Wanshou Toutu Temple

Wanshou Toutu Temple

Wanshou Toutu Temple is a cultural relic protection unit of Taijiang District.

Wanshou Toutu Temple, also known as Wanshou Temple or Toutu Temple, was originally located on Gexin Street, Wumai, Fuzhou. It faces south with its back to the north. The front features a screen-style archway wall commonly used in Fuzhou’s traditional folk ancestral halls. The main hall inside the entrance is five bays wide and four bays deep with nine rafters, combining both through-tenon and post-and-lintel wooden structures, topped with a flush gable and fireproof walls. To the left and right are the Guanyin Pavilion and the Guan Yu Hall, which house statues of Buddhist deities and Master Wang Fazhu. The temple originally had two adjacent buildings, the Great Mercy Tower and the Martial Saint Tower, but both no longer exist.

In the seventh year of the Yuandade era (1303 AD), the monk Fazhu of Fuzhou’s Wanshou Temple petitioned the imperial court to construct a stone bridge. By the second year of the Zhizhi era (1322 AD), the grand bridge was completed. By then, Master Fazhu had already passed away. To commemorate him, the local people named the bridge after the Wanshou Temple where he resided during his lifetime, calling it Wanshou Bridge (a cultural relic protection unit of Cangshan District, later demolished by the Fuzhou municipal government under then Party Secretary Zhao Xuemin). A Toutu Temple was also built near the bridge along the river to honor him. Inside the temple stands a stele titled “In Praise of Master Fazhu of Toutu Temple,” which reads: “How benevolent was our master, whose virtuous deeds are truly admirable. Gazing upon the sea from Taijiang, he held fast to his compassionate vow. He ferried countless souls without complaint, laboring to build bridges and stack stones, establishing them anew in this life. Travelers who came and went, hurrying along in great numbers. Where once there were dangers and obstacles, now there is smooth and easy passage. His beneficence is vast, extending to generations to come. Thus, he is rightly worshipped here, on the banks of this river.”

Over time, Wanshou Temple fell into disuse, and people gradually merged the two temples into one, forming Wanshou Toutu Temple. From the Ming Dynasty through the Qing Dynasty, Wanshou Toutu Temple narrowly escaped demolition several times and underwent multiple restorations. In the ninth year of the Guangxu era (1883 AD), local gentry such as Chen Chengqiu and Gao Lianyuan raised funds to rebuild the temple. That same year, it became an affiliated temple of Xichan Temple.

When the War of Resistance began and Fuzhou fell, cultural relics such as the temple bell were destroyed. During the Cultural Revolution, the temple was occupied and further damaged. It was restored in 1989 and designated as a cultural relic protection unit of Taijiang District in 1991. In 2000, due to the real estate development project of Zhongting Street, the temple was relocated to the northern foot of Zhenbeitai Mountain at Longtanjiao, on the opposite bank of the Min River.

Houzhou Subdistrict: Houzhou Subdistrict, Taijiang District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province — Area: 1.02 square kilometers — Population: 35,800 (2004) — Code: 350103002

After the merger of Houzhou Subdistrict and Shuanghang Subdistrict in April 2004: Bordered to the east by the centerline of Wuyi South Road and Yingzhou River; to the west from Tongtai Bridge southward along Baima River to Baima Bridge; to the south by the centerline of the main channel of the Min River; to the north by Nanchanqiao Road and Nanxiang Bridge. It governs 13 communities: ~001_Jiangbin Community, ~004_Anping Community, ~006_Dajiang Community, ~011_Datong Community, ~00… For more details about Houzhou Subdistrict ++