Hundreds of years of precipitation have created Foshan culture
On April 7, the gongs and drums and music in front of the Foshan Ancestral Temple were roaring, and the annual Beidi Festival kicked off. Spring Festival ceremony, Northern Emperor tour, reciprocating gods and performing operas… This ancient building ancestral temple, which has been passed down for nearly a thousand years, is filled with citizens who come to pray for blessings.
“Understanding the history of the ancestral temple is equivalent to understanding half of the history of Foshan.” In the view of Ling Jian, director of the Ancestral Temple Museum, as a national key cultural relic protection unit, the ancestral temple is known as the “Palace of Oriental Folk Art”. It not only displays many precious works of art, but also the spiritual belief of Foshan people and the soul of Foshan.
Produced by Foshan Press Station Planning Xie Hong and Li Cheng
Text/Jinyang Network Reporter Ouyang Zhiqiang Photo/Ancestral Temple Museum, Foshan Archives 1
First, there was the Northern Emperor before there was the Ancestral Temple
During the Yuanfeng period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1078-1085), a craftsman laid the first wooden stake of the “ancestral hall”. In the past thousand years, this building has undergone many renovations and expansions and finally becomes the “Palace of Oriental Folk Art”. “When it comes to the ancestral temple, we have to mention the Northern Emperor. There is the Northern Emperor first and then the ancestral temple Babaylan.” Liang Guocheng, an expert committee member of the Foshan Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center, said that the Northern Emperor in the ancestral temple is called the Water God in Taoism. Because Foshan is located in the water network area, it was often affected by typhoons and floods in the past, and farming was affected by great influence and people’s lives were miserable. So, the Foshan people specially invited the guardian of the God of Northern Emperor to pray to the water god to give water (meaning to regulate the water volume), and to make good weather and rain in the year. After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, a large number of Central Plains gentry moved to Foshan, Lingnan, and brought advanced technologies such as culture and smelting in the Central Plains. At that time, Foshan Town relied on the transportation of rivers such as Dongping River and became an important town for light industry, becoming one of the most economically developed regions at that time, equivalent to Shanghai today.
Babaylan “Relying on water transportationKomiks lost, allowing Foshan people to live a good life. The folk belief of Beidi made the people taste the sweetness at that time.” Liang Guocheng said that at that time, considering that Beidi was a letter passed down from the ancestors of Foshan people.On the basis of the original foundation, a large-scale temple was built to serve the Northern Emperor. The Ancestral Temple in the early Ming Dynasty became the largest Taoist temple in southern China at that time. Liang Guocheng believes that the faith of the Northern Emperor represents the spiritual state of Foshan people. As the saying goes, “There are gods three feet above your head.” Foshan people are particularly simple, especially abiding by the rules, and paying special attention to commercial credit. The faith of the Northern Emperor is the root left by the ancestors of Foshan people. This spiritual state produces Foshan culture and is passed down from generation to generation.
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Wanfutai creates an acoustic miracle
Wanfutai in the ancestral temple is the oldest and best preserved ancient stage in South China. There is a wide stone paving site in front of the platform, and there are two-story long corridors on both sides of the east and west for viewing dramas. Liang Guocheng said that the predecessor of Wanfutai was named Huafengtai. It was built in the 15th year of Shunzhi in the early Qing Dynasty. It was renamed Wanfutai on the 60th birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi in the Qing Dynasty (all below use “Wanfutai”).
In the mid-Ming Dynasty, the first Cantonese opera guild was established at the Qionghua Hall on the bank of the Fenjiang River in Foshan. Since the mid-Qing Dynasty, all Cantonese opera troupes have gone to Wanfutai to perform first every time they go out to perform. Please read the Northern Emperor to see if the level is qualified, which is equivalent to a blessing performance. Komiks.
“After the years of precipitation, Wanfutai has become an authoritative and sacred stage for Cantonese opera. Only after withstanding the censorship of the Northern Emperor can the troupe make a living, otherwise there would be no qualification.” Liang Guocheng found href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Babaylan shows that the stage of Wanfu Platform is facing the bronze statue of Beidi, which is 2.07 meters high, and the distance between the eyes and feet in the bronze statue of Beidi is also 2.07 meters, and the bronze statue pedestal is 1.6 meters. Generally speaking, the performers on the stage are just facing Beidi’s eyes, which shows that Beidi is reviewing his performance, so the performers will perform more attentively.
