User:Liu Zuonan/sandbox

Temple of Madam Xian in Gaozhou  “诚敬夫人冼氏，刺史冯宝妻也. 庙在邑东门外，高凉民奉祀唯谨” ，Temple of Madam Xian in Gaozhou County, which aims at commemorating Madam Xian and has been rated as the scenic spot of level A, is located at Wenming Street in the Eastern Gate of Gaozhou County. Nowadays, Madam Xian is considered as the symbol of unity and safety so that every year, many tourists from other places come to the Temple of Madam Xian to pray for unity and safety.

Introduction
“夫人晓兵略，每战辄张锦伞宝，敌惊为神，诸蛮皆称为‘锦伞夫人’云”. Madam Xian was a prominent military leader of the Baiyue People in the south of the Five Ridge in the 6th century. And she had successively serviced for three dynasties in ancient China, which respectively were Southern Liang Dynasty, Tran Dynasty and Sui Dynasty. Southern Liang Dynasty had granted her a title” Madam Kangjun”, Tran Dynasty nominated her as“Lady Shilong” and Sui Dynasty titled her “Madam Qiaoguo”. Having devoted her whole life to maintaining the unity of the entire country, Madam Xian was granted the name “中国巾帼第一人” by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai. Moreover, because of her conspicuous contribution to the south of the Five Ridge, the local civilians have been respectfully calling Madam Xian “Goodness of the south of the Five Ridge”. “有功于民则祀之. 其至今庙食固宜”. In order to eulogize the exploit of Madam Xian, the construction of Temple of Madam Xian has found its popularity in Maoming. And in total, there appear around 300 temples of Madam Xian in Maoming. Until now, Temple of Madam Xian at Wenming Street is still the largest one of the temples of Madam Xian in Gaozhou area.

The history and the development of the Temple of Madam Xian

 * 1) In the beginning of Ming Dynasty,Temple of Madam Xian moved here as old Gaozhou County moved to the south where the current Gaozhou County locates. Therefore, Temple of Madam Xian at Wenming Street in the Eastern Gate of Gaozhou County was built in 1535 during Ming Dynasty.
 * 2) In Qing Dynasty, the Temple of Madam Xian had been restored for several times at intervals.
 * 3) After the Chinese Civil War ended, Temple of Madam Xian had changed into a kindergarten, as a result, Temple of Madam Xian had been severely destroyed since then.
 * 4) During 1980s, personages in various fields zealously donated money to renovate Temple of Madam Xian.
 * 5) In December of 1990, Cultural Relic’s Management Committee of Guangdong Province sanctioned the renovation of Temple of Madam Xian. The renovation started in the August of 1992, and completed in December of 1994.
 * 6) In 2002, after President Jiang Zemin visited Temple of Madam Xian in Gaozhou, he pointed out that the scale of it was not big enough, and it needed developing as the base of patriotism education. In the same year, Gaozhou government invested a large sum of money to expand its scale, as well as turning it into a real base of patriotism education.
 * 7) In 2007, People’s Government of Guangdong Province awarded Temple of Madam Xian as the provincial unit of cultural relic protection.
 * 8) In 2014, Temple of Madam Xian has been rated as the base of inheriting China’s culture.

The layout of Temple of Madam Xian
The total thickness of the Temple of Madam Xian is about 62.2 meters, its width is 13.2 meters, and its proportion has reached to 826.3 square meters. On the whole, there are four pavilions along the longitudinal axis, and they are front hall, nave, main hall and back hall.
 * 1) In the front hall, some paintings are attributed to renowned painters like Yang Qiuxi are hung on the right and left walls. A few peddlers usually set stalls there to sell incense, candles, and souvenirs to pilgrims.
 * 2) Between the front hall and nave is a big patio and there places a stone boat around which the moss grows.
 * 3) In the nave, a horizontal inscribed board with words “Temple of Madam Xian” written by Zhao Puchu hangs above the large screen of "Birds paying homage to the phoenix" in the middle of the nave. Likewise, there are 12 pieces of vivid fresco in the right and left walls. For instance, one of them depicts the picture of a shepherd boy playing with the cattle. Below those fresco, there are about 10 pieces of stone inscription in five fonts like[http://篆 篆]、[http://楷 楷]、隶、行、[http://宋 宋],recording the feats of Madam Xian.
 * 4) In the main hall, there place the Madam Xian’s statues of different sizes. These three statues of Madam Xian line up front north to south. The biggest statue that wears phoenix coronet, flowery shoes and colorful clothes, is laid up in the north of the main hall. There are two statues of her bodyguards named Mulan and Cao’e. It is said that Mulan was in command of Madam Xian’s sword, and Cao’e preserved her seal. This huge statue can be moved by pressing some buttons, so that it can stand up, sit down, and stretch out its arms so that the staff could change its clothes. Another statue of Madam Xian is sitting in a spectacular chair between the biggest statue and the smallest statue. The last statue, in other words, the smallest statue is designed for parade because it is much easier to uplift.On the whole, all these three statues look majestic and magnificent.
 * 5) The back hall is the Temple of Feng Bao who was the husband of Madam Xian. The statues of Madam Xian and Feng Bao are both placed there, and both of them are regarded as Gods of Hehe, the symbols of affectionate couples. Therefore, young couples like to pray in front of the two statues when they encounter unhappy things about their affection.

Its aesthetic value
Except for its red walls and green proof, the craftsmen also exert other arts to decorate temples. As for Temple of Madam Xian, the craftsmen employ colored drawing, paste-on- paste decoration and carving to adorn it. As it mentioned above, in addition to colored drawing, paste-on- paste decoration and carving, there are plenty of calligraphy and many paintings with high aesthetic value.
 * 1) Colored drawing: almost all the colored drawings, most of which are about folktales, are fresco. Besides, every colored drawing has its own theme. More importantly, the fresco in the eaves and walls of the nave was created in Ming or Qing Dynasty, thus, it has historical value as well as aesthetic value.
 * 2) Paste-on- paste decoration: paste-on- paste decoration is mostly used as the cresting of the proof. The cresting like “double dragons plays with a ball”, “two carps jump across Longmen”, and “tales about Madam Xian” reflects the traditional custom and distinctive culture.
 * 3) Carving: there are two types of carvings: stone carvings and wood carvings. Stone carvings are mainly used to dot the stone pillars while wood carvings are exerted to make statues or wooden screens. Both of the two carvings embody the traditional arts of China.

The significance of Temple of Madam Xian
Ding Yangzhong, the professor of Central Drama Academy in Perking, had ever written a couplet for Temple of Madam Xian: 是人非神，千秋景仰；亦人亦神，万代馨香. In other words, Madam Xian was a human being, but what she did had been beyond ordinary human’s ability. Because Madam Xian was a woman with extraordinary merit, people worship her as a god.However,they do not deify her. Therefore, Temple of Madam Xian is constructed for descendants to eulogize her feat and worship her patriotism instead of holding feudal and superstitious activities. Zhang Dejiang has ever said, “构建和谐社会，冼夫人是个典范. 建设文化大省，构建和谐社会，极有必要宣传冼夫人的历史功绩和爱国主义精神，这一方面的工作一定要加强. ” As a result, Temple of Madam Xian is a base of patriotism education which instills patriotism in people and counsels them to make contributions to their country rather than a place for people to proceed superstitious activities.