陈家祠英文导游词The Chen Family Temple
2011-05-14 19:27阅读：
The Chen Family Temple
[Introduction] – [Outside the Main Entrance] –
[In the Front Hall] – [The Sage Meeting Hall] – [The Rear Hall and
the Wing Rooms]
[Introduction]
The Chen Family Temple was an ancestral temple of
the Chen families in Guangdong Province. As a Chinese saying goes,
“people of the same surname were in the same family 500 years ago.”
This adage is known to all in China and is certainly true as
applied to the fact that people of th
e Chen families in the 72 counties of Guangdong Province jointly
built this temple, in 1894 in the present-day Zhongshan Qi Road, as
a place of their clannish activities on special occasions as well
as a shrine for offering sacrifices to their common ancestors.
Otherwise called Chen Clan Academy, it was also a school for
children of the Chen families. In 1959, it was converted into the
Guangdong Folk Art Museum, for the temple structure itself is a
comprehensive expression of the exquisite Guangdong folk arts and
crafts.
Covering a ground space of 15,000 square meters,
with a floor space of 6,400 square meters, the temple is built in
the traditional Chinese architectural style. It is laid out in a
symmetrical way, with the longitudinal central line as the axis and
the structures on one side corresponding exactly with those on the
other. Its wide-open main halls and the lattice-walled wing-rooms
are interspaced by courtyards and connected with corridors, and
huge suspended or floor screens as well as solid brick walls are
used as partitions between halls and courtyards and between rooms;
thus creating an artistic effect of being structurally compact but
appearing spacious and magnificent, and producing a contrasting
effect of the big with the small, the high with the low, the open
with the hidden and the true with the false.
Another feature of the temple structure is that
all the houses are gable-roofed, with two slopes to drain away the
rainwater, which is the traditional style of roof structure
corresponding to houses for the common people in old China and to
temple buildings of this kind.
In
the feudal society of old China, a strict hierarchy was formed.
Under this social estate system, everything was rigidly stratified.
The size, height and color of a house and even the style of its
roof must match the social status of its owner or user. That’s why,
in the former imperial palaces, all the back houses for servants
and soldiers were low and gable-roofed with grey tiles, but the
main buildings in the middle have yellow roofs with slopes on four
sides.
While being constructed in the national style of
architecture, the temple structure is unique in the way it is
decorated, the way that is characteristic of this province.
Stone-carvings, brick-carvings, lime sculptures, ceramic figurines,
wood-carvings or artistic objects of iron-casting can be found
everywhere. They are made into flowers and trees, insects and
birds, animals and human figures and even architectural complex.
These works of art are used not only for the purpose of decoration
but are also symbols or implications of one thing or another, or
depictions of various scenes from stories of Chinese history and
legends. For example, the peony flower is a symbol of richness and
wealth, the twin lotus flowers on one stalk stand for an
affectionate couple of husband and wife and the lion sculpture,
power and dignity.
[Outside the Main
Entrance]
1.
The Stone Lion and the Unicorn-like
Animal
Here (in front of the temple) are two granite
statues of the lion that exists in reality. The one playing a ball
is male and the other patting a baby lion is female. Such lion
statues can also be seen in other parts of the country, squatting
majestically at the main entrances of the houses for the upper
class of old China, because they are a symbol of power and
dignity.
But the unicorn-like animal on the roof, with a
single horn on its head, is a fictitious animal that is peculiar to
Guangdong Province. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), natural
calamities were of frequent occurrence in the area. At that time,
man was absolutely powerless before nature. When calamities
occurred, people had no choice but to resort to superstition. They
looked upon natural disasters as demons and ghosts and created this
beast of prey to expel them. So, this unicorn-like animal is a
mythical beast that is endowed with supernatural power to exorcise
evil spirits.
2.
