Renwei Temple is located in Guangzhou Longjin West Road, Renwei Temple Street, the old Pantang Township, covers an area of 2200 square meters, is a temple dedicated to Taoism Zhenwu Emperor. It was the oldest and largest temple word in the eighteen townships of Pantang Enzhou at that time. History records: Renwei Temple was built in the Song Dynasty Huangyou four years (1052). It was rebuilt in the second year of the Ming Dynasty (1622), the Qianlong Years of the Qing Dynasty (1736-1795) and the Tongzhi Years (1862-1874) on a larger scale. Rebuilt during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, the temple had only the first three rooms in the middle road and the west sequence, and the second two buildings and the east sequence were added during the reconstruction.
Renwei Temple was first built called the North Emperor Temple. It is said that because Emperor Zhenwu was in charge of water, people called him the Northern Emperor or the God of Water. And because of the North Zhenwu Xuan Tian God has "God's power". So later renamed Renwei Temple.
The name of Renwei Temple also has another story.
Pantang is located in the Lingnan water town, known for planting lotus root, rhododendron, mushrooms, horseshoes (water chestnuts), wild bamboo shoots, such as "Pantang five show" and famous. The villagers of Pantang are "grateful to the gods for inviting blessings in order not to cause disasters", so they "worship faithfully" to the enshrined idols. It is said that there were two brothers in Pantang in those days, the brother's name was "Ren" and the brother's name was "Wei". One day, the brothers went fishing and found a strange stone, pick up home neutralized as a god, and from then on, "life is smooth, handy", and then spread throughout the countryside, within ten miles, worshippers. To the township to raise funds to build the temple, the townspeople will change the name of the temple to "Renwei".
Renwei Temple plane slightly trapezoidal, north-south, wide three deep five, and another east of a row of cottages. The first three into the building, among the main building, east and west for the Hall, the fourth into the Lenten Hall, the fifth into the back of the building. Along the north-south axis, in order for the head gate, the main hall, the middle hall, the back of the hall and the back of the building, left and right for the east and west sequence. The head door is 11 meters wide and 8 meters deep. Outside the door on each side of a granite stone column, the column head carved with stone lions, the column body carved with auspicious clouds and two dragons playing with pearls, smooth lines, the image is very vivid, commonly known as the "dragon column".
The main building east-west width of 40 meters, north-south depth of 54 to 60 meters. Is a mixed brick and wood structure. House lift 9 beams, the roof is a 5-level stacked stepped wind fire mountain wall, covered with green gray tile, blue glazed tile shear edge. Roof ridge and both sides of the top of the wall tile decoration pottery figures, ridge decoration pavilions and stage opera characters are burnt in the Qing Dynasty Guangdong Foshan Shiwan Wen Ruobi store. On the "Tongzhi Ding Mao" (Tongzhi six years. 1867) characters. That is, 1867) characters, vaguely visible. Roof beams, square, hump, sparrow, etc. are made of wood carving craft components, carved into the unicorn and other auspicious motifs, all over the gold color. Eaves plate carving is fine, auspicious patterns, opera characters are carved vividly. Edward brick pattern is also carefully carved, unique. Lotus-shaped arch, pillar beams fork hand, bracket were carved into an inverted chela fish. Bird for, hump and sealing eaves board is even more translucent and exquisite, lacquer and gold, is the style of Chaozhou gold lacquer wood carving. The multi-layered and complex through-carving brings together relief carving, sunken carving and round carving on the same picture.
