Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family in Guangzhou

The Chen ancestral hall, also known as the Chen clan academy or the Chen clan ancestral hall, is a place in Guangzhou where people worship their ancestors and learn from them. It is now the Guangzhou folk art museum, displaying the most distinctive buildings in Guangzhou. The Chen ancestral hall in liwan district, guangzhou, the ancestral hall of ancestors in foshan, the former residence of sun yat-sen in zhongshan city and the opium war memorial hall in dongguan city have been listed as four cultural tourist attractions in Guangzhou province.

At the end of the qing dynasty (1644-1911), a man named Chen won the third place in the imperial examination and was given a prominent official position, which made the Chen family known to all. It was later suggested that all Chen’s families raise funds to build a temple to worship their ancestors and encourage their descendants to study hard as well. So in 1894, the Chen family built the temple with donations from 72 counties in Guangzhou province and some overseas members of the Chen family.

The ancestral temple is a complex of nine halls, six quadrangles and nineteen corridors. A pair of stone drums in front of the gate, 2.55 meters (about 8.36 feet) high, and two four-meter (about 13 feet) high painted door gods are said to be the best in Guangzhou.

The Chen academy was built in a symmetrical manner in accordance with the Chinese tradition. The main hall, juxian hall, is located in the center of the temple. Before the temple was built, juxian hall was once a gathering place for clansmen. Now it is used as an ancestral hall. In front of the hall is a stone pavilion surrounded by a stone railing. There is a beautifully carved screen in the hall, which is a model of wood carving.

White Horse Temple, Which Has Remained Intact for Over 1,900 Years

White horse temple is a magnificent ancient architecture, has a history of more than 1900 years.

It was commanded by the emperor Ming of the han dynasty. In the year 64 of the eastern Han dynasty, the emperor sent people to study Buddhism in the western world. Three years later, two eminent Indian monks, she muten and Zhu Faran, came with the group. They brought a white horse with buddhist sutras and buddhas on its back. This is the first time Buddhism has appeared in China.

To express his gratitude to the two monks and their white horse, the emperor ordered a monastery to be built the following year and named it the white horse temple. During this time, the two monks were busy translating buddhist sutras in the temple, until they finished the Chinese sutras of the forty-second chapters, which attracted many monks, meaning that the temple became the center of buddhist activity in China. Because of this, the temple is known as the “home of the founders” and “the cradle of Chinese Buddhism”.

White horse temple ancient trees towering, solemn and solemn. Outside the gate, there is a pond with a fence around it. There are lovely fish in the water. Releasing animals is a matter for believers. Cross a stone bridge and you can enter the temple. On the east and west sides of the gate are the tombs of she and zhu falan, one of the six most famous attractions here. There is a tablet pavilion in the east corner. The Chinese characters on the tablet are the work of Chinese calligrapher and abbot shaman wencai, designed during the yuan dynasty (1271-368). Written in his familiar free and easy style, they describe the history of the white horse temple.

The temple of the heavenly king, the hall of the great Buddha, the hall of the great Buddha, the hall of the great Buddha, the hall of the guiding path and the cool terraced fields are all lined up in the temple, just as they were when they were first built.

The hall dates back to the yuan dynasty. In the middle of the hall sat a laughing Buddha, maitreya Buddha. It is said that the Buddha once incarnated as a beggar monk with a wallet containing all the treasures of the world. The shrine, made of wood and carved with more than 50 lifelike dragons, is a typical example of qing dynasty (1644-1911) culture. Maitreya is flanked by four solemn “heavenly Kings”. Each has a different weapon, four of which are clay sculptures cast in the qing dynasty.