I was born and grew up in a small city called
Fuqing, in southern China. I spend most of my childhood there. In my memories,
it was small, messy, boring and stiflingly hot. It was not special at all.
The only special thing that I can remember was a
temple in east town, a small traditional Chinese architecture in red and yellow
colours. This temple was such a mystery to me since I was a child. East town
has been an Economic and Technological Development Zone since I can remember.
This old temple really stood out in that area. I was curious about its
existence. In my memories, I had never seen a Taoist or a monk in that
neighborhood. I had never gotten a chance to enter the temple. The doors were
always closed and locked. For years, I hadn't had any idea whether it was a
Taoist temple or a Buddhist temple. I had even doubted that it might had been
just a very expensive decoration of the park. My mother told me not to be
bothered about it, because the temple was not for the public anyway.
Until one day I heard this one story from my uncle.
We were in the car, just passing by the temple. My uncle casually told me a
folk tale of Cha Ting. Cha Ting is the name of the temple. It has been known
for a long time. People said that there is a god living in that temple and the
god is protecting Cha Ting.
Cha Ting sits on the riverside. The river was
forced to go around the temple because of the immortal god's protection. Cha
Ting survived every natural and human disaster. Typhoons and floods had never
harmed Cha Ting. A farmer even said he saw Cha Ting floating in the air when
the flood came about. Cha Ting is untouchable. People would be cursed if they
attempted to damage Cha Ting. During the Cultural Revolution, local Red Guards
evacuated Taoists and tried to destroy the temple. Many of them fell sick at
the same time. Local people said they offended the immortal god. The Red Guards
were afraid and then they gave up their plan. Cha Ting survived that disaster
unlike many other cultural relics. Back in the 90's, east town became
Development Zone. At the beginning, local government intended to demolish Cha
Ting. However, it ended up safe somehow.
An immortal god lives 15 minutes away from my home!
Ten year old-me was so excited, but she pretended to be calm and said
proudly," I knew there must be something special about Cha Ting." I
still love the story. It really made me feel happy about knowing such
incredible "history" and involving in this specialness.