The main hall has a width of 9 frames with 4 pillars, and the beam structure combining the piercing arch and the lifting beam, adopting the form of hook-and-link, organically connecting the beams of the main hall and the beams of the four sandalwood scrolls of the worship pavilions together. All the components such as the arch, beam, sparrow, hump, etc. are consistent with the style of the head beam frame. The carvings on the hump have auspicious motifs such as lions dancing with balls, dragons and phoenixes presenting auspiciousness, carp jumping over the Dragon Gate, and happy eyebrows. The front of the main hall horizontal beam square below the carving of the group of immortals to celebrate life, happiness and longevity and other decorations. The bottom is carved with smooth ruyi pattern, its beautiful shape, fine carving, distinctive levels. The lacquered square between the two gold pillars in the bright room is carved with figures such as the Eight Immortals. The bottom of all the beams are carved with patterns, extremely fine carving. Characters and animals are lifelike. Wood carvings are painted with gold color.
The third and fourth buildings and the east and west order of the building is slightly less fine, but the architectural style and style and the main temple is basically the same.
The temple in the architectural carvings, set Danqing, wood carving, brick carving, gray carving and other arts in one, its carvings vivid, lifelike, concentrated in the Lingnan ancient architectural art of the essence of the temple, known as "Gui Temple Orchid Palace". At the same time, the whole temple has different shapes, including square, octagonal, and basin-shaped. There are stone pillars, wooden pillars, square, octagonal, round and corner pillars. Renwei Temple in the wood carving, stone carving, brick carving have their own characteristics, the craft is also very exquisite. Pottery sculpture, gray sculpture work fine and strong show, with a strong Lingnan local characteristics and style, like the Chen Family Ancestral Hall, leaving a deep impression on people. There are also many tablets in the temple.
It is said that in the old days, the third day of the third month of the lunar calendar was the temple festival, and the activities of the temple festival were colorful and diverse, among which attending to the gods, entering into the incense and singing the eight characters were the main activities during the temple festival. In the past, the temple fair was full of colorful activities, in which the attendance of the gods and the singing of the eight characters were the main activities during the temple festival. During the Qing Dynasty, the ancestral shrine was banned, and the townspeople, in order to preserve the temple, dedicated the back seat to Confucius and Guan Gong. At that time, there was a couplet inside the temple: "Benevolence in the Four Seas, Might in the City". The first word "Ren" in the first couplet refers to Confucius, and "Wei" in the second couplet refers to Guan Yunchang, the God of Guan. In the past, there were many other couplets here, but most of them have been lost. One of the couplets reads: "The rising sun and the Pearl River are connected to the Shimen of Xiangpu, and the four seas are all connected to the power of the emperor; Longjin is connected to the Panshui, and the Hongqiao and Lixian are connected to the thousand autumns of **** bathing in the power of benevolence." To the Second Opium War, foreign enemies invaded, so here again to promote regimentation to resist "foreign nuisance". Renwei Temple has actually become an important stronghold of the Guangzhou area against foreign invaders in the late Qing Dynasty.
Historically, Renwei Temple has been the western part of Guangzhou and Nanhai, Panyu, Shunde and other places of faith in Taoism for religious activities. After the founding of New China, Renwei Temple religious activities still continue, "Cultural Revolution", Renwei Temple has been restored, Guangzhou City, Taoist believers have repeatedly asked to be restored to the Taoist activities. December 2002, approved by the Guangzhou City, Liwan District Government, Renwei Temple handed over to the Guangzhou City Taoist Association, as a place of religious activity management open. Renwei Temple became the fourth Taoist temple in Guangzhou to be registered by the government after Sanyuan Palace, Wong Tai Sin Temple and Chunyang Temple.
In August 1993, it was identified by the Guangzhou Municipal Government as a municipal cultural relic unit.
From the northeast of Liwan Lake Park Renwei Temple front street all the way, through the streets over the mouth of the alley, in the low eaves squeezed through the many stalls selling, a thousand-year-old temple ---- Renwei Temple is in front of you. Temple in front of the lake, Huabiao solemn, flanked by ancient homes, as if the time backward, one wonders if it is in Guangzhou.
