1 10 8 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document C:\Jinhua2002\Tangxi\Tangxi chenghuang miao column inscriptions.doc   Tangxi chenghuang miao column inscriptions (According to the Chinese format of a couplet, read the right first, and then the left) <table width="958"> <tbody> <tr> <td width="319"> The left column of a couplet </td> <td width="319"> The right column of a couplet </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="638"> <h1>Back hall</h1> </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> As soon as one sees yellow gold and white silver one is consumed by covetousness and greed, and forgets that there is a blue heaven above </td> <td width="319"> After one tastes the sour of tears and the saltiness of blood one feels regrets; one ought not to have acted vicious and lied and thought said that there is no abyss of suffering in the world </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The god’s image has been recast; this place for praying for good fortune flourishes in all its glory </td> <td width="319"> The temple has been renovated; inquire about good fortune and ill </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> As long as I am steadfastly moral, what does it matter if I do not worship </td> <td width="319"> As long as you are obsessed with the false, what good will it do even if you burn incense </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The man died and became a god, the commemoration is on the 16th day of the 4th month </td> <td width="319"> His honor first built a city for this county five hundred and twenty one years ago </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The people are responsible for giving good protection to historical relics </td> <td width="319"> The city-god temple is the largest historical architecture in Tangxi </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="638"> Front hall, Back section </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> You should know that I can be lenient and I can be understanding; the executioner’s sword us put aside. Turn back and repent </td> <td width="319"> No matter how lawless and wild you may be, when the bright mirror hangs before you do you feel fear or not? </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Central row of columns left side </td> <td width="319"> Central row of columns right side </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Think! Whom have I ever easily pardoned? You should quickly repent and not harm others </td> <td width="319"> Stop! What are you doing secretly? How dare you come here and deceive me! </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Whatever happens is the result of cause and effect, know that the auspicious and inauspicious, good fortune and disaster, are accurate retribution </td> <td width="319"> When you see the imposing edifice of the temple you understand that honesty and sycophancy are rewarded and punished differently </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> It is only because the god has unvarying true insight and correctness that he can oversee reward and punishment </td> <td width="319"> In this place high and low, rich and poor do not matter, only the ranking of good and bad is kept </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The mirror of your deeds hangs above the altar; as long as you meet an acceptable standard, I am prepared to be merciful </td> <td width="319"> Hell is before your eyes, do not wait until you have committed a crime to wake up to it </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> <h2>Left side</h2> </td> <td width="319"> <h2>Right side</h2> </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> <h2>Drum</h2> </td> <td width="319"> <h2>Bell </h2> </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The mirror reflecting wrongdoing hangs on high, it will not harm people who look straight into it with a heart of goodness </td> <td width="319"> Illuminating the person like a mirror reflects, good and ill luck, disaster and fortune are bestowed with total impartiality </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Those with much to be ashamed of and those with evil thoughts ought to fear that there is something spying on them </td> <td width="319"> The god knows all your thoughts, he can immediately make a judgment of good and bad, true and false </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> <h2>Black Non-constancy and White Non-constancy </h2> </td> <td width="319"> <h3>Minor spirit court officers</h3> </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="638"> Front hall, middle section </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> I however cannot be fooled, I will remember everything that has been done, and final reckoning has never been wrong </td> <td width="319"> Your calculator is fine, every step is correct, but the end result is entirely false. </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="638"> <h1>Front hall, front section</h1> </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Central row of columns left side </td> <td width="319"> Central row of columns right side </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> When one has offended Heaven there is no prayer, early on one should distinguish righteousness from advantage, the public good from self interest </td> <td width="319"> If you wish to be