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Temple Literature

Macau Temple Literature

With a distant origin and long development, the literature of temples of Macao has achieved splendid results though. It is an indispensable subject of the history study of Macao’s literature. It is expressed in five kinds of forms: inscriptions on tablets, couplets on columns, plaques, travel notes, poems and verses.

There are over two hundred inscriptions on tablets in the temples of Macao. The oldest one is the Preface to the Palace of Benevolence of the Mountain of Lotus of the Temple of Lotus, published and inscribed in the first year of Yongzhen Reign (in 1723), which has got a history of two hundred and seventy-five years.

Most of the ancient tablets were inscribed with the works of the talented celebrities with official ranks. They recorded the origins and evolutions relative temples, but also wrote the history, nature, geography, politics, folk customs, mythologies, military and foreign affairs.

China is large in area and becomes prosperous during the Three Dynasties. Its civilization is well known everywhere. Vessels and vehicle come to China from all directions.

For the land route, there is a Silk Road which links up Dai Shi and Persia. For the water route, there are boats in deep blues seas leading to Tian Zhu in the south, where people offer treasure and present at the beginning, when Macao was just a fishing port. And the people of Quan Zhang immigrated here on a large scale settled down.

During the period of Chenghua Reign of the Ming Dynasty, A-Ma Temple was built. A-Ma Temple, the temple of Empress of Kowloon and Temple of Dongguan formed three rival powers and added radiance and beauty to one another.

As time went by, A-Ma Temple attracted a lot of pilgrims. Boats and ships stopped densely along the port and the engage in trade increased greatly. Then Macao became the traffic button between the western and eastern worlds (…)”

It is the inscription of the tablet in Commemorations of the 500th Anniversary of A-Ma Temple written by a contemporary cultural celebrity, Cao Sijian, a macaense residing in Hong Kong. Mr. Cao is talented writer and had a bold and unrestrained literary thought. The inscription is not only regarded as literary treasure of the temple of Macao, but also regarded as first-class works of Macao literature.

Since the Ming and Qing Dynasty, a large numbers of scholars of Lingnan and central plains have come to Macao to travel, business, visiting relatives and friends or settlement. Most of their activities were associated with temples and they a large number of relative poems, couplets, and boards.

For example the first officer in charge of coast defence of Macao Yin Guangren (1676-1744), during his term of service, once wrote ten poems with five characters in a verse Ten Scenes of Macao, which were very popular.

Among them there is a poem about the Mountain of Lotus and the Temple of Lotus:

“The Mountain of Lotus receives the glow of the setting sun and the clouds turn rosy in the glow. Pavilions emerge into another world and forests are dressed with colourful clothes. Nature makes the scene an article, and the evening sets it off more elegant. I am afraid that it is hard to differentiate the scene from the painting of the general.”

The celebrities who wrote poems verses or couplets for the temples of Macao included Qu Dajun, Shi Jishan, Pan Shicheng, Huang Entong, Wang Zhaoyong, Guang Shanyue, Gao Jianfu, Huang Wenkuan, Liu Yisheng, Guan Zhendong, Cui Shiguan, Pan Fiesheng, Rao Zongyi, Li Xinzhai, Han Mu and others.

In hundred of their works, they eulogized the elegance of landscapes, discussed about the temples, or extolled the imperial merits. Some of their works were meaningful and lovely, some were ingenious in idea, some were bold or unstrained. These refined works, as a most majestic sight, composed one part precious cultural heritages of Macao.

(Excertps from: Macau Temples by Chan, Lei and Chendra published by IACM SAR 2002). Back to Macau Temples