Tianhou Temple (Ningbo)
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The East Zhejiang Maritime Affairs/Folk Custom Museum. is a museum located in Yinzhou District in
Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...
,
Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...
, China. It is located in the , a reconstructed complex which once housed a temple to the sea-goddess
Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...
. Originally built in 1191, the complex was destroyed and rebuilt several times. After its mid-19th century restoration by Ningbo's guild of
Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...
ese merchants, it was acclaimed as one of the most beautiful temples in China and was used by the merchants as their
guildhall A guildhall, also known as a guild hall or guild house, is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Europe, with many surviving today in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commo ...
. It was destroyed in 1949 as the
Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
were fighting the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...
, and suffered further harm during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, but was repaired from 1997 to 2001. It reopened in June 2001 as a museum dedicated to eastern Zhejiang's maritime history and local arts and crafts. The museum has been listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level since 2001. The museum's director is Huang Zhesu .


Names

The diverse roles the location has served have caused it to appear in English accounts under a variety of names, particularly before the adoption of
pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...
as a standard romanization scheme. It was known as the Tianhou Temple,. the Tianhou Palace, the Tien-how-kung or Tianhou Gong, the Queen of Heaven Temple, the Temple of the Queen of Heaven,.. or the Palace of the Empress of Heaven, from one of Mazu's epithets. From its local pronunciation, it also sometimes appears as Tín Heo Kōng. Another of Mazu's epithets sometimes gave it the name Tianfei Gong or Tín Fi Kōng. It is also known as the Sea Goddess Temple. After it was rebuilt by Fujianese merchants in the mid-19th century, it became known as the Fujianese Guildhall, the Qing'an Guildhall, or Qing'an Assembly Hall.. The merchants' involvement in northern maritime () trade led local Chinese to refer to it as the North Guildhall. In English, it was called the Fukien or Fujian Temple, Fukien Guildhall,. Fokien Guild House or Guildhouse,. the Guild House of Fokien Merchants,. and the Guildhall for the Fujian People or Fukien Hui Kuan.. The present-day museum is sometimes translated as the Museum of Maritime Affairs and Folk Custom in Eastern Zhejiang. File:Ningbo Qing'an Huiguan 2013.07.27 17-12-51.jpg, The entrance, with the character for luck above those for "Palace of the Empress of Heaven", surrounded by stone carvings File:Ningbo Qing'an Huiguan 2013.07.27 17-00-17.jpg, Sign announcing the Qing'an Guild Hall's protected status


History

The complex lies at the heart of present-day
Ningbo Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the Eas ...
on the east bank of the Yong River as it is formed by the confluence of the
Fenghua Fenghua (; ) is a district (China), district of the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China. The district and its administrative hinterlands have a population of over 480,000. Fenghua is the hometown of two former president of the Republic of ...
and
Yuyao Yuyao () is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo. It is located west of central Ningbo, east of Hangzhou, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north. Yuyao ...
rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...
. Merchants from
Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...
first built it in 1191 under the
Southern Song The Song dynasty ( ) was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending ...
as a
temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
to the sea-goddess
Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...
in her role as the Empress of Heaven ("Tianhou"). It lay at the water's edge outside the old city walls, between its East and Bridge gates. It was rebuilt in the 1680s.. After Ningbo and
Xiamen Xiamen,), also known as Amoy ( ; from the Zhangzhou Hokkien pronunciation, zh, c=, s=, t=, p=, poj=Ē͘-mûi, historically romanized as Amoy, is a sub-provincial city in southeastern Fujian, People's Republic of China, beside the Taiwan Stra ...
were reopened to international trade by the treaty ending the
First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...
, nine prosperous merchants— Dong Binru,
Feng Yuxiang Feng Yuxiang (; ; 6 November 1882 – 1 September 1948), courtesy name Huanzhang (焕章), was a Chinese warlord and later general in the National Revolutionary Army. He served as Vice Premier of the Republic of China from 1928 to 1930. A ...
, Su Qinghe, Fei Lengkan, Fei Fusheng, Sheng Bindeng, Tong Xianglong, and Gu Xuan—rebuilt the temple from 1850 to '53.
Samuel Wells Williams Samuel Wells Williams (September 22, 1812 – February 16, 1884) was a linguist, official, missionary and sinologist from the United States in the early 19th century. Early life Williams was born in Utica, New York, son of William Williams (1 ...
considered it Ningbo's "most elegant and solid building"; at the time, it was covered with well-done
calligraphic Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...
scrolls and brush drawings, particularly on holidays. John Thomson, an early
photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...
who traveled extensively along the coasts of the
Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
considered it "one of the finest examples of temple architecture in the Empire." He was drawn to its elaborate carvings and careful stylization: "even the minutest details among the ornaments of the building are full of deep significance to native art and the
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
or Hindoo mythology" (i.e.,
Chinese folk religion Chinese folk religion comprises a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. This includes the veneration of ''Shen (Chinese folk religion), shen'' ('spirits') and Chinese ancestor worship, ances ...
). The Ningbonese scholar Dong Pei studied the temple's history, inscribing his findings on a tablet preserved at the museum. It was destroyed by the
Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
in 1949 during the last phases of their war against Chiang Kai-shek's
Nationalists Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, Id ...
. The site was further damaged during the 1960s'
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, with the second door being completely destroyed. The temple's ruin was largely left to the elements until Ningbo's Culture and Press Bureau began renovating it in 1997. It reopened to the public as a museum in June 2001, when the State Council designated it among its 5th batch of cultural relics entitled to national protection.. It is one of the largest surviving Mazu temples in China and some of the old stone carvings have been preserved and incorporated into the present museum. File:Temple of the Goddess Ma Tsu-pu, Ningpo.jpg, The Great Hall in the early 19th century File:Ningbo Tianfei Temple, colorized.png, A colorized version of
Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson M ...
's photograph