sincere do not deceive yourself, what need is there to ask about good and ill, disaster and fortune </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Look up to heaven-and-earth and be first concerned with being for the people your whole life long; should you die within the day you still will attain glory </td> <td width="319"> When grudges fill the heart and you are only concerned with benefiting yourself then even if your good fortune lasts a long time what good will it do you </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Left wall – Punishing the Evil </td> <td width="319"> <h2>Right wall – Rewarding the Good</h2> </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> When behave as a good person your heart will be correct your person will be secure and you will feel peace even in your dreams </td> <td width="319"> When you compete for fame and profit you should know that there will always be a day of reckoning </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> What benefits the good and harms the perverse – these are discerned as clearly as by the sun and moon suspended on high a thousand miles away </td> <td width="319"> Good and evil are like ice and hot coals, neither can survive the other – let this encourage you, Sir, to reflection on yourself </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Suppress the powerful, support the weak – thus will the peace in the world be secured forever </td> <td width="319"> Righteousness and profit, auspicious and inauspicious, are the two paths; please, Sir, be careful even when all alone </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> When you do some good things, heaven will know, earth will observe, and the ghosts-and-spirits will be respectful </td> <td width="319"> Good and evil will have their recompense, do not say that nothing carries over from previous lifetimes </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319">   </td> <td width="319">   </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The hidden assignment of reward and punishment are hard for the eye to behold, but you can see how it works out </td> <td width="319"> Good and evil in our world are every person’s responsibility, when you come here the assessment is never wrong </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Missing characters </td> <td width="319"> Don’t fight fate, know that what happens has a prior cause, just focus on the present </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td colspan="2" width="638"> Gate </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319">   </td> <td width="319">   </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> The city is secured: there is Nine-Peak Mountain full of beauty and Gu River with its spiritual power. </td> <td width="319"> The customs are honest: there are farmers chatting in the Ge fields and fishermen singing on the Yue river </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> <tr> <td width="319"> Morality has declined but people still like to offer incense and pray for help, they know the gods are there </td> <td width="319"> The temple’s appearance has been renovated, look up to the majesty and fame of its spiritual power; we shall not forget its protection through the ages </td> <td width="319">   </td> </tr> </tbody> </table>   Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource D Courtyard near main hall IIIF Item Metadata Display as IIIF? Never UUID 41e6a724-fbc2-4fa5-bf34-6f46c6d7dcc2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Interview with Li Zhongxian at the Tangxi Chenghuang Miao Doug, June 29, 2002 1. Information about Mr. Li a. He is from Lizhai in Dongyang. He’s 82. He graduated from college and served as a junior high school teacher in Tangxi. He came to Tangxi in 1950 and so the information he told us about the pre-49 layout of the temple is dubious. He may have been remembering the layout of the Dongyang city god temple. b. He knew some basic information about the history of city gods. He knew that city gods did not appear until the Tang/Song and he also knew the details of Ming Taizu’s ritual reforms concerning city gods. c. His account of how the people conceive of the city god in Tangxi was somewhat inconsistent. When asked whether the city god had any power over the weather he replied that it did not. However, he said that people prayed to the city god for rain during times of drought. He also said that the city god simply determined one’s fate after death. But then he demonstrated how to ask the city god for predictions and advice concerning one’s future with prayer sticks. d. He said that he didn’t believe in the city god. When asked why the people wanted to restore the temple, he said that it was due to their beliefs. He claimed that the city god was a shen and had nothing to do with Buddhism or Daoism. 2. Temple Layout a. The city god’s office is in the main hall. He resides in the inner quarters (qingdian) with his family. In the inner quarters Song Yue is seated on the right, his parents are in the middle and his wife is on the left. b. Mr. Li claims that the ceilings of the temple were all painted and carved prior to 49. The pillar brackets were carved by people from Linghai rather than Dongyang because Linghai carvers were cheaper. He says that the 1925 renovation cost 100,000 yuan. The model of how the temple used to look was reconstructed from memory. c. Old ladies in the village collected donations for the “reward the good and punish the evil” displays in the main hall. He claims that they designed the displays. Prior to 49 the 10 bays in the display area contained the ten gods of hell. Some of the gods had statues and some were painted on the wall. d. The temple design was supposedly modeled on the city god temple in Suzhou. 