"There is a ghost and a turtle at the back door of the Town God Temple.
The ghost picked a handful of water,
The turtle spilled the ghost's water,
The ghost grabbed the turtle's tail,
The turtle lost the ghost's water,
The ghost loosened the turtle's tail. "
Perhaps it is because of this "ghost turtle, turtle ghost" that time has skipped over 6 years in a hurry. As soon as the topic of "Town 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 the city. Supposedly, the Taizhou City God Temple should of course be the supreme commander who masters and governs the Yin boundary of Taizhou City. According to the "Rites of Zhou", one of the "wax sacrifices to Ba Shen", the "water agent" probably refers to the master of the city god. History: The Town 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 Wuhu, Anzheng. The Northern Qi Dynasty book "The Biography of Murong Yan" also recorded the relevant words of the city god temple in Ying city. 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, all wrote articles offering sacrifices to 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 this 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 the legend, there are different places in the city god temple, because the city god is the highest god who is in charge of the affairs of the Yin world. So, according to China's old practice, "one place is long", of course, it is impossible for all places to worship the same god.
As far as I know, Suzhou worships Chun Shenjun, one of the "Four Childes of the Warring States"; However, it is Wen Tianxiang who wrote "Zhengqi Song" that is worshipped in Hangzhou. Qin Yubo was sacrificed by the minister of Shanghai Chenghuang Temple. Which adult should the Lord of Taizhou City God be? There is nothing in the official history, but there are many folk sayings. Some people talk about Yue Fei, which is a bit like it. Because, before his death, his old man worked as "Tongtai Town Fu Shi and Taizhou Zhizhou". Legend has it that Taizhou City God Temple was founded in the Southern Song Dynasty, and it took about 12 years after his death for Taizhou talents to ask him to be the Lord of the Yin Dynasty. In this regard, it is not difficult for him. And the other is Zhang Shicheng, which seems unbelievable. Because when Zhang Shicheng made his fortune, Taizhou City God Temple had already been built. However, both of these folk sayings seem to be based on insufficient information, which can only be so-so, regardless of which one is the Lord 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 worshipped in various counties earlier were people who had made meritorious deeds for the local area. Because of this, in the first year of Qingtai in the Tang Dynasty, in order to comply with the public opinion and win the hearts of the people, the emperor suddenly made a decree to add the city god of each county as the "king"; After Ming Taizu and Zhu Hongwu proclaimed themselves emperor, they were so hot-headed that they made the capital city god the "emperor". In this regard, the people have some objections. Until the third year of Hongwu, even the Emperor Zhu felt that the city god was only the length of one place, 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 settled the private discussion among the people.
Taoism in China has always respected the Chenghuang as a "god who can cut evil and eliminate evil, and protect the country", saying that it can "rain when it is dry, and chew when it is waterlogged", and it is a local god who can ensure that "the valley is rich and the people are full". Book 163 of the Taoist True Scripture "Taoist Collection" contains: In the book "The Town God is the God of the Dead". As a result, in the past, when Taoist priests set up altars to worship the dead, it was necessary to have a procedure, that is, to burn "documents" and know how to shine on the city god. (Taoists call it "Chenghuang Dies"). Only after the "Chenghuang Dies" are burned can the dead be released to the altar. (See Collection of Taoist Scriptures, 973-975, Custom Doors, Volume 2). It can be seen from this that Taoism regards Lord Chenghuang as the highest official in charge of the affairs of the underworld.
The temple of Taizhou City God Temple in history is majestic and magnificent, and it is the largest Taoist temple in China. Its architectural style and volume are similar to those of Taizhou Jiuzhouya. Taizhou City God Temple covers an area of more than 5,3 square meters, with its north facing south. The eight-character wall outside the gate is divided into two sides, and it is pushed longitudinally from south to north with the meridian as the central axis, which is: Shanmen Hall, Siwei Gongcao Hall, Trial Hall, Main Hall and harem in turn. Symmetrical wings are built on the left and right sides of each entrance connecting the patio, so that each entrance Yu Dou naturally forms a group of "four-in-one closed" architectural communities. At the beginning, in front of the first entrance hall, there were three square entrance doors. A statue of a horse was molded on the east and west sides of the entrance hall, facing the entrance door at a distance, and a tall flagpole and a huge screen wall stood in the south of the street. The second entrance is the Four-valued Gongcao Hall, where the deities of four Gongcao, namely, Duty Year, Duty Moon, Duty Day and Duty Hour, are enshrined. There are five wings in front of the Gongcao Hall, namely "Zanhua Hall", "Banfang" and "Land Temple". The third entrance is the trial hall, which has a red sandalwood case-solving set up in the lobby of the old official's office. A brick archway is also built on the aisle in front of the hall, and a row of about seven or eight deacons' rooms are built on each side of the aisle. The fourth entrance is the main hall, opposite to the main hall. In the past, there was a theater. The main hall is the main hall in the Town God Temple, and in the middle of the hall is dedicated to the sitting statue of Taizhou Town God, who is loyal to the Hou of Hailing. When I was a child, I once saw this statue. He had a golden face and a beard. He was gentle and elegant, wore a golden crown, wore an embroidered red robe, wore a jade belt around his waist and wore black boots. He looked like a state-level official on the stage of the old drama. Later, I heard that the original statue had been smashed by progressive young people in the activities of breaking superstition as early as the Great Revolution. What I saw was another life image in a casual dress in the harem. Taizhou City God's rank is very high. According to the five-level titles of "Gong, Hou, Bo, Zi and Male" in ancient times, "Hailing Loyalty and Youhou" belongs to the second level, which is equivalent to Yangzhou City God's "Guangling Loyalty and Youhou" in the underworld. In front of the statue of Lord Chenghuang in the main hall, there is a strip-shaped big sutra table with a huge censer candlestick. 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 built outside the front porch of the hall, and a big bronze tripod in the middle, which is filled with cigarettes all day. There are 15 wings on both sides of the courtyard in front of the temple, which are 24 divisions respectively, and they are the administrative departments under the city god. It's just that the executives of the 24th Division were all carved into a terrible lost face. It is said that in the first place, anyone who died in Taizhou City had to write that birthdates went to the first wing of Division 24 on the east side of the main hall of the Town God Temple to burn incense and incinerate, to show that he took the initiative to report to the Lord of the Town God ...