The Sculpture of Gourds – A Token of a Flourishing
Family
The sculpture of gourds in pairs on the roof or
in other places of the temple is a token of a flourishing family
with ever-increasing members. It incarnates the Chen family’s
desire that its clansmen would live and multiply continuously like
gourds growing luxuriantly to propagate successively. This is
because the gourd is a seedy plant and its many seeds will
propagate in great members.
3.
Masterpiece of Brick-carving
On
the wall on either side of the main entrance is a picture carved on
bricks, depicting different stories from Chinese historical novels.
They are regarded as representative works of the exquisite
Guangdong brick-carving.
The Guangdong brick-carving is unique in the
technique of its making. It is made in such a way that different
parts of a picture are carved separately on small pieces of
ready-made fired bricks before they are laid onto a wall to form an
integral whole, whereas those of other provinces are made by
carving a whole picture on a big piece of adobe (unburned brick)
before it is fired into a hard cube and embedded onto the wall. The
former entails much more precision and skill and so is more
exquisite and is of greater artistic value.
(1)
Liu Qing Taming a Fierce
Horse
The brick-carving on the east side (on our right
hand side when facing the temple) depicting the story of Liu Qing,
a valiant general of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), who
succeeded in taming a fierce horse that was sent by an aggressive
neighboring state. The aggressor state had sent the horse as a
challenge, threatening that, if nobody in Song’s domain could get
the horse under control, they would sent troops to attack. Liu
Qing’s courage and valor greatly crushed the enemy’s arrogance and
thus avoided a war.
(2)
The Heroes Gathering in Revolt
in Liangshan
The brick-carving on the west side (on our left
hand side when facing the temple) illustrates the happy occasion
for the peasant uprising leaders getting together to celebrate
their unity in their revolt against the corrupt regime of the
Northern Song Dynasty. The story is written in a famous Chinese
classical novel, The Water Margin, which is very popular among the
Chinese.
4.
The Stone Drums
The stone drums at the main entrance are a symbol
of social status of the Chen family. In the feudal society of the
Qing Dynasty, people could place a pair of drums in front of their
house only when someone in their family had been conferred an
academic degree of (or higher than) “jinshi”, a title given to
successful candidates in the imperial examination. In 1893, the
year before the temple was completed, a member of the Chen family,
Chen Botao by name, was awarded by the Qing court a title of
“tanhua”, the number three scholar in the highest imperial
examination, and so these drums were mounted here in his
honor.
5.
The Kylin and Its Treasured Books
The relief sculpture on the wall behind the stone
drum on our left (when facing the temple) is called The Kylin and
Its Treasured Books. The kylin is a Chinese mythical animal, with
an appearance of a deer, a tail of an ox and a body covered all
over with scales like a fish.
Tradition says that the kylin is an omen of
auspice and was brought into being on the same day as Confucius was
born. In the Chinese classics, the kylin is often likened to a
great man of noble moral character; therefore the kylin here is, in
fact, the incarnation of Confucius, who has been reputed as the
greatest philosopher and teacher of morals for over 2000 years in
China.
This sculpture was made to encourage people to
strive for scholarly honors and official positions by way of
studying the works of Confucius.
6.
To
Be Conferred a Title of Nobility
The relief sculpture behind the stone drum on our
right hand side (when facing the temple) is also an implicative
picture. The bird, the deer, the bee and the monkey combine to
imply that people of the Chen family would be conferred scholarly
honors and appointed high official positions with handsome salaries
by the imperial court, because the Chinese characters for bird,
deer, bee and monkey are homonymous respectively with those for
“title of nobility”, “official salary” and “granting titles to the
nobles”.
7.
The Door Gods
The two portraits on the door-leaves are
door-gods. Original door-gods were two legendary gods, Shentu and
Yulei, who, it is said, were able to catch ghosts and protect a
house from evil spirits. Attired in fancy armors, with a rope in
their hands, they looked awe-inspiring. Since the Tang Dynasty
(618-907), door-gods have gradually been replaced by people in real
life, which is a tradition started by Emperor Taizong of the Tang
Dynasty. It is said that, one day, the emperor was frightened by
ghostly wailing from outside his bedroom and he could not fall
asleep. Two of his faithful generals, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Gong,
offered to guard his bedroom at night, so the emperor slept
soundly. His Majesty then ordered that the portraits of the two
generals be put up on his bedroom door and this also kept the
ghosts away. Since then the two generals have been regarded as
door-gods.