3. Renovation and Upkeep a. Mr. Li claims that the xianzhang sensed that the people wanted to have the temple returned to them and restored and so he initiated the application process for the temple to become a protected cultural relic. He at first said that the money to pay for the renovation came completely from private donations. However, he later admitted that the province contributed 250,000 yuan. b. He claims that the upkeep of the temple is supported by donations. The government does not contribute any money for festivals. c. He would not give us any concrete information about the miaohui or temple association. He claimed that there was a miaohui, but he implied that they did little or nothing to organize festival activities. He argued that they just happen naturally. 4. Festivals and Temple activities a. The large statue in the main hall does not leave the temple. The smaller inner quarter statue goes out on ritual processions to inspect the city on the 16th day of the fourth month (Song Yue’s birthday) and the 15th day of the first month. b. On Song Yue’s birthday, people fill the temple and stay there overnight. Mr. Li claims that people come from all over the area to celebrate his birthday. The people offer incense and burn candles as they pray to the city god for protection. The city god can protect people from ghosts and other dangers. c. Mr. Li claims that people conceive of the city god according to the hierarchy established by Ming Taizu. The top god is the Beijing city god. According to Mr. Li, the Beijing city god is the ruler of the underworld. d. The plays are performed for the city god. People have to stand on either side of the courtyard during the performances so that they do not obstruct his view. They started to perform the plays again after 1979. e. The portable shrine (xiangting; longting) is new. Mr. Li said that the old portable shrine had a slogan wishing the emperor a long life engraved on it. He says that the city god image was carried behind it during the ritual processions through the town. (I’m not that clear if I understood his meaning here). f. Mr. Li showed us how to pray to the city god for advice. After kneeling before the city god, you pick up the container of prayer sticks and circle it around the incense burner three times. Then you gently shake the container until one stick falls out. You take it to the front of the temple to get an answer that corresponds to the prayer stick. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Interview with Li Zhongxian at the Tangxi City God Temple IIIF Item Metadata Display as IIIF? Never UUID f3fcd159-5e12-4092-baf7-8d3d4f3dbb9f Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document The Tangxi City God (Author: Li Zhongxian) In the past there were many stories about the city-gods of every place, that they were men who after death had become gods. For example, the city god of Beijing was the loyal minister at the end of Song dynasty, Wen Tianxiang who after his capture was put to death in Beijing, while the Hangzhou city-god was the former surveillance commissioner of Zhejiang, Zhou Xin, who became famous for his integrity and was wrongfully put to death. While the city gods mentioned in these tales were still alive, some made meritorious contributions to their dynasties, some showed kindness to the people, some were loyal and upright, some were capable and honest. They were revered as gods in order to commemorate them. The Tangxi city god is Song Yue, and his story is recorded in the Tangxi County Gazetteer. Inside the temple, at the side of the stage, engraved on a stone pillar as part of a couplet, there is also the phrase: “The god born in Zuocheng.”Song Yue, courtesy name Wenbo, was from Zuocheng city in Weihui prefecture (in what is now Henan), and once served as magistrate of Tang county. In the sixth year of the Chenghua reign period during the Ming dynasty (1470) when it was decided to establish Tangxi county, they appointed Song Yue as county magistrate, and he assumed the post in the sixth month of the following year. He was Tangxi’s first county magistrate. When Song Yue took up his post, because this was a recently created county, it originally lacked everything, he selected an area among motley trees and, in the forested Guan Mountain where tigers and wolves prowled, created the a county seat, the county yamen, the magistrate’s residence, the Confucian temple and county school, the temple to Guan Di and the city god temple and so on – all the facilities that a county should have, and in addition he laid out the streets and lanes and the marketplace. All this he completed in his three year term, and the building of the county seat made fast progress . Moreover, “Of things there was no rash expenditure/Of men there was no exhaustion of labor”, and so the merit he achieved was very great, and he was praised by the times. Thus, the chancellor at the time, Shang Lu, wrote a “Record of building the county seat of Tangxi”, commemorating these matters. Song Yue, because the county