The Prefectural City God Temple in 1998

Carved beams with red laquer survived from the Qing dynasty.

A city god temple typically had an elevated stage on which operas were performed. This is how it looked in 1998.

The intricately constructed ceiling of the opera stage served as a sounding box.

At some point after 1949 the Jinhua City God temple was stripped of its religious functions, the statuary and altars were removed, apartment buildings were put up in its spacious, and its old rooms turned into cheap public housing.

Peter K. Bol