The City Gods
The temple is dedicated to three city gods:
- Huo Guang (? - 68 BC) was a famous Han Dynasty Chancellor. He is remembered for his role in deposing one young emperor and replacing him with another. Huo Guang was the original City God for the County of Shanghai from the Yuan Dynasty.
- Qin Yubo (1295–1373) lived in Shanghai and served in the late Yuan Dynasty civil service. When the Hongwu Emperor founded the Ming Dynasty, he resisted two summons to serve at the court. He finally relented, and served in various roles including chief Imperial examiner. After his death, he was anointed City God of Shanghai by the Hongwu Emperor.
- Chen Huacheng (1776–1842) was a Qing Dynasty general, responsible for the defence of Shanghai during the First Opium War. He vowed to defend the Yangtze to the death, and was killed in battle against the British.
Read more about this topic: City God Temple Of Shanghai
Famous quotes containing the words city and/or gods:
“Saigon was an addicted city, and we were the drug: the corruption of children, the mutilation of young men, the prostitution of women, the humiliation of the old, the division of the family, the division of the country—it had all been done in our name.... The French city ... had represented the opium stage of the addiction. With the Americans had begun the heroin phase.”
—James Fenton (b. 1949)
“When science drove the gods out of nature, they took refuge in poetry and the porticos of civic buildings.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)