had been built for the first time and the county population was exhausted and he thought that “The people are the basis of the state, if the people are exhausted, then the basis is injured, so he memorialized requesting a reduction in taxes and corvée service for five years.” This reduction of money and grain tax and corvée service for five years, let the people of the county lighten their burdens and was a real benefit. This one measure, which undoubtedly augmented the group spirit of the people who originally belonged to the four counties and added to the new county cohesion with the people, was productive of a very good effect. Soon after the establishment of Tangxi, the area produced a metropolitan graduate (jinshi) (under the examination system of those days, once every three years approximately three hundred men in the entire country were selected as metropolitan graduates), so this was an excellent event. Moreover, “Auspicious millet was produced in Qinyang (modern Xilizhou), one stem two ears, even eight or nine ears – one hundred such stems! The next year the garden behind the city offices also produced several tens of stems.” This sort of phenomenon where a single stalk produces two or several ears, was always seen as a good omen in our country’s olden days, and was a seldom occurring strange phenomenon. These events all occurred during Song Yue’s administration, in which the harmonious atmosphere produced auspicious portents, which the people thought were brought forth by his virtuous administration as it had increased the marvelous atmosphere. Moreover, as an administrator he was honest and diligent , and when they were building the county seat “He wore a tattered robe and ate vegetarian food, he rose before dawn to oversee matters” and “he also decided cases intelligently, the court had no pending cases and there were no people wrongly incarcerated ”, and thus he gained the reverence and affection of the county’s people. Even during his lifetime they built a shrine to him and set up a tablet commemorating his “virtuous administration”. After his death, they also honored him as the city god, and further they set his birthday, the 16th of the fourth month as the day the city god makes his progress, and they hold the temple festival, which has carried through to the present - this is the origin of [what is today called] the “meeting for exchange” [the annual great market] on that day. To die and then become a god is of course a sort of legend. But it can be compared to today’s way of setting up bronze statues or memorial hall to great and famous men in remembrance of them, which is of course a contemporary means of showing appreciation and commemorating excellence. (The quotations used in this work derive from “Record of building the Tangxi county seat” and the Minister of the Board of Punishment Lu Yu’s “Record of the Tablet commemorating the virtuous administration of Lord Song”) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God_author_Li Zhongxian IIIF Item Metadata Display as IIIF? Never UUID 89663c32-f864-4cf5-910d-06db38932be3 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document C:\My Documents\JINHUA\INSCRIPT\1832 TX City god temple.doc Tangxi County Gazetteer 1931 ed. 17.157a-159a Magistrate Yang Heshu Magistrate in 1828-32 Record of the Rebuilding of the Tangxi County City God Temple [Note: The term translated as “city god temple” is literally the “temple of [the god of the] walls (cheng) and moats (huang).” In the first part of the translation we use cheng and huang for reasons that will be apparent.] Examining into antiquity I find that the Book of Change says “ The cheng falls back on the huang;” the commentary glosses huang as “moat.” In the Glosses on the Erya [Vocabulary] huang is “empty.” The gloss has “what is without water is a huang.” These are the first appearances of the term cheng huang in the Classics. According to the Rites of Zhou the Minister of Religion’s sacrifices to the earth spirits, in addition to the blood sacrifices, sacrifices put in the earth, and sacrifices out in the water, there is the ritual dismemberment of the victim [to get rid of evil] for all things of the four quarters. The [Canon of Yao] in Book of Documents has “They make offerings to all the spirits.” The Book of Rites has “Those who hold the empire make offerings to the many spirits.” But none of the commentaries on these passages ever mentioned cheng huang. Thus before the Zhou and Qin dynasties not only was there no such temple there was not an offering with this name either. The Spring and Autumn Annals frequently does not desist from recording the building of walls and digging of moats. Now when the kings or dukes created defenses, building walls to protect dwellings or moats to hold back barbarian horsemen, then the value of their deeds to the people was equal to that of the mountains and forests, rivers and marshes, and mounds and hills being able to produce the clouds to make the wind and rain. And so how could it be that if all the wondrous places in the universe have ghosts and spirits residing, that for the protection of the capital of mighty Tangxi there alone would not be an intelligent and moral deity in charge of the place? But why was it that [the ancients] made offerings at the winter sacrifice to cats and tigers to repay them for their contribution to farming [by killing rats and boars], that the wolf