It is said that there are three wonderful women in Fujian - Fuzhou women, Hui'an women and Meizhou women.
My hometown is in southern Fujian, so Hui'an women are relatively familiar to me. I have been to Meizhou Island before, and I have seen Meizhou women dressed in unique styles. Therefore, I can say that I feel familiar with Meizhou women. Only the daughter of the Fuzhou She family has not seen her in person. It is said that Chen Jinggu was a daughter of the Fuzhou She family who married into the Liu Qi family of Gutian County. Therefore, I thought that when I came to Linshui Palace to see Our Lady of Shuntian, I should have met the real Fuzhou woman. Got it!
On June 14, 2013, a group of more than 40 people from the Southeast Network’s collection group came to Gutian County, Ningde, and paid homage to Linshui Palace, the Taoist temple of Chen Jinggu. From this, we have some exploratory understanding of this land-based Mazu.
The Linshui Palace was built in the eighth year of Zhenyuan of the Tang Dynasty (792 AD) and has a history of more than 1,200 years. When we walked to the mountain gate, we saw red decorations here and a banner that read "Warm congratulations to Gutian Linshui Palace for being awarded the seventh batch of national key cultural relics protection units." Yes, cultural relics are under key protection, which is a happy event and worth celebrating!
At the same time, according to the tour guide: On June 17, 2013, hundreds of believers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait will gather at Chen Jinggu Ancestral Temple - Gutian Linshui Palace to worship Shun. Holy Mother Chen Jinggu, pray for peace and good health. At that time, the fifth "Strait Forum Chen Jinggu Cultural Festival" with the theme of "Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share the same origin and are connected by roots", hosted by the Ningde Municipal People's Government and hosted by the Gutian County People's Government, will be held grandly at Gutian Linshui Palace.
Therefore, when our group arrived, the staff of Linshui Palace were busy decorating the lights to welcome the arrival of this grand ceremony. I think that by then, this thousand-year-old Taoist temple will be bustling with activity.
As you approach the mountain gate from the steps outside the mountain gate, there are two stone inscriptions on each side, both written by famous modern calligraphers. After walking through the mountain gate, there are eighteen steps, which implies that Chen Jinggu married into the Liu Qi family in Gutian County when she was eighteen years old; and walking up again, there are twenty-four steps, which implies that Chen Jinggu married into the Liu Qi family in Gutian County when she was twenty-four years old. The villagers resisted the drought and prayed for rain, and finally sacrificed their lives to achieve enlightenment, leaving a lasting name.
Up to the twenty-four steps, facing to the right, is a stone statue of Chen Jinggu holding a painting fan in her right hand and protecting a child in her left hand. It vividly reproduces the grace of this goddess who protects women and children, as well as her heroic appearance in protecting one party. On the left side is the main gate of Lingshui Palace, with five gold characters "Edict to Linshui Palace" written vertically. The tour guide did not forget to introduce that this was a plaque given by the emperor of a certain dynasty.
Follow the tour guide and walk in through this gate, which is the ancestral hall of Linshui Palace. This hall is entirely made of wooden structure, with carved beams and painted buildings everywhere, and is antique. So, people can't help but ask, where did Chen Jinggu and Linshui Palace come from?
According to records, Chen Jinggu (AD 767-790), born in Xiadu, Fuzhou, once went to Lushan, a Taoist holy land, to study Dharma and was able to subjugate demons and help people in danger. After she married into Liu Qi's family in Gutian, she died on the Gutian Bridge near the water while praying for rain for the people during a drought. After her death, she gained enlightenment. The villagers felt her kindness and built a temple to worship her. Later, she was bestowed upon her by the emperor and her reputation grew. She finally became the goddess of maternal and child health care on land.
In the eighth year of Zhenyuan of the Tang Dynasty (792 AD), two years after Chen Jinggu’s tragedy, the villagers built a temple in Zhongcun, Gutian Bridge Town, in order to commemorate this Taoist goddess who subdued demons and rescued people from danger. This waterside palace. Since then, Linshui Palace has been popular all year round and has been admired by people throughout the ages. Chen Jinggu has become a respected Taoist goddess in people's minds, and is also recognized as the "Mother of Shuntian" by believers at home and abroad!
The story that tour guides tell most about Chen Jinggu is the story of her grudges with a snake spirit, which embodies the truth that evil cannot prevail against good in this world. I will not elaborate on this overly hyped and very similar legend here. Let’s just tell the story of her battle of wits with two men, and tell the story of the heroine of the Tang Dynasty who was not inferior to men.
It turned out that two male Taoist priests were dissatisfied with Chen Jinggu and wanted to compete with her for the position of altar leader.
So, the two of them agreed to find an opportunity to stumble her. In order to convince them both and maintain her unshakable position among the villagers, Chen Jinggu readily accepted their challenge. So, the two men came up with an idea where they had an advantage, and compared their walking speed with Chen Jinggu - that is, the three of them started walking from a certain place, and whoever reached Linshui Palace first would win.
The tour guide said that after hearing this, Chen Jinggu readily accepted the challenge and made an agreement with the two of them that whoever arrives at Linshui Palace first will be the altar master, and the person who arrives later will obey the order of the person who arrived first. Indeed, the two men did know how to run. They quickly ran to Linshui Palace to see that Chen Jinggu was not there yet, so the two of them played a chess game after arriving here, intending to watch Chen Jinggu's jokes while playing chess.
The tour guide also said that because Chen Jinggu was a woman with bound feet, she could not keep up with these two lavish men when walking, so she came up with a clever trick. When the two men were playing chess, She used the Taoist techniques she had learned to spread the sound from the back room in the distance. Two men who were playing chess and joking heard Chen Jinggu's voice coming from the room. They mistakenly thought that they had arrived here long ago, and hurriedly knelt down on the ground and obeyed orders, not daring to move.
Afterwards, Chen Jinggu sneaked in quietly from the back door, walked out of the back room, and asked the two of them if they were convinced or not. In the end, the two of them had to say: "We are convinced, we are convinced by Chen Xiangu!"
After the tour guide finished speaking, everyone was still immersed in the atmosphere of the story, taking pictures and following her story around Linshui Palace.
And I know that these are all folklore, and of course there is no evidence. But as folklore, its mistakes are still very obvious. Although the tour guide seemed to enjoy it, this legend still ignored the historical authenticity. According to historical records, the binding of Chinese women's feet should have started in the era of Li Yu (937-978 AD), the late ruler of the Southern Tang Dynasty. It flourished after the Song Dynasty and ended in the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Therefore, rural women in the Tang Dynasty more than a hundred years ago did not know how to tie their feet.
However, Chinese folklore believes that the binding of small feet was caused by Daji, the favorite concubine of King Zhou. Because she was a vixen, she was afraid that King Zhou would see her hairy feet and fall out of favor, so she asked King Zhou to order all women in the world to use their feet