Which god is the Chenghuang Temple dedicated to?

Before liberation, Taizhou had an order to bypass the relevant doors of the City God Temple:

"There are ghosts and turtles at the back door of the City God Temple.

The ghost grabbed a handful of water,

The tortoise threw the ghost's water,

The ghost grabbed the turtle's tail,

The tortoise lost the ghost water,

The ghost released the tortoise's tail. "

Perhaps it is because of this "ghost turtle, turtle ghost" that time has skipped more than 60 years in a hurry. As long as the topic of "City God Temple" is mentioned, I will immediately think of this tongue twister. ...

In ancient superstitious legends, the Town God Temple is a temple dedicated to the gods who guard Dangfang City. Supposedly, Taizhou City God Temple should of course be the supreme commander in charge of the Yin boundary of Taizhou City. According to Zhou Li, one of the Wax Statues, "aqua" probably refers to the Lord of the city god. History: The City God Temple in China can be traced back to the second year of Chiwu in the Three Kingdoms (AD 239). Since then, the Town God Temple has been built in Anzheng Wuhu. The biography of Murong Yan, a book written in the Northern Qi Dynasty, also recorded the related words of the Chenghuang Temple in Yuncheng. In the late Tang Dynasty, Taoism flourished, and all counties in the country offered sacrifices to the city god. At that time, Han Yu and Du Mu, the great writers, wrote articles about worshipping the city god. In this historical period, due to the support and advocacy of the rulers, the architectural standards of the city god temples in various places have reached a very brilliant height, so that the scale of the Taizhou City God Temple built after that has a high cultural taste, artistic level and appreciation value. According to legend, Taizhou City God Temple was built in the sixth year of Song Chunyou (AD 1246) (it is also said that it was built in the Tang Dynasty). According to legend, there are different places in the Town God Temple, because the Town God is the highest god in charge of the affairs of the underworld. Therefore, according to China's old practice, "one place is long", of course, it is impossible to worship the same god everywhere.

As far as I know, Suzhou worships Chun Shen Jun, one of the "Four Childes of the Warring States"; However, Hangzhou people worship Wen Tianxiang who wrote Song Zhengqi. Qin Yubo was sacrificed by the minister of Shanghai Chenghuang Temple. Who should be the Lord of Taizhou? No official history, there are many folk sayings. Some people say that Yue Fei is a bit like that. Because, before his death, his old man worked as a "deputy envoy of Tongtai Town and well-known in Taizhou". It is said that Taizhou City God Temple was built in the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was about 120 years after his death that Taizhou talents invited him to be the Lord of Yin. In this respect, it is not difficult for him. And the other is Zhang Shicheng, which seems incredible. Because when Zhang Shicheng made his fortune, the Taizhou City God Temple was already built. However, these two kinds of folk sayings seem to be based on the lack of information, which can only be the case, no matter which one is the owner of the city god. Anyway, the city god is the city god, so let it go. It is said that most of the city gods enshrined in earlier counties were people who had made contributions to the local area. Because of this, in the first year of Qingtai in the Tang Dynasty, in order to comply with public opinion and win the hearts of the people, the emperor suddenly decreed that the county gods should be "kings"; After Ming Taizu and Zhu Hongwu proclaimed themselves emperor, they became hot-headed and regarded the capital city God as "emperor". In this regard, the public has some objections. Until the third year of Hongwu, even the emperor Zhu felt that the city god was only one place long and it seemed inappropriate to be proclaimed emperor. This led to the decree that the city god was called "God" in the whole country. Fortunately, God has no size, and finally solved the private discussion among the people.

Taoism in China has always respected the city god as "a great god who can cut off demons and protect the country and defend the country", saying that he can "rain in drought and chew it up in flood" and is a land god who can ensure "the valley is full of people". The Taoist True Classics Volume 1063: In the wonderful string of the Town God's induction to eliminate disasters, the Taishang Laojun said, "The Town God is the god in charge of the dead." As a result, in the past, when Taoist priests set up altars to worship the dead, they had to have a procedure, that is, burn "documents" and know how to follow the city god. Taoism calls it "the death of Huang Cheng". Only after the "Huang Cheng deceased" was burned can the deceased be put back to the altar. (See Collection of Taoist Scriptures and Customs Gate, Volume 2, 973-975). This shows that Taoism regards Huang as the highest official in charge of the affairs of the underworld.

