User:Vanessa1027/History

Jinghai Temple was built in Ming Dynasty to praise Zheng He’s contribution who helped the Ming dynasty for enhancing the communication and friendship with other Asian countries. Meanwhile, it is also a place where offers the Arhat portraits which is one part of Buddha, teeth relic of the Buddha and jade wares, etc. Jinghai, literally means peace and ocean in Chinese, which indicates blessings for the people who are on voyage. Then, it had gradually developed as a universal peace latter on. More amazing is that Jinghai Temple was rebuilt and fixed for three times in different time periods of Chinese history. In June, 1840, Great Britain declared a war and antagonized China, which was known as the First Opium War. In 1842, British troops invaded Nanjing. The whole China was in panic and under a great threat by the British evaders. The Qing government had discussed the unequal treaty with British government for four times in Jinghai Temple. On August 29, the Qing governmemt was forced to signed the  which is the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history at a British navy ship. Therefore, Jinghai Temple had became the symbol of the beginning of Chinese modern history. During the past five centuries, Jinghai Temple had underwent disasters and warfare which caused damage to it. In 1987, it was rebuilt with 628 square meters in the format of Ming dynasty. Since it could not be as same as the original one, Jinghai Temple was then called "Old Jinghai Temple Site". In 1990, Nanjing government decided to make it as a public places, Nanjing Treaty Historical Exhibition Museum, in order to remained Chinese people for not forget the history. At the end of 1996, the local government had invested significant amount of money to fix and rebuilt it to celebrate Hong Kong’s return. The Jinghai Temple was expended to 2800 square meters in total. The structure of it is simple but elegant, similar to the Jiangnan garden style. In 1997, Jinghai Temple was honored as one of 100 National Patriotism Education Bases.[4]