and otter as different as they are honored for sacrificing to their ancestors origins, and it even happened that the state of Lu made offerings to the seagull, Guo to the spirit descending to Shen, Qin sacrificed at the Western Altar, and there were even those who allowed licentious sacrifices, and yet the cheng huang is missing [in the ancient records]. Is this because the records of the ancient rituals were abbreviated and incomplete? Or is this because the offering were irregular, such as the Yong, Gong, Yue, and Rang [sacrifices in antiquity], so that even if there were occasionally held, the ground would be cleared, the altar removed, and it would be included in the offerings to all spirits without a specific status? Wang Chongjian [1607-1678] in explaining the Eight Winter Solstice offerings took the “shui (water) and yong (wall)” offering to refer to the cheng and huang. Now it is plausible to take yong as cheng, but to take shui as huang obviously is at odds with the commentaries on the Classics [which gloss huang as a dry moat] so this is not the final word. When we look into the histories we find that in the second year of the Chiwu era of the state of Wu [AD 239] they built the Temple of the Walls and Moats of Wuhu, thus it is evident that this began during the Three Kingdoms period. The previous edition of the gazetteer argued that it began in the Tang dynasty on the basis of Li Yangbing’s Inscription for Dangtu Temple and a stele in seal script in [neighboring] Jinyun County, but that was a mistake in research. After this Northern Qi in Yingzhou they also built this temple. In the Shaoding era [1228-1233] of the Song an [imperial] plaque was given [to a City God temple]. In the Duanping era [1234-1236] a city god was officially given the noble title of Marquis of Xianying [=Respond Efficaciously]. In the Hongwu era [1368-1398 of the Ming] the title was changed to Earl of Xianyou [=Protect Efficaciously], but soon the title was removed and it was referred to as the “God of the Walls and Moats of such-and-such prefecture or county.” Our dynasty has followed this and the temples spread throughout the world. The gazetteer for this temple in Tangxi says that no one can specifically say when it began. Now when we were taking down the wall at the back of the main hall we found a stele with an inscription for a “living” shrine for Lord Song. Its text says that when the county was established by taking territory from four other counties, Jinhua, Lanxi, Longyou, and Suichang Song was chosen to be responsible for this place. In two or three years the county seat, the school, the offices, the altars, and the temples where all erected, thus it is very clear that this was built by Song. During the Kangxi period [1662-1722] of our dynasty. Magistrates Ke, Yang, and Song and the county gentry Zhang Keyuan and his son all renovated it in succession. In addition they set aside rental income to cover expenses in the long term. From the Chenghua era [1465-1487] to today, however, several hundred years have passed. Rain and wind have battered it, birds and rats have nested in it, it is in such dangerous condition that it will not last another day. In the summer of the wuzi year [1828] I was appointed to administer this county. Soon after I arrived I first carried out the rites and made offerings. I saw that it was in a terrible state of decay. I immediately contributed funds and called on the local gentry Chen Xiangyao and others to supervise the work. They made temporary repairs to the roof and shored up the supports to make the god safe. Considering that a major renovation would have been a huge project, beyond the capabilities of the populace, and that as the Zuo Commentary says: “First help improve the situation of the populace and then spend energies on the spirits,” my humble intention was to wait for the proper time. Luckily the harvest was plentiful and there were not natural disasters. Prayers for rain and sun were answered. [The harvest was so plentiful that] it was stored in the fields and left uncovered on the embankments; the farmers and craftsmen were celebrating in the villages and the merchants were plentiful in the markets. There were hymns of praise that this was the result of my virtuous administration. But how would I dare to claim credit for blessings from the god? Now when the god had protects a place against disaster and tribulation and brings good fortune to the people like this, we should grasp the moment and complete the project without delay; it was entirely proper that when the time was right we should give him a decent dwelling, thus to honor his virtue and repay his achievements. Thus I gathered the officials and the gentry elders and planned it, and contributed a large sum to lead the way. Once general opinion was settled, within weeks and months what was contributed to help mounted into the thousands and ten-thousands. This project began in the fifth month of the jichou year of the Daoguang era [1829] and was finished in the sixth month of the xinmao year [1831]. The old style of the halls was maintained but the galleries were enlarged. The whole layout was made even brighter and more imposing. The stone was set, the wood cut, and it was so firm, delicate and grand that after the efforts for this reconstruction we will never need to do it again. The stone has ground to a fine polish, the wood carved to perfection, and the