Specific location
Liu Wang Temple is located in Liu Wang Tang, Xinshi Town, and is the only existing ancient temple in Deqing County that commemorates historical figures of the Southern Song Dynasty. Liu Qi. That was during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty. Grand Marshal Jin Wushu of the Jin Dynasty led 100000 troops to attack the capital city of the Southern Song Dynasty, Lin’an. Emperor Gaozong sent his lieutenant Liu Qi with 20000 troops to resist the Jin Dynasty in the Xinshi area. With the support of the people, the Song soldiers fought against the Jin army and defeated them. In memory of Liu Qi’s resistance to the Jin Dynasty, the Liu King Temple was built. The stone carved gate of Liu Wang Temple is ancient and solemn, with the three characters “Liu Wang Temple” engraved in the sun, full and robust. The upper stone is carved with vermilion sparrows and basalt, and the lower one is carved with relief carvings of “two dragons playing with pearls” and “lion rolling with embroidered balls”. The carving is exquisite and the artistic conception is extraordinary.
It is said that later, Jin Zhu Wanyan Liang went south and personally marched, listing all the generals of the Southern Dynasty one by one. He asked himself if any of the generals below dared to fight against him. Every time he said one, the people below answered loudly, but when it came to Liu Qi, no one dared to speak. Wanyan Liang had to mock himself and said, ‘I’ll do it myself.’. This shows that Liu Qi is brave and skilled in battle.
history
Originally built in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was destroyed during the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty and rebuilt after a fire. During the Chongzhen period of the Ming Dynasty, Hu Erjiao, a new resident of Jiangxi, initiated the reconstruction of the existing buildings, which were renovated during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.
Liu Wang Temple Ancient Stage
In 2007, when the local government was repairing the ancient stage of Liu Wang Temple, they discovered a wall with a precious Chinese opera Moji from over 100 years ago, which recorded the names of the troupes and performances performed at the Liu Wang Temple stage from Tongzhi to Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. This caused a huge sensation in the field of canal archaeological relics and opera art research.
Ancient stage
According to textual statistics that can still be seen in Moji, from the seventh year of the Tongzhi reign (1868) to the sixteenth year of the Guangxu reign (1890), there were over 30 theatrical troupes performing here over the past 20 years. Among them were the Dazhang troupe, Daya troupe, and Hongfu troupe, among the four famous Suzhou Kunqu opera troupes. There were also Beijing troupes (Hui troupes) such as the Datong Sheng troupe, Datong Qing troupe, Fuhua troupe, Gusu Dajintai troupe, Yingxiu troupe, Dajinxiu troupe, Deshun Tang troupe, and the provincial capital Hongfu Tang troupe.
There are about 1000 clear and recognizable plays performed, including over 100 Kunqu Opera. On the eighth day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of the Zhizhi reign (1869), Suzhou Dazhang Class performed a total of 39 Kunqu opera performances out of nearly 20 major dramas here. In the 10th year of the Tongzhi reign, the Hongfu class performed for two days and two nights, performing a total of 50 Kunqu opera performances. The repertoire of Beijing Opera (Hui Opera) performed is even more diverse, with as many as four or five hundred performances.
More than 30 theatrical troupe names and over 1000 plays, although more than 100 years have passed, standing on the ancient stage of Liu Wang Temple in Xinshi, through the mottled walls and dense handwriting, it seems that the clanging sound of gongs and drums, as well as copper hammers, still echoes in my ears.The face masks of Hualian and Hualian shelves flicker back and forth in the tunnel of time and space.
The Moji of the Liuwangmiao Ancient Stage in Xinshi not only provides the performance trajectory of the Qing Dynasty Jingkun Opera Troupe for future generations, but also a large number of performance records, reproducing the magnificent scenery of Beijing Opera performances in Jiangnan water towns along the canal during the Tongguang period of the Qing Dynasty, filling the gap in the study of canal opera in the history of Chinese Beijing Opera and Kun Opera, which is extremely precious.
Nowadays, there are couplets on the stage that are quite interesting to read. The first couplet says “five or six people are a million soldiers”, and the second couplet says “seven or eight steps can travel all over the world”.