Longmu Ancestral Temple, Deqing (appendix)德庆悦城龙母祖庙（附）

Type

Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)

Location

China · Guangdong · Deqing, Zhaoqing · North bank of the West River, Yuecheng Town, Deqing County

Coordinates

23.13, 111.97 Map ↗

First built

Qin–Han (traditional) · The surviving temple was rebuilt in the thirty-first year of the Guangxu era of the Qing (1905); the ancestral temple of the cult of the Dragon Mother along the West River

Heritage status

Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2001)

Overview

The Longmu Ancestral Temple at Yuecheng is the ancestral temple of the cult of the Dragon Mother (Longmu) along the West River. Tradition holds that a shrine was established here in the Qin or Han dynasty, enshrining Madam Wen as the 'Dragon Mother'; it received repeated imperial titles from the Song onward, and was rebuilt in the thirty-first year of the Guangxu era of the Qing (1905), becoming a summation of Lingnan architectural craftsmanship at the end of the Qing, with fine stone carving, wood carving, brick carving and ceramic ridge decoration; it is, together with the Foshan Ancestral Temple and the Chen Clan Academy in Guangzhou, known as one of the three great historic buildings of Qing-dynasty Lingnan. The cult of the Dragon Mother has wide influence among the people of Guangdong and Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau, and overseas Chinese communities; it belongs to popular religion while intermingling with Daoism. This entry serves as an appendix related to Daoism in the Zhaoqing region.

Highlights

• Qing-dynasty Lingnan craftsmanship
• Birthday of the Dragon Mother
• Water deity of the West River