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:
“Our purpose in founding the city was not to make any one class in it surpassingly happy, but to make the city as a whole as happy as possible.”
—Socrates (469–399 B.C.)
“In my Pantheon, Pan still reigns in his pristine glory, with his ruddy face, his flowing beard, and his shaggy body, his pipe and his crook, his nymph Echo, and his chosen daughter Iambe; for the great god Pan is not dead, as was rumored. No god ever dies. Perhaps of all the gods of New England and of ancient Greece, I am most constant at his shrine.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)