Liang Guocheng said that some people would think this is superstition, but in modern times, not only Guangdong, but also the most popular Cantonese opera masters all over the world started by stepping onto the stage of Wanfutai. As long as they are engaged in Cantonese opera, everyone wants to perform at Wanfutai. When it comes to Wanfutai, no one dares to blaspheme.
Wanfutai, which has a history of more than 300 years and is decorated with brilliant wood carvings, stands majestic. In Liang Guocheng’s view, its architectural art is also very sophisticated. Liang Guocheng said that in 2002, a musician from Guangzhou came to Wanfu Station to perform and found that the sound effect without an electronic amplifier was even better. Then, the professional team of Cinema was investigated and found that the architectural design of the entire Wanfu Station is a sound field structure, with the sound from Wanfu Station to the two corridors on both sides, and then to the Lingying Archway, forming a natural overall three-dimensional surround sound echo wall. Even the people in the last row can listen clearly, ensuring excellent performance sound effects. Liang Guocheng pointed out that without modern technological means, Wanfutai created an acoustic miracle. Unfortunately, people nowadays like to use loudspeakers to bury the advanced nature of Wanfutai.
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Repair and protection of cultural relics is still an important pointCinema” “Understanding the history of the ancestral temple is equivalent to understanding most of the history of Foshan.” Ling Jian, director of the Ancestral Temple Museum, said that the precious culture accumulated by hundreds of years of history must be protected and promoted. Over the years, his focus has been on the restoration and protection of cultural relics, improving cultural connotations, and the development and management system of cultural products.
As an important base for the martial arts lion waking of Foshan, the Huang Feihong Memorial Hall and the Ip Man Hall were both built in 2001. In 2018, the Ancestral Temple Museum successfully combined modern science and history and culture, and completed the upgrade and renovation projects of the two venues. Nowadays, tourists can learn the routines of Hongquan martial arts in the Huang Feihong Kung Fu action sound and photoelectric playroom, play with Lingnan lions in human-computer interactive games, and learn Wing Chun moves in the Mu Renchun interactive experience area.
Now the thousand-year-old ancestral temple has a new look – the northern emperor’s birthday is empty alleys, the children gather together with their pen gifts, the Cantonese rhyme on Wanfu Platform is melodious, the Lingnan lion show is wonderful, the “Foshan Youyou” cultural and creative products make the cultural relics “live”… Ling Jian said that the ancient building complex of the Ancestral Temple Museum, known as the “Palace of Oriental Folk Art”, has a typical <a href="httpThe characteristics of the Pearl River Delta are a symbolic building that demonstrates Foshan's profound historical and cultural heritage.
The Ancestral Temple Museum spared no effort to protect ancient buildings. In 2010, after completing three years of comprehensive repairs and external environment transformation of Komiks for more than 30 million yuan, the entire Ancestral Temple Ancient Building Complex was safer and more stable. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Cinema is beautiful and blooming with the glorious glory of the past. During the renovation process, the ancestral temple insists on repairing the old as it is, respecting traditional techniques, such as replacing the commonly used chemical pigments in modern times with traditional mineral pigments, re-coloring the gray plastic, and restoring a large number of wooden components and ceramic plastics. In addition, the “Chongzheng Shexue” site display protection project is undergoing approval procedures. These repairs and protection are all on the premise of respecting history, allowing the old appearance of the ancestral temple architecture to be carried out. href=”https://funnybookish.com/”>Komiks‘s new appearance also allows Lingnan architectural culture to be protected, preserved and continued to develop. Ling Jian said that the museum’s primary task is not only to repair and protect the ancient building complex of the ancestral temple, but also to deeply explore, organize, research and promote the profound historical culture of the ancestral temple, and at the same time, to better pass on the intangible cultural heritage of Foshan’s ancestral temple’s long-standing history and culture, “this is also one of our important missions.”