Jinci Temple, also known as Tang Shuyu Temple, was named after Yu Ji, the founding father of the State of Jin. Yuji's fief was called Tang State in ancient times, and I was Zhou Chengwang's younger brother, so I was called Tang Shuyu. There is a wonderful story about Yu Shufeng in the Tang Dynasty. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, after the death of Ji Fa, Song Ji, the eldest son, was young. With the help of Duke Ji Dan of Zhou, he became a monarch, namely Zhou Chengwang. One day, Wang Cheng and his younger brother Yu Ji were playing in the garden. He cut a tung leaf into the shape of a laurel tree and gave it to his younger brother. He said, give you this jade laurel and make you Prince of Datang! Historians nearby immediately asked the king to choose an auspicious day and named Yu Shu Hou. Wang Cheng disapprovingly explained: I was joking with him. Historians seriously said: the son of heaven is joking. Zhou Gongdan also thinks that historians have a point. When he became king, he really made Yu Shu a vassal of the Tang Dynasty. This is the widely circulated story of "tung leaves sealing the Tang Dynasty" or "cutting tung to seal the younger brother".
After Yu Shu came to power, he led the people to build water conservancy and develop agriculture, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, which was deeply loved by the people. In order to commemorate Yu Shu's achievements, later generations built an ancestral temple-Tang Shuyu Temple. Because the ancestral temple is located at the source of Jinjiang, and Yu Shu is the founding emperor of Jin Dynasty, Tang Shuyu Temple is also called Jinci Temple.
The date when Jinci was founded is unknown. However, according to the relevant records in Zhu and Topographic Table of Shu Wei written by Li Daoyuan, a geographer of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Jinci Temple existed as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty. In this way, the Jinci Temple has a history of at least 1500 years, and at that time it was already a fish and water swamp of the ancestral temple and a tourist attraction full of tourists.
During the Tianbao period of the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-559 AD), Levin, Wen Xuandi, "built a big building, built a view and built a pond" in Jinci, which was the first large-scale expansion of Jinci recorded in writing. Gao Wei, the ruler at the end of the Northern Qi Dynasty, changed the Jinci Temple to "God worships the Yellow Temple". In the Tang Dynasty, Jinci was renovated again, and Emperor Taizong visited Jinci personally, leaving a famous tablet, Preface to Jinci Tablet. Li Bai, a poet, also wrote the quatrain "Jinci flows like a jasper". In the Five Dynasties, Shi Jingtang, the great ancestor of the late Jin Dynasty, made Tang Shuyu the King of Xing 'an in the sixth year of Tianfu (AD 94 1 year), and Jinci was also called the King of Xing 'an. Although Song Taizong destroyed the Northern Han Dynasty and the ancient city of Jinyang, many buildings were built in Jinci, which was expanded for five years, including Notre Dame, and was named Jinci. During the reign of Song Xining (A.D. 1068- 1077), Jinci was renamed "Huiyuan Temple". In the forty-second year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (AD 1563), Shuimulou was built on the south side of the main hall of Notre Dame, and the name of Jinci was restored.
After Notre Dame was completed in the early Song Dynasty, the layout of Jinci Temple changed greatly. Notre Dame Hall became the main body of the shrine, with the largest scale. Rebuild the fish pond flying beam in front of the temple, and Huixian Bridge West Tree Golden Man Terrace. There was a memorial hall in the Jin Dynasty, and in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Fang Yue, Bell and Drum Tower and Water Mirror Platform were built in front of the memorial hall. Thus, a group of temple buildings with Notre Dame as the main body was formed. In addition to the above-mentioned scenic spots, other buildings on both sides were added or rebuilt in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties: Chaoyang Cave, Santaige, Guandi Temple, Haotian Temple, Dongyue Temple, Wenchang Palace, Sansheng Temple, Shengying Building and Jingqing Gate. , forming today's large-scale landscape architecture pattern.
As soon as I entered the gate, the first thing I saw was the water mirror platform. It faces east and west and is a stage. The name "water mirror" is taken from the famous sentence in Hanshu, which means that good and evil are known. From the architectural point of view, the water mirror platform embodies four styles: temple, platform, building and pavilion. From the east, the upper part is a double-eaved rest peak, which looks like a building; The lower part is in the shape of a broad palace, which is also a temple. The plaque of "Three Famous Springs in Jin Dynasty" hanging above was inscribed by Yang, the military commander of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty. Calligraphy is delicate and vigorous. Seen from the west, the upper part is a single-eave rolled shed roof, like a pavilion; Below is a spacious platform. This is a special building, which is a combination of temple architecture and rolling shed. Temple buildings were built in the Ming Dynasty, while rolling sheds were built in the Qing Dynasty, which is extremely rare in China. Hanging on the front is a "water mirror platform" inscribed by Yang, a famous calligrapher and Jinci person. It is famous for its beauty and is known as one of the three famous plaques in Jinci. Interestingly, Yang is Yang's nephew, and each title is engraved on a plaque, one by one, hanging on the water mirror platform, adding a lot of color to this stage.
Singing opera is an important part of sacrificial activities and temple fairs. There are dozens of sacrificial activities held in Jinci every year, among which 13 sacrificial days are to be sung. Except for the performance at Junda Music Station over there during the sacrificial ceremony, the rest are held on the water mirror stage. Every time the opera is sung, the audience is always enthusiastic, especially on the birthday of the Virgin Mary on the second day of July. Can the audience far away from the stage hear the actor's singing and Daobai? This is really a problem. However, our ancestors were very clever and came up with an ideal method of sound amplification, that is, four large urns were buried on both sides of the stage, and every two were buckled together to form four "big speakers", thus transmitting the sound to far places. It is said that the audience can hear the sound on the stage no matter where they stand in the temple because of this big urn speaker. Explained by modern physics, the principle of sound amplification in a large urn is the principle that sound propagates faster in solid than in air by using sound vibration.
Water mirror platform 1952 overhaul, 1980 painting. When Mr. Mei Lanfang, a master of Peking Opera, visited the water mirror before his death, he had a wish to sing a Peking Opera on the water mirror. Regrettably, Master Mei's wish failed to come true.
Huixianqiao Water Mirror Station crosses the Zhibo Canal due west. This small bridge is called Huixian Bridge. The bridge itself is not particularly noticeable. It may be that Jinci people think it is too bland, which is too different from other landscapes in Jinci, so they give it a beautiful legend to attract tourists' attention to this small bridge leading to the hall of Notre Dame.
According to legend, this bridge was the place where Luo Hongxian, an academician of the Ming Dynasty, met immortals, hence the name "Huixian Bridge". This Luo Hongxian was originally the son, daughter and in-laws of Yan Song, a traitor and corrupt official in the Ming Dynasty, but he was an honest official and had a lot to do with Yan Song. One year, Yan Song built a luxurious living room, and one of the beams was the bone of a big fish. People who came to celebrate praised the living room, but Luo Hongxian bluntly said, "Good is good, but the beam is too small." Yan Song thought that Luo was "too generous" to insult him in public, so he prepared to hurt him. Yan Song's daughter can't bear the misfortune of her future father-in-law, but she can't say it clearly. She used her quick wits to make a bowl of tea and ordered the maid to send it. It's not against etiquette for a daughter-in-law who hasn't been through the door to offer a bowl of tea to her husband and father. Luo Hongxian opened the lid of the bowl and saw two red dates and a pinch of fennel floating inside. Luo pondered for a long time, and suddenly realized that jujube fennel means returning home early. So he fled overnight and Luo Hongxian was dismissed from office.