With the rise of commerce and economy, the demand of ordinary people for cultural life became increasingly urgent, and the Town God Temple gradually changed from a temple offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods to a festival entertainment. At that time, every year during the Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Lantern Festival, Qingming Festival, May 16th (the birthday of the Town God), May 18th (the birthday of the Empress of the Town God), July 3, October Dynasty and other festivals related to ghosts and gods, it was always full of incense and excitement. At that time, around the cities, people of all colors, such as four townships and eight towns, flocked to the Chenghuang Temple to burn incense, make wishes and join in the fun. Many artists from Shandong and Anhui travel around the temple, playing with guns and fists inside and outside the temple, playing with monkeys and dogs, selling goods and performing arts and singing; Those experts from Sichuan, Chongqing and Chengdu who specialize in making Shangting snacks have brought their hometown's ten specialties, namely "Mala Tang", "Lai Tangyuan", "Fried Dried", "bean jelly skin", "Melaleuca Cake" and "Flower Handle", and umbrellas to sell here. There are also those who sell secret herbs, bear gall ginseng, cordyceps sinensis and tiger penis pilose antler from Yunnan, Guizhou and Northeast provinces, and they often boast those things that they bring to the extreme of becoming immortal immediately after eating; Even more, those who come from the south to sell bamboo weaving, tea, pottery, mountain products, clay figurines, mud horses and silk fabrics, although they are brought into the Town God Temple to sell small pieces and pocket goods, often win the favor of local foot players and pilgrims because of their exquisite production and high quality ... In addition to the vendors and artists in the guest areas, the locals seize this opportunity and set up stalls. In their business methods, there are people who roll dice, draw Pai Jiu, touch flowers and eggs, bet on five tones, set bamboo rings, turn sugar, pinch skillfully, fortune-telling and divination. At that time, these people were like ants gathering and bees picking flowers. Although they are neighbors, they all abide by the rule of "an umbrella in the Jianghu, you are allowed to eat it, but you are not allowed to save it", and only "go your own way and earn your own money". Never bully the city, be fierce and dominate. During the festival, there are various cultural styles, and there are countless names. In those days, from east to west, Guyimiao Street was always blocked by tourists, crowded with pilgrims, jostling with each other, and the city was loud.
Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Chenghuang Temple was also a large gathering place for Taizhou people. In history, mass meetings such as "Celebrating New Year's Day", "Celebrating National Day", "Supporting the Northern Expedition War" and "Boycott Japanese goods" were 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 Taizhou's social life in the old days, and it is also a witness to the vicissitudes of Taizhou City. The Town God Temple has gathered all kinds of life in Taizhou, and also permeated with the rich and colorful local folk customs, concentrating the local flavor of the central Jiangsu region, which contains countless anecdotes that happened on this land.
According to the records of Taizhou, the local Town God Temple has undergone five renovations. In 199 AD, that is, in the second year of Yuan Fu in the Northern Song Dynasty, a general judge named Cai wrote an article "The Story of the Town God Temple" and pulled stones, saying that Taizhou people Chen Duan, Wang Lvzhong and Geng Duan initiated the reconstruction of the Town God Temple. In 1439, when the Ming Dynasty was in the fourth year of orthodoxy, a scholar named Sun Chen also wrote a record of Rebuilding the Town God Temple, and set up a monument to record that Luo Shilong, the then Taizhou magistrate, donated money to rebuild the Town God Temple. Probably because of lack of funds, the renovation was not completed until the same period of the next year. In 1599, in the seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, Huang E, a native of Taizhou, also wrote an article "Rebuilding the Monument to the Chenghuang Temple", so he laid a stone and erected a monument; In 1854, in the fourth year of Xianfeng in Qing Dynasty, Xu Ying, Taizhou Zhizhou, wrote "Rebuilding the Main Hall of the Town God Temple", which was also inscribed by Wu Xizai, a great calligrapher in Qing Dynasty. Not long ago, there was a collector named Wang Weiyin in Nanjing. He printed the original of this inscription into a copybook and sent me a copy specially, which was very precious. Previously, in 1724, during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Taizhou Palace donated its own money to repair the main hall. Zhang Rending invested in repairing the Shenshenting Hall. At that time, the stone tablet written by Chu Shixuan, Taizhou Zhizhou, recorded the merits and demerits of two enlightened local gentry for "Rebuilding Taizhou City God Temple", but these two times were only minor repairs, and there was no major construction. Therefore, there are not many written materials recorded. Recently, however, Taizhou people are overhauling the Chenghuang Temple again. The purpose of this renovation is to carry out all-round protective repair of the Taizhou City God Temple because of its unique history, cultural relics, tourism resources, religious relics, unique architectural style and temple style. At the moment, I expect that after the completion of the Taizhou City God Temple, it may become a good place for local people to enjoy traditional architectural culture, know the local Taoist culture, express their feelings, entertain and relax. At that time, people can come here in groups to play and sing, write poems, dance and grab sticks, have tea games, taste Taizhou's special snacks or buy small commodities. In a word, it will be the best and most beautiful consumption space of mass culture in Taizhou city.