After more than a hundred years of wind and rain, the only remaining back hall, as the warehouse of the hydropower printing house, is surrounded by low-rise houses built in disorder. The cornice was supported by brick and wood, the exquisite doors and windows of the sculptor were broken, and the oil paintings disappeared. The black glazed tile roof of the back hall of Chenghuang Temple stands out from the front of Baoxia, which is a magnificent cultural relic under special protection in Beijing, covering an area of 560 square meters. After archaeological exploration by the Municipal Institute of Culture and Research, the capital temple was overhauled in June 2005. This project is listed as the scope of "People's Olympics" protection project.
American Lewis Charles Arlington wrote in 1933, "Old Scenes of the Ancient Capital": "The corner in the high wall behind the palace is the local city god temple, with many restored plaques and yellow strips on both sides. It must be a particularly useful temple. " He is talking about the Chenghuang Temple in Fuxingmen. At that time, there was a couplet at the entrance of the Chenghuang Temple. "Whoever is discredited, the deceased is like a husband; This is heartless and unwise. "
There are plaques such as "strict discipline", "mighty and upright", "protecting the country and benefiting the people", "I am selfless", "saving righteousness" and "promoting righteousness" in the Chenghuang Temple, and it is useless to burn incense when doing evil. Why don't you see my integrity? The core of these plaques and couplets is to praise the merits of Lord Huang Cheng and persuade people to be good but not evil. In addition, there are stone tablets and stone carvings. These cultural monuments are an important part of the city god culture. In ancient times, agricultural economy was often weak in the face of powerful natural forces. A potential fear makes people often pin their hopes on the worship of totems, ancestors and natural gods, and seek the protection of natural forces and ancestors through certain sacrifices. Under the domination of the concepts of "animism" and "harmony between man and nature", there have been worship and sacrificial ceremonies for gods. A moat with water is called a pool, and a moat without water is called a shovel. The word "city god" is used to refer to a city. City God is one of the natural gods worshipped by China's primitive beliefs, and is regarded as the patron saint of the city.
Town God, which originated from the water (god) sacrifice to the city in ancient times, is one of the Duke of Zhou and Ba Shen. "City" originally refers to the dug-up high wall, and "shovel" originally refers to the moat without water. In order to protect the safety of the people in the city, ancient man-made cities built tall walls, towers, gates, moats and moats. They believe that everything closely related to people's life and production safety has gods, so cities and cities are deified as the protectors of cities. Later, the city god changed from the patron saint to the monitoring system of the underworld, so Taoism called the priests of the city god to cut off the fierce rebellion and rule the undead.
The most glorious period of Chenghuang was the Ming Dynasty. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to use the superstitious psychology of the masses to advocate that the God of the Town God could understand the good and evil of the people, so that those who did good would be blessed and those who did evil would be punished, so as to shock their subjects and consolidate their rule. "It is a blessing and a curse to observe the good and evil of the people's feelings, so that you cannot be spared." He sealed the capital and world gods in January of 1369 (the second year of Hongwu). The city god called guarding. Every government has a city god temple, and all its subordinate counties have a city god temple. There are two counties in Beijing, each with a city god temple. Feng Ming Yingjing's "Generalized Moon Order" said that Wen Tianxiang was the first city god in Beijing, and then Yang Jiao. They are the embodiment of justice. Capital Temple Fair is one of the earliest and most lively temple fairs in Beijing. The temple fair of Ducheng God Temple opens on the first, fifteenth and twenty-fifth day of each month. On the opening day, vendors gathered, including not only the daily necessities of the people, but also famous and special products from all over the country, such as Suzhou embroidery, Shu brocade, silk satin, pen and ink rice paper, as well as rare treasures at home and abroad, such as Yi Ding in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, opera mirrors in Han Dynasty, paintings and calligraphy in Tang and Song Dynasties, porcelain in famous kilns, jewelry, ivory, jade, coral trees and so on. Merchants not only come from all directions at home, but also from abroad.
