General Fengyang Temple

General Fengyang Temple

General Fengyang Temple is a cultural heritage site protected at the provincial level in Fujian Province.

General Fengyang Temple

Located by the river in Yuanyang Yuandong Village, Gushan Township, Jin'an District, it is the only temple dedicated to the deities of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The temple is constructed with brick, wood, and stone, facing southeast toward the Min River. It consists of a gate tower, theater stage, elevated walkways, bell and drum towers, and the main ancestral hall, covering an area of 665 square meters. It was designated as a provincial-level cultural heritage site in 2005.

In the 25th year of the Hongwu reign (1392), Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to support the Ryukyu Kingdom’s tributary missions and trade, selected 36 skilled boatmen from Fuzhou to be bestowed upon the Ryukyu Kingdom. Jin Ying from Bituanzhou (now Xinzhou in Minhou) in Houguan County was among them, and he naturally became a Ryukyu subject. In the 37th year of the Jiajing reign (1558), Jin’s sixth-generation descendant, Jin Botong, broke through Japanese pirate raids to return to his ancestral home. Two years later, he was once again ordered to come to Fuzhou but encountered a storm at the mouth of the Min River. While directing the ship from the bow, he unfortunately fell into the water and lost his life. His body floated with the tide into the inner harbor near the Yuanyang riverside. Villagers, recognizing his identity from the waist plaque he wore, realized he was General Jin of the Ryukyu Kingdom, and thus built a temple in his honor for worship.

The temple is constructed with brick, wood, and stone, facing southeast toward the Min River. It consists of a gate tower, theater stage, elevated walkways, bell and drum towers, and the main ancestral hall, covering an area of 665 square meters. The lower part of the surrounding wall is built with strip stones, while the walls themselves are made of bricks. The gate wall is designed like a memorial archway, featuring a gate pavilion with a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof. The eaves have three tiers of bracket sets extending outward. The theater stage is wooden, standing 1.74 meters high, 11.05 meters wide, and 6 meters deep. The stage edge is carved with floral and bird relief designs, with corner posts topped with carved animal heads. The stage roof features an ornamental caisson ceiling with layered bracket sets in spiral patterns, showcasing exquisite craftsmanship. The elevated walkways flank the stage on both sides, also with double-eaved hip-and-gable roofs. Each of the three levels is 16.7 meters wide and 3.6 meters deep. The eaves are adorned with hanging lotus-shaped columns, and the railings are painted with 38 illustrations from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The left wall is inlaid with a stone tablet from the 21st year of the Daoguang reign (1831) commemorating the road-paving project, while the right wall holds a donation plaque for the temple’s reconstruction in the 1st year of the Guangxu reign (1875). In front of the stage is a worship courtyard featuring an ornamental caisson ceiling decorated elaborately with a “two dragons playing with a pearl” motif. Between the theater and the main hall is the bell and drum tower, which has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof with layers of bracket sets extending outward. The main hall is five bays wide and six bays deep, with a post-and-lintel wooden frame and a double-sloped roof. Fireproof walls are installed on both sides. It enshrines the “Divinely Sealed, Manifestly Peaceful, Distant-General Jin.” Inside the hall hangs a 0.40-meter-high, 0.91-meter-wide, and 0.03-meter-thick nanmu (phoebe nanmu) plank inscribed with “Divinely Sealed, Manifestly Peaceful, Distant-General Jin’s Fortune-Telling Plaque,” and the text: “Erected on a lucky day in the La month of the jiyou year during the Qianlong reign, respectfully published by local disciple Cheng Mingshan.” The temple’s front courtyard is paved with strip stones, and three ancient banyan trees are planted on each side, providing ample shade.