The temple of Taizhou City God Temple in history is magnificent, and it is the largest Taoist temple in China. Its architectural style and volume are similar to those of Jiuzhou Cliff in Taizhou. Taizhou City God Temple covers an area of more than 5,300 square meters, with a north-south direction. The eight-character wall outside the gate is divided into two sides, and it advances longitudinally from south to north with the meridian as the central axis, in turn: Shanmen Hall, Siwei Gongcao Hall, Trial Hall, Main Hall and Hougong Hall. Symmetrical wings are built on the left and right sides of each entrance connecting the patio, so that each entrance naturally forms a group of "four-in-one closed" building communities. At first, there were three square entrance doors in front of the first entrance hall. On the east and west sides of the hall, a statue of a horse is shaped, facing the entrance gate from a distance, and a tall flagpole and a huge screen wall stand in the south of the street. The second entrance is the Four Valued Gongcao Hall, which enshrines four statues of Gongcao, namely, that year, that month, that day and that time. There are five wings in front of Gongcaotang, namely "Zanhuatang", "Board House" and "Land Temple". The third entrance is the trial hall, where a rosewood case-solving is located in the hall of the old official. There is also a brick archway in the aisle in front of the main hall, and there are a row of about seven or eight deacons' rooms on both sides of the aisle. The fourth entrance is the main hall, opposite the main hall. In the past, there was a theater. The main hall is the main hall in the city god temple, and the center of the main hall is dedicated to the statue of Taizhou city god who is loyal to Hailing Hou. I once saw this statue when I was a child. He has a golden face and beard. He is gentle, wearing a golden crown, embroidered red robe, jade belt around his waist and black boots on his feet. He looks like a national official on the stage of the old drama. Later, I heard that the original statue had been smashed by progressive youth in the activities of breaking superstition as early as the Great Revolution. What I saw was another life image in the harem wearing casual clothes. Taizhou city gods rank very high. According to the five titles of "Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi and Gong" in ancient times, "Hailing Loyalty" belongs to the second grade, which is equivalent to the "Guangling Loyalty" of Yangzhou City God in the underworld. In front of the statue of Lord Huang Cheng in the main hall, there is a strip-shaped large sutra table with a huge incense burner candlestick on it. There are statues of judges of Wen and Wu in the east and west sides of the hall, bells and drums in the southeast corner, a wide platform outside the front porch of the hall, and a big bronze tripod in the middle, which is full of cigarettes all day. There are 15 rooms on both sides of the courtyard in front of the temple, which are 24 divisions respectively and are the administrative departments under the city god. It's just that the executives of the 24 th division have been carved into a terrible lost face. It is said that during Jian 'an, anyone who died in Taizhou would write his birthday and burn incense on the first floor of the 24th Division on the east side of the main hall of the Town God Temple, as a sign of his initiative to report to the Lord of the Town God Temple. ...

