Shanghai City God Temple meets a fortune teller _ What should Shanghai City God Temple do when it meets a fortune teller?

Tour Wuyue District, Shanghai Tour, City God Temple and "White Elephant" City God Temple.

Tour Wuyue District, Shanghai Tour, City God Temple and "White Elephant" City God Temple.

Wandering around and looking around is what Shanghai dialect calls a "white face." People who go to Shanghai City God Temple White Elephant may not know that the City God Temple was originally a part of the famous Jiangnan Garden "Yu Garden" in the Ming Dynasty.

There used to be an ancient temple on Fangbang Road in the south of Yuyuan Garden. According to legend, the Jinshan Temple, built by Sun Hao, the King of Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, was dedicated to Huo Guang, a famous Han dynasty, also known as Huo Guangxing Temple, and was officially changed into the City God Temple in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty.

It is said that Pan Yunduan, the envoy of Sichuan Province in the Ming Dynasty, built the Yu Garden to please his old relatives. However, since his grandmother had never seen the palace, she imitated the format of the imperial garden and built nine dragon walls to show it. When the emperor knew about it, he thought Pan Yunyun was up to something and sent someone to investigate it thoroughly. Pan Yunduan was anxious after learning the news. On the day before the arrival of the imperial envoy, he moved the statue of Chenghuang Temple into the garden, arguing that it was Huangcheng Garden, which saved him from a great disaster. After the popularity of the temple fair, pilgrims gathered in the Chenghuang Temple all the year round, and a large number of Jianghu artists who told fortune, sold pear milk candy and pulled foreign films poured into the temple fair, and there were many local jugglers with snacks and toys. Therefore, Chenghuang Temple has become the most distinctive folk tourist attraction in Shanghai.

Chenghuang Temple is really a colorful place. In the old days, Shanghainese used to visit the Chenghuang Temple, and it was "the gate stuttered with wine-brewed dumplings (referring to the century-old old Songsheng), the second gate stuttered with sugar porridge (the most famous porridge stall in Zhang Zhifei), and the stone lion ate pear milk sugar next to it (now moved to the left side of the hall). Now the Town God Temple has been transformed into Yuyuan Mall with hundreds of shops, attracting tens of thousands of tourists with its unique style of integrating gardens, businesses and temple fairs. When you go to Chenghuang Temple, you can taste famous Shanghai banquets and famous snacks, and buy various local products and many small commodities. Tourists from all over the world come in an endless stream.

One temple and three city gods

Among many legends about the city god, "one temple and three city gods" is the most popular.

A long time ago, the Zhangjinghe area of Jinshan suffered from the drought that never happened in a hundred years, which made the seedlings yellow. Later, a big man came and swung a shovel. A crack immediately opened on the ground and became a new river, which attracted the Huangpu River. Later, I learned that Huo Guang, the general of the Han Dynasty, appeared to save the disaster. So everyone took incense sticks and kowtowed to the Huo family ancestral hall, and carved a tree in front of the ancestral hall into a statue of Huo Guang, called "Jinshan God", which was enshrined in the ancestral hall and changed to Jinshan Temple. Every year after the autumn harvest, people nearby will go to Jinshan Temple to celebrate. After Jinshan Temple was changed to City God Temple, the statue of General Huo was still sitting in the first hall that entered the door. Huo Guang became the first generation city god here.

Qin Yubo, a scholar in the Yuan Dynasty, was ordered to go to Suzhou as a magistrate. He saw the villages along the way depressed, the fields deserted, and people starving to death by the roadside. After taking office, he asked Meiji, the elder of Hanshan Temple. The elder said, "There are many Buddhist temples in Suzhou, and the people believe in Buddhism. Adults should build temples and monasteries with the money of powerful gentlemen in the year of famine, which can solve the livelihood of the hungry and help the poor. " So Qin Yubo invited Suzhou craftsmen to build Lingyan Temple and West Garden, build pavilions, open ponds and bridges, and organize dragon boat races on the banks of Shuomen, Xumen and Qiao Feng every day, which made this area very lively. Ladies and businessmen rented boats and came from all directions to watch. As a result, the money of the rich and powerful people has flowed to the poor.

After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, Qin Yubo resigned and returned to his hometown. Zhu Yuanzhang worshipped Qin Yubo as an official, so he invited him to be an official in North Korea. Qin Yubo had to wait a few years for a bachelor's degree and was buried in his hometown after his death. Ming Taizu wrote a letter saying: "Although Qin Yubo was not my vassal before his death, he should protect my people after his death." Therefore, Qin Yubo became the second generation city god. According to his appearance before his death, the local people made a red-faced city god statue for the backyard.

The third generation city god is Chen Huacheng, a national hero admired by Shanghainese. Chen Huacheng, the prefect of Jiangnan Navy, is a battle-hardened veteran who is brave and good at fighting. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the British invaders mobilized more than 100 warships to the Yangtze River estuary in an attempt to seize Wusong, an important place in China, and then control the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Chen Huacheng, 66, was ordered to guard Wusong Castle. 1June, 842, enemy ships assembled outside Wusong's mouth and fired shots to attack. Chen Huacheng denounced Niu Jian, the governor of Liangjiang, for being afraid of death, and wanted to make peace with the British army, leading his soldiers to fight back bravely. At a critical juncture, Niu Jian fled halfway, confusing the lineup of the Qing army, and the enemy captured Dongbao. Chen Huacheng was caught between Scylla and Charybdis, still fighting bloody battles. He was injured in the last seven places and fell in a pool of blood.