[In the Front Hall]
The Teak-Wood Screen
Among all the works of art in the temple, the
wood-carving is the most outstanding. This teak-wood screen,
together with the one in the central hall, is indeed a rare piece
of wood-carving in the local province and in the whole country as
well. The most prominent feature of the wood-carving in the temple
is that most of them are carved to penetrating through the wood
from one side to the other, so the two sides are carefully made
with exactly the same things but those on the reserve side are
placed just the other way round, as is the inverted image in the
mirror.
(1)
To Create a Great Property to
Benefit the Flourishing of Posterity
Look at this picture. A hen and some chickens are
walking leisurely looking for food under the shade of the big
leaves of a banana tree. The chickens here are not portrayed just
for chicken’s sake but are likened to the present generations of
the family. Also, the big leaves of the banana tree are compared to
the great property or great wealth created by past generations,
because the Chinese words for “big leaf” and the words for “great
property” or “great wealth” are homophones of each
other.
The moral of the picture is that the great
property created by the older generations is benefiting the younger
generations; therefore, people of the present generations must also
work hard to create more wealth for the benefit of the future
generations.
(2)
A Man of Great Learning is to
be Appointed Official Positions
This picture is composed of many things and each
has its own meaning:
a.
This is the emblem of Daoism called “Bagua”. Its eight
diagrams stand for eight existences or phenomenon in nature (sky,
earth, thunder, wind, water, fire, mountain and lake) and embody a
profound theory. Here, they symbolize people’s knowledge of all
branches.
b.
The wine-pot: In the Chinese classics, a wine-pot with much
or little wine in it is sometimes likened to a person of great or
poor learning.
c.
The wine-cup: This is an ancient wine vessel and is likened
to “title of nobility”, because the two things are meant by the
same word in ancient Chinese.
d.
The ancient coin: Its meaning is self-evident, i.e., money
and wealth.
e.
The phoenix: A mythical chicken-like bird that is regarded
as a mascot whose presence is supposed to bring good
luck.
f.
The kylin: A fictitious animal that is sometimes compared
to a person of profound knowledge.
So, “A man of great learning is sure to be
conferred a title of nobility and appointed an official position
with a handsome salary” is the main idea the picture
implies.
(3)
A Man Filled with Elation and
the Five Blessings
This is a picture of an incense-burner with a
wisp of smoke curling upward to form a Chinese character meaning
“longevity”, which is surrounded by five bats. In the Chinese
language, a person who is elated by his success is often described
as one who proudly “blows off his breath” and “upwardly stretches
his brows”. Therefore, the smoke emitted from the incense-burner is
likened to the breath blown out from a person’s mouth and the
incense-burner with rising smoke is compared to a person who is
proud of his success.
The five bats flying around the Chinese character
for longevity stand for “five blessings” or “five good fortunes”,
because the Chinese word for “bat” and the word for “blessing” are
homophones of each other. According to the Chinese classics, the
five blessings are “to live long, to be wealthy, to be healthy, to
have cultivated morality and to die a natural death”. Therefore,
the picture is an implicit illustration of people’s aspiration for
a successful and happy life.
(4)
Young Folks Grow Up Fast but a
Great Mind Matures Late
This is a bamboo stem that’s grown into the shape
of a Chinese character meaning “happiness” or “good fortune”. The
bamboo shoots up very fast at the earlier stage of its growth, but
it takes years for it to become mature enough for practical use.
The picture suggests that a young man is quick to learn but a man
of great learning needs years to shape or illustrates the meaning
of an English proverb “Rome was not built in a day”. This is to
encourage people to study with perennial
efforts.
