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| The Ancestral Temple of Dragon Mother
(Longmu) |
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The temple is situated at Yuecheng Town on the bank of West River
where is the hometown of the Dragon Mother (Longmui) as the legend
goes. It is one of the largest ancestral temples in South Guangdong
and its architectural value is matchless. It maintains many mysteries
unknown till now. On 8th of May in Chinese lunar calendar, Dragon
Mother's birthday, a large number of worshippers from Zhaoqing, Pearl
River Delta as well as from Hong Kong and Macau come to worship the
Dragon Mother, and an unprecedented grand occasion is held here.
In Chinese mythology, Long Mu, or Dragon's Mother is a Chinesese
woman deified after raising dragonss which had strong bond with
her, a strong filial piety and parental love commanded by many.
She was born in 290 BC (during the Qin Dynasty) by the Xi River
in the Guangdong province of southern China, with an ancestry in
Teng District, Guangxi. She was born as the middle of three daughters
of Wen Tianrui and Liang-shi.
Her family became quite poor by the time Wen-shi grew up. She often
went to fish and wash clothes by the Xi River. One day, she found
a big slippery beautiful stone beside the river. She took it home
and found that it was actually an egg, which hatched 5 small animals.
(Another version says one.) Wen-shi saved the best food for these
critters and fed them by hand. They became dexterous snakes very
adept at helping Wen-shi catching fish. Quickly these animals grew
up to be five impressive and powerful dragons. Wen-shi asked her
dragon children to summon rain for her village when there was drought,
and the villagers thanked her for it and called her Dragon's Mother
or Divine Human.
Qin Shi Huangdi heard about Wen-shi and her dragons, so he gave
her gold and jade to ask her to meet him in the capital. As an old
woman who never travelled away from her village, she was very afraid
to go so far. The dragons knew this, so under the boat that was
carrying Wen-shi to the capital, they dragged the boat backward
so it never reached beyond Guilin and the officials eventually gave
up.
After Dragon's Mother died, the dragons were overwhelmed with sadness
and took the forms of five scholars and buried her in the northern
side of Zhu Mountain.
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