Architecture

The west-facing complex covers and consists, from front to back, of the Entrance, Second Door, Front Stage, Great Hall, Rear Stages, and Rear Chamber. The second door, having been destroyed during the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...
, was reconstructed from historical drawings held by Southeast University. The front stage is high, wide, and about as deep, being roughly square. By placing it before the main hall, it was thought that the gods could enjoy watching the opera shows. The walls were designed to produce a resonating effect during performances. The front and rear chambers and the two stages are linked by wing-rooms to one another. The southwest corner has seven side-rooms. The north side includes a separate area for greenery and the north and west sides each have a private courtyard, used as the offices for the guildhall. The style is believed to have been widely influential and copied. To the north of the present complex lies Qing'an Park.


Exhibits

The museum collects regional art concerning Mazu, including large
fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
s. Its naval exhibits include the wooden steering wheel recovered from the wreck of the SS ''Jiangya'', which struck a mine near the mouth of the
Huangpu River The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River. The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its ...
in 1948 as
Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...
were fleeing to Ningbo from the oncoming
Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
. Given the high number of
stowaway A stowaway or clandestine traveller is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as a ship, an aircraft, a train, cargo truck or bus. Sometimes, the purpose is to get from one place to another without paying for transportation. In other c ...
s, it is thought that more than 3000 people were killed in the explosion, making it the worst or 2nd-worst maritime disasters in history. The museum preserves a thousand red wood carvings and a few hundred stone and brick carvings.. The 14 tile carvings over the entrance include Twin Dragons Playing with a Pearl, the
Eight Immortals The Eight Immortals () are a group of legendary ''Xian (Taoism), xian (immortals)'' in Chinese mythology. Each immortal's power can be transferred to a vessel () that can bestow life or destroy evil. Together, these eight vessels are called the ...
Crossing the Sea, "Dragon Tongue Squad", Fishing, Wood-cutting, Farming, and Reading. The beams of the front stage mostly depict stories from the ''
Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...
'', including Three Heroes Fighting against Lu Bu and the Empty Fort Strategy. It also includes some carvings of actors and auspicious designs such as Magpies Perching on Plum Trees, dragons, phoenixes, and peonies. The screens are engraved with paintings of six ladies. Curved rails ("Rails for Beauties to Lean On") line three sides of the stage. For younger children, it has many scale boat models with woven sails and moving parts. One of the models is based upon the western-style gunboat purchased by the temple's 19th-century restorers in 1854 to suppress pirate attacks on their vessels. File:Detail of stone carve in Qingan Association 4.jpg, Stone carvings at the EZMAFCM File:Detail of wood carve in Qingan Association.jpg, Gilt woodcarving at the EZMAFCM


Gallery

File:Tianfei Temple, Ningbo. Wellcome L0055831.jpg, The right foo dog which protected the temple's great hall, File:Tianfei Temple, Ningbo. Wellcome L0055881.jpg, A stereogram of the left foo dog which protected the temple's great hall, File:Monks at Amoy Guild House, John Thomson Wellcome L0056011.jpg, A stereogram of a porch File:Ningbo Qing'an Huiguan 2013.07.27 16-23-44.jpg, The present-day complex from across the Yong River


See also

*
Major national historical and cultural sites in Zhejiang Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...


Notes


References


Citations


Bibliography

* . * . * .


External links

* . & {{coord, 29.8747, N, 121.5589, E, source:wikidata, display=title Museums in Zhejiang Tourist attractions in Ningbo Buildings and structures in Ningbo Maritime museums in China Folk museums in China Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Zhejiang Yinzhou District, Ningbo National third-grade museums of China