ceiling decoration is beautiful with golds and greens whose luminosity dazzles the age. And there is the dignity of the god’s image, the ranks of the guards, the statues of the women in the inner apartment, and the officers for reward and punishment in the side galleries. Governing the human world and ruling the nether world is the same. In the unseen realms there is one who is in charge of celebrating the good and making the evil suffer, bringing good fortune to the good and ill to the licentious. By serving the spirits with the way of serving men the simple folk are made to pay attention and take warning – this is the subtle intent of establishing moral instruction with the way of the spirits. Those who also serving here at this time were School Instructor Mr. Shen Baolin, Assistant Instructor Mr. Shou Yumin, former Assistant Instructors Mr. Qin Jing, Mr. Gao Xifan, Police Chief Mr. Li Yangqing, former Police Chief Mr. Jiang Quan, all are honest and fair. Much help was received from their prompting the gentry to manage the matter; they took responsibility for various aspects and worked hard from start to finish. Although the costs went beyond several ten-thousands, not a scrap or shaving was wasted. I thus further commend the gentlemen of Tangxi, who like the good and are willing to contribute, who are principled and public-spirited, and who helped make this possible. When the building was finished the gentry asked for some words to engrave on a stele. I thereupon turned to the Classics and commentaries, histories and gazetteers, to trace the origin of the name and meaning and to correct misunderstandings about its beginning, and in addition [mentioned] the traces of earlier renovations, and the greatness of the gentlemen in joining their efforts for a common purpose and of an achievement that will be permanently visible. The names of the gentry who managed the matter and those who contributed are separately registered on a stele to show the future. However, there is a cycle of what was once new becoming old and what was once complete becoming faulty and back again. If we wish to attract the god’s gifts endlessly, then this is what I expect of the successors. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Record of the Rebuilding of the Tangxi County City God Temple (1832) IIIF Item Metadata Display as IIIF? Never UUID 572cc9c1-888b-4d10-ac1e-e33584939a4b Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Tangxi County Gazetteer 1931 ed. 17.167a-168a by Zhang Ouxian from 1925-27 Record of the Rebuilding of the Tangxi County City God Temple Beginning in the xinyou year of the Xianfeng era [1861] Hong Xiuchuan and Yang Xiucheng rebelled. Calamity afflicted living beings through almost all the country. The southeast in particular was badly hit. They entered Zhejiang Province from Anhui Province, arriving in Jinhua Prefecture and Lanxi County first. Jinhua Prefecture was occupied by a false king [of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]. Tangxi being a strategic juncture of Jinhua and Qu prefectures and Longyou and Lanxi counties, it was held by the Assisting Celestial Righteousness [an official title in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]. They took down the monasteries, temples and mansions in the four districts [of Tangxi] to build the false king’s palace. They slaughtered the people; there was no evil they did not do, and the entire populace fled. This was in 1862, for these events see Zeng Guofan’s Record of Major Events. At this time there were rebels everywhere in the prefectures and counties of Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces. Only Qu prefecture, with its high walls and deep moats, had not yet been lost. Zuo Zongtang was Pacification Commissioner for Zhejiang, Jiang Guomin was General Protector, headquartered at Kecheng. They led the subordinate commanders, Generals Bao Chao, etc., assembling in a great camp at Luo and Yang river markets to march on Tangxi city. They secretly cut a way through while openly let loose fire arrows. It was some months before they subdued [Tangxi]. The two offices of the human world and the underworld, the Confucian Temple and academy together with the false king’s palace had all been put to the torch and had become scorched earth. The only thing that survived was the western quarter of the city where life resumed. Once Tangxi city had fallen then everything else was easy. Quzhou broke the siege, in Jinhua prefecture [the rebels] escaped. The hinterland of Longyou and Lanxi, Eastern and western Zhejiang, the whole province was cleansed. The Rites of Zhou says: After a great battle there will be a great pestilence, and after a great pestilence there will be a great sickness. The loss of population was such that only twenty or thirty percent remained. By 1866-67 the villages were secure. Officials and gentry worked together and the old examination hall was converted to government offices. The public recommended the gentry Wang Baoying and gentry from the four districts to rebuild the Confucian temple and the county [City God] temple. The reconstructions were of large plan. But [despite the fact that] the beams and columns of the county temple were the largest in the eight counties of Jinhua, the had used the maple, the wrong kind of wood for this purpose. Maple grows quickly and is easy to cut down, but with time it had been infested by insects. They