Dong wrote "A Brief View of the Imperial Capital": "City God Temple City, New Moon, Hope, Twenty-five, East Wall, Nishioji, three miles away. The picture shows the ancient and modern days, the tripod is the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the mirror is the Qin and Han Dynasties, the calligraphy and painting is the Tang and Song Dynasties, and the jewelry is like the satin of the earthquake, the people of Yunnan, Guangdong, Fujian, Chu and wuyue, the people of the street, the people who walk in the clouds, the people who move trade, and the people who seek temples. " The Travel Notes of Yan Dou in the Ming Dynasty said: "The temple fair is named after the Town God Temple, which is the capital of the west of the city. West to the temple, east to the punishments street, about three miles, roughly the same as the lantern market. The market opens on the first, fifteenth and twenty-fifth of each month, and there are many market lights. " It recorded in detail the prosperity of selling Zhong Ding, calligraphy and painting, jade and Wan Wen at the temple fair. Tan Jing, Notes on the History of Ming Dynasty, also mentioned that foreign businessmen visited temple fairs in Beijing: "Blue-eyed businessmen, going abroad, going abroad, wrapped around millions of people, talking and laughing loudly." TanJing also said: "The temple fair started in Jiao Fang, northeast of Justice Street, bypassed the north and extended to the City God Temple for ten years. From "three miles" and "ten miles", it is enough to explain the scale of the temple fair.
Every year, on the 13th day of the first month of the Lantern Festival, on the 19th of May, on the 8th of June, on the birthday of his wife and mother, Tomb-Sweeping Day orphans will be sacrificed. On 15th of July and 15th of October, there will be temple fairs in the Town God Temple. These temple fairs are large in scale, scope and quantity. At that time, pilgrims and tourists will come in an endless stream, and small vendors and vendors will gather here to sell loudly and make a noise. "Downtown" is a place name that records the grand occasion of the temple fair at that time. Because the temple fair "swims with stuffing, so many weeds steal and cut locks", it is inevitable that there will be fights, thus leaving a proverb that "downtown is often noisy and Taiping Bridge is not peaceful".
In the late Qing Dynasty, it was gradually abandoned. There were many stone tablets, but they were stolen one by one. After the fire broke out in Tongzhi 10, the back hall and instrument door were repaired. At the end of Guangxu, only three main halls were restored for spring and autumn festivals. After more than a hundred years of wind and rain, the only remaining back hall has become a factory warehouse, surrounded by privately built low-rise houses. The cornice was barely supported by brick and wood, the exquisite doors and windows of the sculptor were broken, and the oil paintings disappeared.
Later, only five temples were left, which were listed as key cultural relics protection units in Beijing. In June, 2005, 5438+065438+ 10, Financial Street started the centennial overhaul of the Metropolitan Temple, demolished the surrounding illegal buildings 1000 square meters, and replaced more than 30% of the inner eave wood members. All the cement floors in the temple were replaced with "floor tiles". The restoration of the Town God Temple has also been included in the scope of the "People's Olympics" protection project. The relevant person in charge of the Xicheng District Government said that after the completion of the leisure square, this mysterious ancient building that has been closed for many years will be opened to the public together with the leisure square, adding another leisure activity place for the citizens. The Chenghuang Temple, the capital of Beijing, was built in A.D. 1270 (from the Yuan Dynasty to the seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty). When the capital is built, there should be a god of knowledge, so please set up a city god temple. Therefore, we chose a corner of the capital, Fang Kun, and ordered the government to supervise the construction of the Town God Temple, which is called Wang Yousheng Lingying Temple. Reconstruction in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty. 1430 (five years of Yide) In June, he was ordered to build the Beijing City God Temple in the Ministry of Industry. In April of the twelfth year of Orthodox Church, Wang You, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Industry, was ordered to repair Dongyue Temple, and in November of the twelfth year of Orthodox Church, the Chenghuang Temple was rebuilt. Ming Yingzong's imperial inscription recorded the disaster of Ducheng Temple for the first time, and ordered the Ministry of Industry to rebuild it. It was rebuilt in 1575 (the third year of Wanli). It was built repeatedly in A.D. 1726 (the fourth year of Yongzheng in Qing Dynasty) and 1767 (the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong). 187 1 year (ten years of Tongzhi), destroyed by fire, rebuilt the main hall and instrument door of the temple. In the Republic of China, although there was still fragrance, it had gradually declined. According to Ren Pingchun, a famous historian and geographer in Beijing who once lived nearby, there is an instrument door in the mountain gate, behind which is an empty courtyard full of rubble, and in the middle is the main hall of the shrine, with the name of who destroyed whom hanging on it, and the deceased is like a husband; A heartless and unwise couplet is awkward. Later, the Chenghuang Temple was occupied by a hydropower plant, and the surrounding old buildings were demolished and rebuilt, but only the main hall of the temple has been preserved to this day.
