Linghui Gong

Dos:

• Offer Brighton candy as tribute to the Emperor.

• Belt out sea shanties if the radio is not currently in use.

• Pray sincerely.

Don'ts:

• Litter on temple grounds.

• Romantically proposition or grope the deities' statues!

• Ask for illegal favors.

— Temple rules and regulations

Purpose / Function

Was first set up to pay tribute to Mazu in return for her favors of safe travels. Further expansions added rooms for worship of other celestial beings.

In recent years, the Linghui Gong became a tourism information center for outsiders wishing to know more about fun things to do in New Luoyang.

The Linghui Gong also provides fortune telling, land surveys, and marriage registrations.

After Feather Mountain was abandoned due to government refusal to support heroes, the temple took up some of the training efforts. However, it only provides martial arts and magical training, and has no facilities for tech-based defense skills.

Alterations

As previously mentioned, other shrines were included during expansion of the temple. The east hall is a shrine to Guanyin, the Lady of Mercy. The west hall contains a shrine to Longmu, the Dragons' Mother.

One of the latest additions in 2010 was a temple-wide loudspeaker system to broadcast announcements of prayers, weather alerts, and religious sea shanties.

Architecture

It is built to resemble a cross between a Chinese palace and a British manor house. This is for two reasons that appear contradictory at first glance:

• The main deity is a woman treated as an emperor, as the title empress in Chinese dialects means "first wife," inappropriate for someone who ascended while unmarried.

• A British woman was claimed to be the second body of this deity, but there is no concrete proof.

In accordance to this, the outer walls are bright red, trimmed with gold, and are flanked by Greco-Roman pillars with banners hanging down them. The banners are printed with the words "Palace of the Sea King Mazu, Girl crowned Emperor."

History

Was built in the 1950s by a fundraising done by Hokkien and Hainanese citizens who wanted to commemorate their mythical patron.

Alternative Names

Sea Emperor's Temple of Numinous Grace

Type

Temple / Religious complex

Parent Location

New Luoyang