With the rise of commerce and economy, the demand of ordinary people for cultural life is increasingly urgent, and the Town God Temple has gradually changed from a temple dedicated to ghosts and gods to a holiday entertainment place and a small commodity market. At that time, festivals related to ghosts and gods, such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, Tomb-Sweeping Day, May 16th (the birthday of the Town God), May 18th (the birthday of the Queen of the Town God), July 30th and October Dynasty, were always full of incense and excitement. At that time, people of all colors, such as four townships and eight towns, flocked to the City God Temple to burn incense, make wishes and join in the fun. Many artists from Shandong and Anhui wander between temples, playing with guns and boxing inside and outside the temples, playing with monkeys and dogs, selling goods and singing; Experts from Sichuan, Chongqing and Chengdu, who specialize in serving snacks at the pavilion, have brought ten specialties of their hometown, namely "Mala Tang", "Lai Tangyuan", "Fried Dry", "Bean Curd", "Melaleuca Cake" and "Flower Handle", and umbrellas are sold here. There are also those who sell secret herbs from Yunnan, Guizhou and Northeast China, bear gall ginseng, Cordyceps sinensis, and tiger penis antler, and often boast about the extreme things they used to eat and become immortal immediately; What's more, those who come from the south to sell bamboo weaving, tea, pottery, mountain products, clay figurines, mud horses and silk goods, although they are brought into the Chenghuang Temple to sell small pieces and pocket goods, often win the favor of local porters and pilgrims because of their exquisite production and high quality ... In addition to vendors and artists in the guest area, local people also seize this opportunity to set up stalls. Among their business methods, there are dice-throwing, pai gow-drawing, touching flowers and eggs, five-tone gambling, bamboo rings, sugar-turning, clever pinching, fortune-telling and divination. At that time, these people were like ants and bees picking flowers. Although they are neighbors, they all abide by the rule of "an umbrella in the rivers and lakes, allowing you to eat, not allowing you to save" and only "go your own way and earn your own money". Never bully the city, be fierce and dominate. During the festival, there are numerous cultural customs and names. At that time, Guyimiao Street was always jammed with tourists from east to west, crowded with pilgrims, pushing each other, and the city was noisy.

Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chenghuang Temple was also a place for large-scale gatherings of Taizhou people. Historically, mass gatherings such as "Celebrating New Year's Day", "Celebrating National Day", "Supporting the Northern Expedition War" and "Boycott Japanese Goods" are held in the patio square in front of the main hall here. Although the courtyard in front of the main hall of Chenghuang Temple is small, it is the epitome of social life in Taizhou's old society and the witness of Taizhou's urban vicissitudes. City God Temple brings together all kinds of life in Taizhou, and also permeates the rich and colorful local folk customs, which condenses the local flavor of the central Jiangsu region and contains countless anecdotes that happened in this land.

According to Taizhou's records, the local Chenghuang Temple has been repaired five times. A.D. 1099, that is, in the second year of the Northern Song Dynasty, a general judge named Cai wrote a story about the Town God Temple and strangled this stone, saying that Taizhou people, Wang and Geng Duan initiated the reconstruction of the Town God Temple. 1439, in the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty, a scholar named Sun Chen also wrote a record of rebuilding the Chenghuang Temple, and set up a monument to record that Luo Shilong, the magistrate of Taizhou, donated money to rebuild the Chenghuang Temple at that time. Probably because of lack of funds, the renovation was not completed until the same period of the second year. 1599, in the seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Huang Li, a native of Taizhou, also wrote an inscription on rebuilding the Chenghuang Temple, so he laid a stone and set up a monument; 1854, in the fourth year of Xianfeng in Qing dynasty, Xu Ying, a native of Taizhou, wrote "Rebuilding the main hall of Chenghuang Temple", which was also written by Wu Xizai, a great calligrapher in Qing dynasty. Not long ago, there was a collector named Wang in Nanjing. He printed the original inscription into a copybook and sent me a copy specially, which is very precious. Previously, in 1724, during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Taizhou Palace repaired the main hall with its own money. Zhang Rending invested in repairing the ShenShen Hall. At that time, the stone tablet written by Chu in Taizhou recorded the merits and demerits of two enlightened local gentry for "rebuilding Taizhou City God Temple", but these two times were only minor repairs, not major constructions. Therefore, there are not many written records. Recently, however, Taizhou people are overhauling the Chenghuang Temple again. The purpose of this renovation is to carry out all-round protective renovation of Taizhou Chenghuang Temple because of its unique history, cultural relics, tourism resources, religious relics, unique architectural style and temple style. At present, I expect that after the completion of the Taizhou City God Temple, it may become a good place for local people to appreciate traditional architectural culture, understand local Taoist culture, express their feelings, and have fun. At that time, people can come here in droves to play, sing, write poems, dance, grab sticks, enjoy tea games, taste Taizhou's special snacks or buy small commodities. In a word, it will be the best and most beautiful mass cultural consumption space in Taizhou.