Foshan City Taoshi Ancestral Temple

Taoshi Temple was a temple established during the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, there was a Taoshi Ancestral Temple in Shiwanzhen. By the seventh year of the Jiajing reign in the Ming Dynasty (1528), a grand and spacious Taoshi Temple was built on Lianzi Hill southeast of Shiwanzhen, beside Lianfeng Academy (now the Chemical Machinery Factory), replacing the small Taoshi Ancestral Temple from the Song Dynasty. Historical records about Taoshi Temple are scarce, and folk legends are fragmentary. In 2005, Shiwanzhen decided to rebuild the Taoshi Ancestral Temple, selecting a site within Shiwanzhen Park, becoming neighbors with the Nanfeng Ancient Kiln. The reconstruction features a north-facing three-courtyard, two-corridor architectural complex with gable walls in the wok ear style. The three courtyards are the Mountain Gate, the Compassionate Mother Hall, and the Yu Emperor Hall. The temple faces south with a three-courtyard, two-corridor layout and wok ear gable walls. The three courtyards are the Mountain Gate, Compassionate Mother Hall, and Yu Emperor Hall. Inside the halls, three major historical figures are enshrined: Taoshi—Emperor Yushun; the Sage of Commerce—Taozhu Gong (Fan Li); and the God of Pottery—Ning Fengzi. On the east and west sides are rows of side halls serving as a dining hall, tea room, and art treasure exhibition rooms. The roof ridge figurines on the reconstructed three-courtyard halls are uniquely distinctive. The theme of the roof ridge figurines on the first courtyard’s Mountain Gate Hall is "Immortals Celebrating Longevity," with the immortals depicted in graceful postures and vivid expressions. The second courtyard, Compassionate Mother Hall, features roof ridge figurine group sculptures themed "Emperor Gaozu of Han Proclaims Himself Emperor," including 11 legendary stories such as the Snake-Slaying Uprising, Zhang Liang Presenting His Shoes, Xiao He Chasing Han Xin by Moonlight, the Feast at Hongmen, Han Xin Reviewing Troops, Secretly Crossing Chen Cang, Seizing Pengcheng, Playing with Ying Bu, Battle of Xingyang, Wisdom in Subduing the Three Qins, and the Battle of Gaixia, with a total of 188 figures and 108 scenes. Pavilions and towers interweave, with various animals, flowers, birds, and fruits cleverly interspersed. The third courtyard is the Yu Emperor Hall, whose roof ridge figurine group sculpture is themed "Emperor Shun’s Southern Tour," starting from the story of Emperor Shun’s filial piety moving heaven from the "Twenty-four Filial Exemplars," to Emperor Shun teaching people farming, sericulture, fishing, and pottery making, as well as the famous stories of Emperor Yao’s abdication, Yu the Great’s flood control, and the tears of Ehuang and Nuying on the Xiang River bamboo. The scenes are rich, and the characters’ expressions are vivid and natural, making it a masterpiece. In front of the Mountain Gate is the Taoshi Temple Square.