Liesheng Gong (Temple of Many Saints), Fresno弗雷斯诺列圣宫（致公堂庙）

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · California · Fresno · 939 G Street, within present-day China Alley in Fresno's Chinatown; the building was demolished in 1965, and the images and ritual implements are now held by the Fresno County Historical Society.

Coordinates

36.7304, -119.7932 Map ↗

First built

Early 1880s · Built with funds raised by the Chee Kung Tong; ceased to be open to the public in 1936 and was thereafter used by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association; demolished in 1965.

Overview

Fresno's Liesheng Gong is a two-story brick temple built with funds raised by the Chee Kung Tong in the early 1880s; the ground floor served as an assembly hall, the upper floor as the temple hall, and the wooden altar shrine, according to records, was carved in Guangdong in 1869 and shipped to America — a representative example of Chinese religious architecture in California's Central Valley. Around 1890, Fresno's Chinatown was already one of the largest in California, and this temple was its religious center. The main altar enshrined five deities: Beidi (the Emperor of the Dark Heaven, i.e. Zhenwu), Guandi, Tianhou (Mazu), Hua Tuo, and the God of Wealth — unlike other temples named 'Liesheng Gong' elsewhere in North America, which often substitute Guanyin for one of these figures, the Fresno temple had no image of Guanyin. CINARC's Directory of Deities in Early Chinese American Temples uses this temple's image of Beidi as the representative plate for Beidi iconography in North America, making the temple an important piece of evidence for the cult of Beidi among inland agricultural immigrant communities in California. The temple ceased to be open to the public in 1936 and was thereafter used by the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association; before the building was demolished in 1965, the Fresno Bee photographed the main altar, after which the images and ritual implements were all donated to the Fresno County Historical Society and remained in storage for decades. In 2024, the Society and the Fresno Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association jointly held the special exhibition 'From China to Fresno: A 150-Year Cultural Journey,' at which the five deity images were publicly displayed again for the first time.

Highlights

• A two-story brick temple built with funds raised by the Chee Kung Tong in the early 1880s
• The wooden altar shrine was, according to records, carved in Guangdong in 1869 and shipped to America
• The main altar's five deities: Beidi, Guandi, Tianhou, Hua Tuo, and the God of Wealth
• CINARC uses this temple's image of Beidi as the representative plate for North American Beidi iconography
• Closed in 1936, demolished in 1965; its artifacts are held by the Fresno County Historical Society