Historically, the Pantang area encompassed eighteen townships in Enzhou. As the local villagers were famous for fishing and planting the five specialties of "chestnut, lotus, mushroom, diamond and wild rice", it was popular to worship Emperor Xuanwu in order to give thanks for the blessings and to alleviate disasters. Xuanwu is the image of a snake and a turtle, for the ancient Chinese god of the north, and the green dragon, white tiger, Zhu Bird, known as the four sides of the gods. Because the north is the water dweller, and Emperor Wudi is the master of water, so people called Xuanwu as the north emperor, calling it the god of water. Later, folklore, the ancient Pantang Township has two brothers, brother named Ren, brother named Wei, one day the two brothers to go fishing, found a piece of strange stone, picked up the home for the idol, actually from then on they live all the way to smooth the scene, all kinds of work to apply, the days of affluence and prosperity, and even more so, the "idol" is unfathomable. This happy strange things in the countryside wind spread, heard the news of the great joy of the people running around, believers gathered, worship Renwei strange stone of many people, so the townspeople of a call, so the capital to build up the "Renwei Temple". ---- Legend of Renwei Temple
According to the "renewed Nanhai County Records", Renwei Temple was built in Song Huangyou four years (1052), and the Ming Dynasty Tianqi years, the Qing Dynasty Qianlong years and the Tongzhi years and successively carried out large-scale construction, the Qing Dynasty Qianlong years before the renovation of the only middle and the west order of the first three premises, the last two and the east order is the Qianlong years additional. The most worth emphasizing is the beginning of Renwei Temple and the construction of the eighteen villagers from Pantang spontaneous donations! This is a temple of blessing and spiritual temple built by the people themselves!
Renwei Temple is a typical Ming and Qing Dynasty architectural style, the rich and magnificent, and is the crystallization of the convergence of various examples of the art of Chinese sculpture. Its main building is slightly trapezoidal, covering an area of 2,200 square meters and facing south. Inside the temple wood carving is very exquisite, the head door are made of wood carving craft components, carving auspicious motifs, all over the application of gold color. And the top for the five mountains wind volcano wall. The ridge is Shiwan Wenru shaped ceramic figures tile ridge, on the "Tongzhi Dingmao" characters. With its exquisite wood carvings, rugged stone carvings and transparent brick carvings, it was once known as "Gui Dian Lan Gong". ---- The architectural art of Renwei Temple
Every year on the eighth day of the second month of the lunar calendar is the Renwei Temple Festival, during which the township is rich and colorful in activities, like a grand religious festival, where everyone performs the spiritual bath of attending to the gods, entering the incense, and singing the eight sounds of the chattering and tireless.
It is said that back then, Renwei Temple was the oldest and grandest temple in the eighteen townships of Enzhou, which covered an area of more than five hundred acres, and there was a large water pond right in front of the temple. And many couplets in the temple, among them are "Rising Sun Pearl River source connected to Xiangpu Shimen four seas with the Emperor's power, Longjin Lianpan water through the rainbow bridge Lishi thousands of autumn **** bath Renwei"; and there is a joint such as "Ren Shixi four seas, the town of the three towns" (the top line refers to Confucius, the next refers to the Duke of Guan) and so on are Joint traces of the classics, as if Renwei just and soft, each other as a view. Between looking and chewing, one sprouts whimsical thoughts; that whether it is a joyous or lonely days, ordinary or significant days, happy or sad days, harvest or famine days ...... Renwei Temple always silently waiting for a special trip to come to burn incense to worship God's good men and women, they prayed for good luck, good luck; they prayed for peace, good weather, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck, good luck. The wind and rain ...... and the realm of infinite fascination is that outside the temple there is a wide range of fragrant lotus ponds, welcome the wind and gracefully bloomed out of the mud and not stained the light red flowers, to the people smiled and nodded; and the temple furnace rising curls of smoke ring, the strange aroma of the room, the gray misty air of the delicate smoke for the Thu Luen Yazhou covered with a layer of dense, soft light and spiritual fog! ...... This atmosphere, simply like the ancient celebrities ink fast treasure house! But it is the countryside of the people's good reeds, even if the ferry can not exhaust the long years of many suffering beings, but enough to achieve for the support of the people's faith in the spiritual home.
