments, and when they arrived at the tinker, they waved the instruments in their hands and rang the bell to call the wronged souls for permission to come and complain; After a week's detour, the procession took the county streets for a parade with the folk advocates and theater teams waiting on the side. Generally, the parade team will enter the temple at about 3: pm on the same day, and then the host monks will select several people from each of the four streets to throw divination cups one by one, and the winner will be the new leader next year. After that, the ceremony of handing over the old and new people will be carried out, and then the tour will be conducted according to the route in the evening. The new people will be responsible for the work, torches and lanterns, which usually ends at 1 o'clock in the evening. Legend has it that the Qingxi Town God is very prominent and effective. There are three records in the Qing Qianlong edition of Anxi County Records: First, "Zhengde took charge of Xu (Gengchen year, 152) in the spring, and Jishui Gong Gong ordered Anxi in April, caring for the people of this city, suffering from tigers for a long time, but burning the text in the temple of the city god, the arrow god will win." The more you fly, the better you will be. After three days of Wuzi, one of them was killed, and the people were stunned. " Zou Lu, who was instructed by the times, witnessed it, and wrote "Slay Shuang Hu Fu". Second, "On July 28th, in the 16th year of Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty (1677), Cai Yin led thousands of people to Anxi, and was about to attack the city, when suddenly he saw an armour riding out of the East Gate. Cai suspected that reinforcements had arrived, so he retreated. When * * * thought that the city god appeared, he ordered Cindy Lee to write a plaque' Protect me and benefit the people' and know about it in the temple. " Third, "On the 11th day of the first month in the 2th year of Qianlong (1755), Chen Fu, a county citizen, killed Wang Yirang, the owner of the farmland, in Houtanglong, and refused to admit it after repeated trials. The city ordered Zhuang Cheng to fast and bathe, and prayed to the God of the City God. The next day, he took the prisoner to the temple to answer the question. Suddenly, the ghost attached to his wife Huang, questioned Yves vividly and pointed out the murder weapon. Fu Shi bowed his head and said nothing, and the case was settled. The viewers are all different. Zhuang ordered the inscription to be inscribed in the temple to discipline its affairs. " Legend has it that during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, the Japanese invaded China and sent planes to bomb Anxi County. People found two eagles hovering against the plane in the sky. The plane dropped many bombs, but there were no casualties among the people in the county. After the Japanese plane flew away, the legal personnel of the Town God Temple found that the statues of Town God Gong and Town God Ma were dripping with sweat, and they suddenly realized that the eagle was the incarnation of Town God Gong Ma. After the news came out, the street people spontaneously held a "show to the public" ceremony, offering soybeans, meaning to provide bullets for the magic soldiers, or to let the gods sprinkle beans into soldiers to resist foreign invasion. Spirit should shine and benefit all sides. Along the coast of Jinjiang, there is still a folk story that "Qingxi Town God shows saints to bless fishermen". Legend has it that one day about a hundred years ago, there were more than 2 fishing boats in Jinjiang, and suddenly a small boat came face to face. An old man stood in the boat and shouted, "I'm the master of Qingxi, and I'm here to show you the temple, that is, the fishing boat must turn around and return as soon as possible when there is a typhoon." When all the fishing boats entered the harbor, a big storm suddenly came and the fishing boats were safe and sound. To this end, it is widely spread among fishermen that "the Qingxi Town God shows its spirit and warns that the typhoon is true." The fishing boat returned safely, and the people praised the fishermen. " The ballad. Since then, people in Quanzhou, Jinjiang, Shishi, Nan 'an and other coastal areas have set up altars to worship Qingxi Town God, and many people often go to Anxi Town God Temple to burn incense and worship, praying for peace and happiness. Many places have also set up sub-furnaces to worship the Qingxi Town God. There is also a widespread story in Singapore about the manifestation of the Qingxi Town God. In the 194s, Japanese imperialism invaded Singapore southward. On one occasion, the Japanese army dispatched a large number of planes to bomb all parts of Singapore, and all the places were in ruins. However, in the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), from Anxi Fenlu to the location of the Town God Temple in Singapore, it was not bombed by planes at all. Therefore, the local overseas Chinese and Chinese paid more reverence to the Lord of Anxi Town God, and successively built two magnificent Qingxi Town God temples in Leekpaba and Yangtaoyuan, which are still flourishing. Every year, the Town God Temple of the two places organized a delegation to the Anxi Town God Temple to seek roots, and it became a practice to worship the ancestors and pray for the protection of the Anxi Town God. Anxi City God Temple is famous at home and abroad after thousands of years' rise and fall. As early as the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, Anxi ancestors brought incense to Taiwan Province, and then distributed it to Taipei, Tainan, Kaohsiung and all over the island. According to incomplete statistics, there are 222 sub-furnaces in Taiwan Province. Singapore also has leek temple and Yangtaoyuan temple. Since the Qing Dynasty, Anxi City God Temple has been in Jin Dynasty.