In
addition, a character for happiness that is composed of a bamboo
stem also implies a greeting of “wishing somebody happiness”,
because the Chinese word for “bamboo” is homonymous with the word
for “wish”. So, “bamboo happiness” implies “wishing somebody
happiness”.
(5)
The Advent of Good
Fortune
This is an inverted Chinese character for
“happiness” or “good fortune”. It is on the reverse side of the
wood-carving and so is placed the other way round. The Chinese word
for “inversion” and the word for “advent” are homophones of each
other, so an inverted character for “good fortune” implies “the
advent of good fortune” or “the coming of
happiness”.
[The Sage Meeting Hall]
This is the central hall of the temple. It is
called Sage Meeting Hall and was the place where the elders of the
Chen family got together to discuss their clannish
affairs.
On
the ridge of the hall and on the balustrade around the platform in
front of the hall, there are many works of art: lime-sculptures,
pottery-sculptures, stone-carvings and artistic articles of
metal-casting. They are all implications of one thing or another.
For example:
1.
Sacrificial Offerings to Ancestors
At
the top of the balusters are carved several kinds of fruit that
abound in South China: peach, star-fruit, papaya and so on. They
are symbolic offerings to the Chen family’s
ancestors.
2.
The Three “yangs” Usher in Prosperity
Embedded in the balustrade around the platform
are metal-castings of different designs. Among them the one of
three goats with the sun overhead is called “The Three ‘Yangs’
Usher in Prosperity”.
The Chinese word for goat is pronounced as
“yang”, the same as the word for the sun, so the goat is an
implication of the sun. In the Chinese classical philosophy, the
“yang” (the sun) is the antithesis of the “yin” (the moon). The
“yin” and the “yang” are the negative and positive antitheses in
the Chinese philosophic conception, whose growing and declining
account for the rising and falling of the relative strength of the
two principles in nature.
The primary meanings of the “yin” and the “yang”
refer to the two sides that are shaded from or exposed to the sun:
the sunny side is the “yang” and the shady side is the “yin”.
Therefore, the changing of the relative strength of the “yin” and
the “yang” is often extended to mean the transit of seasons, from
cold to warm or from warm to cold. When November comes, the “yin”
begins to fall and the first “yang” rises. The second “yang” grows
up in December and, when the third “yang” appears in January,
spring comes round to the earth and everything takes on a new look
– a scene that heralds a period of prosperity.
In
the old days, this motto – “The Three ‘Yang’ Usher in Prosperity” –
was a complimentary remark for the New Year’s
Day.
3.
Coming out First in the Highest Imperial
Examination
The two creatures sticking up from the ridge are
heads of legendary turtles. During China’s Tang and Song dynasties,
a huge portrait of such a turtle-head was carved in front of the
steps that led up to the emperor’s throne in the imperial palace.
When members of the imperial academy were presented at court they
usually stood in the middle of the turtle-head, so “to be enrolled
in the imperial academy” was often referred to as “going up to the
turtle-head” and “coming out first in the imperial examination” was
known as “monopolizing the turtle-head”. Therefore, the
turtle-heads mounted (1.7-meter-high) on the ridge indicate the
Chen family’s desire that its members would be honored with
imperial scholarship and appointed official
positions.
[The Rear Hall and the Wing
Rooms]
Here is the rear hall of the temple and was the
place where the Chen people worshiped their ancestors. On the
shrine there used to be tablets of their ancestors, which were
arranged in the order of seniority in the family. The one at the
top was “Emperor Shun”, who was believed to be the remote ancestor
of the Chen family. (Shun was the head of a tribal alliance dating
back to the 21st century BC, when China’s social
structure was in the period of transition from clan commune to
feudalism.) In the old days in every spring and autumn, grand
sacrificial ceremonies were held here by the Chen clansmen to
worship their common ancestors. This wooden shrine was made in 1890
during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty and is the
largest and the most exquisitely made ancestral shrine still in
existence in Guangdong Province.
The wing-rooms on the east and the west sides
were classrooms where the Chen family children
studied.