White rain fell, flooded the lotus pond in front of the Renwei Temple, the mind withered hot years, the temple image is in ruins, there is no rippling water, dusty prayers such as weaving ripples, only the temple ash fly, full of sadness swaying, residual gasping. The former glory to the 1920s, Sun Ke as mayor of Guangzhou, the townspeople afraid of expropriation of the temple, the Renwei Temple Hall into a school. To the early years of the founding of the People's Republic of China, here and set up industrial and agricultural schools, Xicun first central elementary school, Pantang Primary School, and part of the premises to do the Pantang Street police station. 60 s "revolution", the police station withdrawn, and simply in the temple to set up a plastics factory ...... a temple of God! The fate of a temple in the wind and rain fluctuating, waste utilization like survival are not, "break the Four Olds" of the "Revolutionary Generals" so mercilessly will be the temple statue smashed to pieces. Fortunately, the villagers of Pantang in order to protect those exquisite carvings of the beams and columns of the Temple of Renwei, the beams and columns of the carvings of the night with mortar to cover up, so that these exquisite folk art masterpieces can be preserved. Until August 1983, the Guangzhou Municipal People's Government for the injustice of the Renwei Temple "vindication", announced as a municipal cultural relics protection units, and now, the incense of the Renwei Temple is gradually restored to the original appearance of its history and dignity.
Guangzhou Xiguan has a Renwei Temple, rumored to have been built in the Song Dynasty Huangyou four years ago, more than 900 years of history, is dedicated to the temple of Taoism Zhenwu Emperor, but why do people call it Renwei Temple? It turns out that there is a touching legend here.
Song early years, the village has a pair of brothers, one called Ren, one called Wei, brothers since childhood, parents died of disease, fortunate to have neighborhood alms food, to be able to adult. The brothers made a living by fishing, and although they were poor, they got along well with each other. They went out early in the morning and came back late at night, selling some of the fish they caught and giving some to their neighbors, which was highly praised by everyone.
One day, the two brothers, as usual, wearing a gray haze of morning fog to go out to fish, suddenly, the sky dark clouds, the calm sea surface flooded with large waves, surging, the two brothers hastened to close the net back to the voyage. When they returned to the village, the village has been a sea of water, escape from the people standing in the waterfront bawling, the water can be seen everywhere pigs, chickens, dogs and other beasts of burden, after two days and two nights, the flood only gradually recede. Ah Ren and Ah Wei were very sad about the disaster in the village, and they decided to look for a treasure that could calm the village. One day, a huge stone appeared on the coast where they were fishing. The stone was rectangular in shape and looked like a long dragon attached to it. The two brothers felt that the stone was unusual and were overjoyed, so they carried the boulder back to the village. When they carried the stone to the village head, the stone suddenly became unusually heavy, five or six people could not move it. The people in the village then set up incense and prostrated to the boulder at the head of the village, praying for peace and safety. From then on, the village really never had a flood, everyone is safe and sound, every year a good harvest. Ten years later, a noon, sunny, the sky suddenly struck a loud thunder, the village head of the unusual stone split in half. It so happened that on this day, no one saw Ah Ren and Ah Wei returning from fishing, the next day was the same, and the third day was the same, but everyone went out to look for them, but they could not find their whereabouts. After that, the two brothers never came back to the village, and everyone thought that they had been punished by the Dragon King for removing his jewels and were buried in the sea.
In order to commemorate the two brothers, we built a temple at the head of the village, and used the stone that was split in half to make the doorposts, with the name of the two brothers to the temple named Renwei Temple, from then on, the Renwei Temple has become a place for people to worship the Buddha, festivals and festivals, singing and partying.