came out from inside the wood, leaving holes as packed together as stars in the sky. It was rotten and could not take the weight and was urgently in need of repair. From the Tongzhi period to today is already over sixty years. If it should collapse then even the roof tiles would not survive. So during the spring and summer of 1925 the county assembly gave serious thought to this matter and stated it clearly to the government. The held several meetings and recommended that I be the manager and the gentry Zong Mingqian be the vice-manager. Housing the god is something I was happy to do. We then had a gathering of officials and gentry at the county temple. We first did fund raising, then we gave people tasks. From now on we should sweep clean the accumulated problems of the past and always take the words “Fulfill One’s Duty” as our guide. There was to be no excess expenses and no over-requisitioning of labor. Raising money was not easy; material resources were a problem. For the columns and beams we had to use camphor, cryptomeria, and catalpa trunks. For the main gate and the eaves of the verandas and pavilion we had to use stone columns to support the load. Since we have made a great effort to do it well, we will never have to do it again. It is ten times more impressive than before. With gold accents and vermilion lacquer, it is bright and fresh. Although we say it is “renovated” in fact it is the same as a new construction. Although during the struggle between northern and southern armies in the twelfth month last year there were battles in the city and districts, there was not the slightest damage to the county city god temple. There was a deity providing hidden protection. Truly this is what is called “there is a ruler in the realm of the unseen.” The work began in the middle of winter in 1925 and was complete at the end of winter in 1927. In total it cost slightly over 14,000 silver dollars and in total we had collected slightly over 14,000 silver dollars. Popular sentiment was enthusiastic in support of this project. [Its success] completely depended on getting the right people. The gentry Zong Mingqian was vice-manager and concurrently chief accountant. He oversaw all crucial matters and was good at economizing. The gentry Wang Ding was the day to day manager; he gave it all his strength and thought and was never afraid of hardship. Mr. Zhu Pangui and Mr. Ying Jinhe managed the wood; they are elderly yet vigorous. Others, including the gentry Liu Buqing and Gong Futong assisted with diligence; they were of the greatest help. For something to be accomplished does not depend on there being a lot of people. I have written it all down so that it will not be forgotten. This is my record. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Record of the Rebuilding of the Tangxi County City God Temple (1927) IIIF Item Metadata Display as IIIF? Never UUID 925bd176-374e-41a9-916c-43795b2d50a4 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Tangxi county gazetteer, 1604 edition 2.8b-9a There are offerings to spirits, as in Buddhist and Daoist temples, whose magnificence parallel to the temples to the uncrowned king Confucius and which for generations have been offering vegetarian sacrifices rather than blood sacrifices. As for the multitude of shrines and informal temples, many of them mystify the stories about them in order to delude the foolish common people, so that they all rush to seek the assistance of the spirit-power. How could it be thus? In addition the people of Tangxi frequent the City God Temple. Every year before the 15th day of the 4th month, those in charge collect crowds, some put on operas and create a clamor, some decorate frames with festoons as lofty artificial mountain to the point that the sound of flute and drum reaches into the suburbs. This goes on for several days without stop. They collect precious objects to put on display in the main hall, some of which are worth hundreds, to say nothing of the glut of other offerings, such as sacrifices of millet and ham hocks. Could it be the spirit-power of the god that causes this, or is it in fact a local custom that has continued, a precedent that has been honored, and which no one has abolished. Alas. Certainly a god with spirit-power could not bear that our people should be so wasteful. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi county gazetteer1 IIIF Item Metadata UUID cffa1ebb-eaf4-4713-90a4-995260354173 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document Tangxi county gazetteer, 1604 edition 2.?? Entry on the City God Temple At the beginning of the Hongwu reign period (1368-1398) the county City Gods were enfeoffed with the rank of Earl. Later this was dropped and the reference was only made to the god of this county’s walls and moats. There was no special sacrifice for him; he was included in the official sacrifices to the mountains and rivers. When the sacrifice to malicious spirits was performed, [City Gods] were treated as the main object of worship. