Pinghe Chenghuang Temple

　　   Address: Inside the East Gate, Jiufeng Town, Pinghe, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province.

　　   The Chenghuang is an important deity widely worshipped in the religious culture of the Han Chinese. Often embodied by meritorious officials or heroes who benefited the local populace, the Chenghuang is a guardian deity of cities and towns, revered both in folk beliefs and Taoism. The temple enshrines the spirit of Wang Wei, the great Tang Dynasty poet. It was originally built in the 14th year of the Zhengde era (1519) by the renowned Ming Dynasty Neo-Confucian scholar Wang Yangming, and was renovated twice during the Kangxi and Jiaqing eras of the Qing Dynasty.

　　   The Chenghuang Temple faces south and covers an area of 1,400 square meters. It is a four-courtyard architectural complex laid out in a "central character" (中字) formation, built along the natural terrain that slopes from north to south. The structure is rigorous, and the layout well-planned. Along the central axis from south to north are: the Main Gate (pailou), the Ceremonial Gate (yimen, also serving as a stage), the Worship Pavilion, the Dongyue Grand Hall, and the Rear Hall, with corridors on both sides. The pailou features a three-bay wide façade with a single-eave, hanging roof. The main hall is three bays wide and three bays deep, with a double-eave, hip-and-gable roof. The rear hall is also three bays wide and three bays deep, featuring a single-eave, hip-and-gable roof. The scale and artistic quality of the Chenghuang Temple were considered first-class at the time, and its architecture exhibits typical regional characteristics of the late Ming and early Qing periods.

　　   The temple is richly decorated with carved beams and painted rafters, exuding splendor. Its wooden dougong (bracket sets) are adorned with gold leaf and colorful paintings; the stone pillars are carved with coiled dragons, and the stone screens and shields are finely crafted. The bracket sets come in various forms, and the stone pillars include round, square, octagonal, and tall relief dragon pillars. The lower parts of the short columns (guazhu) feature melon-shaped bases with gold-lacquered, colorfully painted carvings, densely patterned and shining as if new. Figures of people and depictions of flowers and birds display a variety of lifelike poses. On the rooftop, two dragons play with a pearl, their mouths open and claws extended, vividly realistic. The temple still houses a collection of over forty murals from the Ming and Qing dynasties, which are extremely precious and can be called the "Dunhuang of Fujian." The Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars and the Eighteen Levels of Hell are depicted on a grand scale with numerous figures, combining fine and freehand brushwork techniques, with lively modeling, smooth lines, and remarkable craftsmanship. The Eight Scenic Spots of Pinghe exhibit the finesse of master painters—though based on real landscapes, they are not confined to naturalistic depiction but instead pursue the creation of artistic mood, achieving a perfect balance of form and spirit. The lines and shading techniques are superb, echoing the legacy of the Song and Yuan dynasties.