Qiniang Temple

Qiniang Temple

Qiniang Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

In Shuangjian Town, Mengcheng County, there is a village named Qiniangmiao Village, which got its name from a temple.

Originally called Qizhen Shrine, Qiniang Temple was once located at the site of what is now Qiniangmiao Primary School in Shuangjian Town. The temple no longer exists.

The establishment of Qizhen Shrine has a thought-provoking story behind it.

It is said that during the late Yuan Dynasty, a man named Pan from Xingyang, Henan, served as the Left Chancellor of the Jiangzhe Provincial Administration. He had one wife and seven concubines. The seven concubines treated both Pan and his wife with respect, and they also showed mutual courtesy and affection, never quarreling over favoritism. As a result, although they all lived together, the household remained harmonious and orderly. Pan often used stories of chaste and virtuous women to educate his concubines.

Later, when rebel forces rose and war broke out, Pan went into battle. One day, he said to his concubines, “I have received great kindness from the state and hold an important position. I am about to go into battle, and my survival is uncertain. If anything unfortunate happens to me, you should each try to escape and avoid being humiliated by others.” One of the concubines knelt on the ground and said, “I have received your great kindness, and I will repay you with my life.” After Pan left, she returned to her room and hanged herself. Seeing this, the other six concubines also hanged themselves one after another.

The seven concubines died on the fifth day of the seventh month in the final year of the Zhi Zheng era of the Yuan Dynasty (1341). People, moved by their chastity and loyalty, built a shrine in their honor in Pan’s hometown of Xingyang, naming it “Qizhen Shrine.”

In the fourth year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty (1371), Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang heard of this story and ordered the literary figure Zhang Yu to compose a stele inscription to praise their “chastity and loyalty.”

Later, Qizhen Shrines were also built in other places. The Qizhen Shrine in Shuangjian, Mengcheng, was likely built around this time. Since the shrine enshrined seven “grannies,” people began calling it “Qiniangniang Temple” (Temple of the Seven Grannies), and the name gradually caught on.

The original Qiniang Temple in Shuangjian once had stone steles erected, but they no longer exist. The original steles listed the surnames and native places of the seven concubines. The inscriptions read:

Madam Cheng, 30 years old, from Shudu; Madam Zhai, 23 years old, from Guangling; Madam Bian, 23 years old, from Hailing; Madam Duan, 18 years old, from Daning; Madam Xu, 20 years old, from Huanggang; Madam Luo, 23 years old, from Puzhou; Madam Peng, 20 years old, from Hailing.

Qiniang Temple stands as ironclad evidence of how feudal ethical codes harmed women.