1875 (in the early years of Guangxu), the city god temple was destroyed by fire. The temples are in ruins, and the so-called city god statues in various provinces are completely destroyed, even the stone tablets are cracked. At the end of Guangxu, only three main halls were restored for spring and autumn festivals. In the early years of the Republic of China, the temple was still filled with incense, and there were vows and vows for various reasons. Some people put their elbows under them and tied them to the stove to worship; Some boys "lower their social status", put on red clothes and red trousers, put on heavy makeup, put on two small handbags, dress up as girls, step by step or step by step, and pay homage. Although there are believers and incense, the temple fair has been cancelled. With the development of society, the temple fair of Chenghuang Temple gradually declined and was replaced by the temple fair of Guanganmen Guobao Temple. Soon, the Liulichang market replaced the national temple fair. Chenghuang Temple is located in Fangcheng Street, Xicheng District, in the center of Beijing Financial Street. According to the records of Shuntianfu in Guangxu, Dacheng God Temple is located in the west of Xidan archway in Yiwu Gate, and downtown Town God Temple Street is surrounded by Joo Won?, Temple Gate, Shunde Gate and Zhanweimen, all of which are three, one on the left and one on the right. There are five front halls, three east and west halls and 22 cloisters with eaves and ridges. In front is the walkway, in the east is the pavilion of the imperial palace (according to the old news in the sun, the court has a pavilion), and in the west is the stove. There are five rooms in the back hall. There are three places outside the door, one in Jingting, the other in the south of the door, the Bell and Drum Tower.
The main hall in the temple is called Daweiling Hall, which is dedicated to the God of Kyoto City God Temple. Before it should be said, work hard for a long time, beans will be worshipped for thousands of years; The land of the country is heavy, and the spirit of the country worships God. Emperor Zongxian of the capital (Qing Dynasty) wrote a royal book. Later, according to the people's society, he called God, and joined Gong Ling Tianyuan to meet Kyushu Wind and Rain Meeting; Newspapers worship the country and worship the country, which is better for Yining No.1 Society. The back hall (press: bedroom, dedicated to the capital city god temple and its supporting facilities) is called Yin Fu Huang Tu, written by the emperor himself (press: Emperor Qianlong). ) In the east and west courtyards in front of Daweiling Temple, there are vertical stick statues in the color of the city gods of thirteen provinces in China, because they are all subordinates of the city gods. But in fact, there are only 12 provincial capitals. Originally, jiangnan province was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, so it was different from other provinces.
Only five bedrooms are left, with one eaves resting on the top of the mountain, yellow glaze and black edges, and three large ridges, with a building area of about 420 square meters, in which the hall body is 24.8 meters wide, with a depth of 17 meters, and a bucket of three-liter arches with a width of 17.8 meters and a depth of 7 meters. It is worth noting that the main hall of the Royal Temple of Altar in Beijing usually has a rolling shed in front of the hall to rest the mountain or a rolling shed to hang a mountain to hold a mansion. This time, it is a rule of one lesson and one volume, just like Dongyue Temple in a similar period, and later Baiyun Temple, Fayuan Temple, Yonghe Palace and other places. This practice of adjusting the body and ridge is an isolated case in Beijing, and the specific reasons are not clear, which should attract the attention of the ancient architecture community.