Shanghai people admire his heroism and cherish his achievements. They also carried his statue into the City God Temple and put it behind the statue of Jinshan for him to enjoy the sacrifice. He is the only city god in China who wears the official uniform of the Qing Dynasty.

Food world

The Old Town God Temple is the gathering place of Shanghai snacks, which is known as "snack kingdom" and "gourmet world". There are ten dim sum shops with their own characteristics in Jiuqu Bridge of Chenghuang Temple alone, and there are nearly 50 kinds of dim sum, such as steamed dumplings with three eyebrows, phoenix tail and four happiness. Jiaozi and Babao rice brewed in Manyuanchun Dim Sum Shop; Pigeon eggs Dumplings, Lard Fruit Cake and Ruyi Cake in Guihuating Dim Sum Shop; Kaiyang scallion noodles and heavy shortbread in lakeside snack bar; Chicken and duck blood soup in Songsheng Dim Sum Shop; Plain noodles and vegetarian dishes in spring breeze; Sweet-scented osmanthus glutinous rice candy in Yudian New Store. The most distinctive snacks are spiced beans, Nanxiang steamed buns and pear paste sugar.

According to legend, Wei Zhi, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, was not only an upright official, but also a famous dutiful son. During the Zhenguan period, Wei Zhi's mother was old and weak, and she often coughed and gasped. Wei Zhi was very anxious about this, so he invited a famous doctor who had treated his mother in North Korea and prepared the medicine according to the doctor's prescription. Unexpectedly, the medicine was so bitter that the old lady refused to take it after only one sip. What shall we do? Wei Zhi thought hard and finally realized that his mother likes pears best on weekdays. If we can mix pears with medicine, my mother will definitely drink them. So Wei Zhi did it himself, peeled the pear, mashed it to get juice, added sugar, and boiled it into a paste with several herbs on the prescription. This not only reduces the bitterness, but also is as sweet as honey, and the old lady eats it with relish. From then on, the old lady drank it every day, and her cough and asthma were all better, her appetite increased greatly, and her complexion improved. Wei Zhi was very happy. He kept adding tonics such as tremella, ham and dried shrimps to the pear paste, which made the old lady feel more and more energetic after eating.

Since then, this method of making pear paste syrup has gradually spread to the people. By the Ming Dynasty, selling pear toffee had become one of the 360 lines on Luoyang Bridge in Kyoto. There were countless shops and vendors who made a living from it, and there were more and more varieties. In the fourth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty (1854), someone opened the first pear flower candy shop on the beach next to the stone lion in front of the Old Town God Temple in Shanghai, which was inexpensive and became famous in one fell swoop. 1956 set up Shanghai pear paste shop to supply therapeutic pear paste candy and colored pear paste candy.

Chenghuang Temple has a history of more than 60 years. It is said that in the early 1930s, after the completion of the Heather Town God Temple, incense became more and more popular, and people burned incense and kowtowed in an endless stream every day. A man named Zhang Acheng cooked spiced beans with small green beans mixed with cinnamon and fennel, and sold them in the Chenghuangmiao market, which attracted many customers. At that time, Guo, who was running a small business, set up a stall in front of the temple to buy spiced beef and dried beans. Seeing the popularity of spiced beans, he opened a "Xinglong Spiced Bean Shop" at 1938. He chose the "three white" broad beans (white skin, white meat and white eyes) produced in Jiading as raw materials and made them with rock sugar cream, so it is also called "rock sugar cream spiced beans". This spiced bean tastes salty and sweet, delicious and memorable. 1956, Ji Guo Xinglong spiced bean was renamed as Chenghuangmiao spiced bean, which added varieties of colors and gradually marketed in Europe and America.

According to legend 100 years ago, a man named Michael Chen opened a dim sum shop in nanxiang town, Jiading County. The equipment is simple, there are only two tables for customers to eat, and one table is sold as a guest. The steamed buns he made are thin and stuffed, pickled and mixed with sesame oil. They are fresh and timely according to different seasons. In early spring, minced bamboo shoots were added to the meat, shrimp was added in early summer, and crab powder was added in late autumn, so it was especially delicious, and more and more customers ate it, and the market was getting better and better. Later, big hotels in nanxiang town also made efforts to make steamed buns, which became elegant. More than 70 years ago, Guan Mou from nanxiang town, Jiading County came to the Town God Temple and opened a steamed bread shop named Changxing Building. Nanxiang steamed bread became one of the special snacks in the Town God Temple.

Nowadays, steamed buns only have delicate flowers, which are translucent, juicy and delicious. As the saying goes, "Nanxiang steamed buns contain water, and the stuffing tastes particularly fresh." Eat with shredded ginger and balsamic vinegar, with endless aftertaste.