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi county gazetteer2 IIIF Item Metadata UUID fe91fbc9-bf2f-469f-bc12-28629608b34c Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi City God Temple texts IIIF Collection Metadata UUID 61a7d42b-2f60-4bbd-b8d5-24e46299e7f3 Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document C:\My Documents\JINHUA\INSCRIPT\1475 TX Song Yue govt.doc Tangxi County Gazetteer 1931 ed. 17.23a-24a Minister of Justice Lu Yu (1409-1489) Inscription for the Stele Commemorating the Virtuous Administration of Lord Song The nation creates prefectures and divides them into counties just like the arrangement of stars or chess pieces. Because at the juncture of Wu, Qu, and Chu prefectures the people were wild and cruel, rarely harmonious and compliant. The officials reported this and it was ordered to pare off the corners of four counties, Longyou in Qu, Suichang in Chu, and Jinhua and Lanxi in Wu to create a county to be named Tangxi. In this place the trees are many and the people few, there are the lairs of bandits and robbers and the dens of tigers and wolves. The Ministry of Personnel should select the person who ought to be the magistrate. Minister of Personnel Yao said: I have the right man. Song Yue from Wei was formerly a talented magistrate of Tang County, he is the only one for the job. His Lordship took his orders and came. The populace was still set in their old ways, and when summoned they did not come. His Lordship instructed them with principle, moved them by sincerity and restrained them by law. As for those who violated morals and destroyed righteousness, and those who until the last did not reform, he swiftly punished and chastised them, without mercy. Therefore people were awed by his authority and felt gratitude for his kindness, so that what he ordered was put into practice and what he forbade was stopped. His Lordship then assembled the people and made a proclamation on the matter of building the county offices. The people heard of it and gathered harmoniously. They hastened to serve and toiled hard, none daring to fall behind. His Lordship was poorly clothed and on a meager diet; he gathered workmen and assembled building materials, beginning with building the county offices and the official residence, next the school, next the altars and shrines. As for the markets and wells, the streets and roads, one after another they were opened. It was a brilliant renewal. At that all the provincial intendants were surprised and filled with praise. His Lordship also held that the populace was the basis of the state, and that if they were exhausted, then the basis was harmed, and so he memorialized requesting reduction of taxes and corvée for five years. And since food was heaven to the populace, he publicly and sincerely prayed to the drought deity and it rained in response, and the farmers had their harvest. The tigers and wolves and bandits and robbers of the past were all as if transformed; they hid away and ran off. The populace within the county borders was in a state of contented peace. He also decided matters intelligently and effectively, his courtroom had no held-over files, and the jail had no wrongly imprisoned persons. At the time auspicious millet was produced in Qinyang – there were one hundred stalks with two heads, even as many as eight or nine heads – and the next year the garden behind the city offices also produced several tens of such stalks. The elders gather to look; they thought that since this millet had been produced in the present but not in the past that it must be an auspicious sign brought about by harmonious matter-energy. Was this brought about by His wise Lordship? His Lordship humbly did not claim credit. In my view “fine crops and forked heads of wheat” were all caused by good governance and virtuous administration in antiquity. His Lordship’s virtuous administration was excellent. The growth of auspicious millet is as wondrous as “fine crops and forked heads of wheat” and will at some future date shine in history. His Lordship will also be a model of good governance for a hundred generations. Recently when I was at court, whenever I met Senior Grand Secretary Shang or Minister of Personnel Yao they told me of His Lordship’s wisdom, praising him ceaselessly. These two gentlemen neighbor Tangxi and thus know it in greatest detail. I have now retired and returned home. The populace of Tang sings odes of praise to Lord Song and wishes to engrave them on stone so that they will last into the future. Having a student-teacher relationship with the elder Mr. Meng Mengjiao he called on me to do the text for the Stele Commemorating the Virtuous Administration of Lord Song and to end it with verse: The prefecture, the county, Are established for the people. The prefect, the magistrate, Are teachers and leader of the people. In the case of Tangxi, Remote and desolate. To create a county here, An uncommon achievement. There was the magistrate Song, Sent by the Son of Heaven. Working all day, thinking all night, He devoted himself to the work of the dynasty. The buildings rose up, The people were glad to help. He was not satisfying his own desires, He was being a model for all the county. People pitied his labors, His Lordship did not quit. He said instead: In accomplishing something, What matters is a good start. Heaven observed this sincerity, And nature responded. What is to be feared is not doing good, When done it will be noticed. It is this hard stone that Expresses the people’s reward for his virtue. The shining light of virtuous administration, Will not cease for a thousand years. Trans. P. K. Bol April 2003 Shang Lu Yao Gui 1414-73 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tangxi county gazetteer3 IIIF Item Metadata UUID 50358470-2b73-427c-a5c3-42efbf93ccb3