China Part 20: Zumiao, The Ancestral Temple

It was one of the worst days of my trip being that it poured terribly and ruined the day out. It was nearly another day wasted. I pestered everyone that I wanted to go really badly because I go there to pray and offer a donation.

The Ancestral Temple is a very holy place in my opinion and it left a lasting impression on me last I went. I enjoy visiting temples a lot for its historical and cultural importance. Of course if I can, I would support them by purchasing something from the temple. The rain that day poured and left us trapped in a mall for nearly half the day. Despite that, we paid for tickets to enter the temple in the end. If it hadn't rained that hard, it would have been a lot easier to enjoy the outdoor architecture and relics.

Half of the temple is also a museum dedicated to Ip Man, the grandmaster of Wing Chun and teacher of the famed Bruce Lee. Foshan is the home to Chinese Wing Chun and is also where the Ancestral Temple is located. It's a long train and bus transfer from where I stayed, but it's worth it since the food is cheaper on their side. The last time I visited, they had a huge room dedicated to Bruce Lee, but I guess they moved it to the Bruce Lee museum in Jun'an. It makes me feel fortunate that I got a chance to see Bruce Lee's handwritten letters before they were removed. However Ip Man's memorial and exhibit is greatly expanded in place. They also added more exhibits dedicated to Wong Fei Hung, another martial arts hero. There were learned that right here in Guangzhou, we had tons of people that dedicated themselves to martial arts and that we were the proud home to Wing Chun.

Due to the rain, the outdoor performances had to be canceled. It was the most disappointing thing of the day because the Ancestral Temple has incredible lion dancers that perform difficult stunts. On good days, they even have opera if you enjoy that kind of stuff. Instead I saw that the temple had lost its holiness to commerce. The commercial part of the temple made me quite angry. They were very focused on selling tourist goods of poor quality. It angered me even further that they decided to build a Confucius memorial and a couple more statues. It's not that I hate the guy, but he is not relevant to the temple at all. The Ancestral Temple is in Daoist tradition and should be dedicated to Daoist deities. Yet they thought it was okay to stick in Buddhist deities. Most of the frustration comes form the fact that in front of each deity, it's always a given that a donation box will be erected. Upon seeing the temple turn into something commercial, I decided that it was not worth giving a donation.