Temple to the Meritorious Official Gu Wenkang

Temple to the Meritorious Official Gu Wenkang

The Temple to the Meritorious Official Gu Wenkang is a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou City.

The Temple to the Meritorious Official Gu Wenkang is located in Tinglin Park, Kunshan, and dates back to the Qing Dynasty.

To commemorate the practical good deeds Gu Dingchen did for his hometown, at the request of the local people, in the 38th year of the Jiajing reign (1559), Governor Zhang Jingxian submitted a memorial to the throne requesting permission to build a memorial temple at the foot of Ma’anshan Mountain in Kunshan, which was approved by the emperor. The then Magistrate of Kunshan, Yang Fengchun, followed the imperial decree and converted the only surviving building—the Fahua Hall—of the former Huizhu Temple complex at the foot of Ma’anshan into a temple dedicated to worshipping Gu Dingchen. The imperial court bestowed upon it the plaque inscribed with the words “Chonggong” (Meritorious Deeds). It was renovated once in the 18th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1753), but was later destroyed in war. In the early years of the Republic of China, local residents raised funds to rebuild it. On July 27, 1991, it was approved as a municipal-level cultural relic protection unit of Kunshan. In 1997, the main hall collapsed, and in 1998, the municipal government allocated funds for reconstruction. During another renovation in the second half of 2014, the original seated statue was removed and replaced with new seated statues of Gu Dingchen and his family.

The Temple to the Meritorious Official Gu Wenkang is a cultural relic protection unit of Suzhou City.

Gu Dingchen (1473–1540) was a high-ranking official of the Ming Dynasty. A native of Kunshan, Suzhou (in present-day Jiangsu Province), he was originally named Tong, with the courtesy name Jiuhe and the pseudonym Weizhai. He passed the imperial examination during the Hongzhi reign and eventually rose to the positions of Minister of Rites and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. Thanks to his efforts, inequalities in tax and corvée labor in the southeastern regions were somewhat rectified. At the time when Kunshan had no city walls, he strongly advocated for their construction, which helped the city remain unharmed when it was later attacked by Japanese pirates. He later died in office and was posthumously honored with the title “Wenkang.” He authored the Collected Works of Weizhai.

[Ming Dynasty] (1473–1540) Courtesy name Jiuhe, from Kunshan. Born in the 9th year of the Chenghua reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Ming Dynasty (1473), died in the 19th year of the Jiajing reign of Emperor Shizong (1540) at the age of 68. In the 18th year of the Hongzhi reign (1505)... More details about Gu Dingchen ++