Laura’s Reviews > Chinese Traditional Religion and Temples in North America,1849-1920: California > Status Update

[palanquins] in Fresno...donated by local Chinese women....The empty space inside the mini-temple was meant either for a deity's statue or for his/her spirit tablet. The other...part is a box, while the upper part is a fanciful miniature theater.

[procession/embroidered umbrellas] 雲林...commissioned not by the temple but by the organization that had won the contest in a given year and wanted to commemorate its luck in seizing the ring from the prestigious fifth bomb.

[心 boards] One of their functions is to serve as ritual and psychological aid in settling conflicts among members: disputants are directed to stand underneath the board and search their hearts for a solution.

[donor boards] red paper slips pasted on...or stone tablets were affixed to walls or erected in the temple precincts for pubic viewing...Making such gifts public had the advantage of rendering financial processes transparent and, hence, trustworthy.

[inscription boards 匾額] lacquered and often gilded...can be the most admired and culturally significant objects in a temple: sometimes exquisitely composed and with the seals of makers—of poets and calligraphers—whose connection with the temple lends prestige to the whole community. Many are dated and include donors' names.

Most popular:
光被四表
泽及同人
乃聖乃星

[textile draperies and banners] temple donors in Fresno and Oroville appear to have had particular fondness for such hangings...probably made in the well-known workshops of the Zhuangyuan Fang area...couching heavy gold and silver thread on red-orange and green-black backgrounds, with faces and other details picked out in a fine satin stitch

the rows of lanterns overhead bear the characters "Houwang" or "[ta]chiu." They signify that the shop owners have donated to a techie sponsored by the local Hou Wang Temple and that the customary procession of officiating priests should pause and offer blessings as it passes by

they had to be imported...When temples for some reason, perhaps cost, did not have a real bell, a flat "cloud gong," also usually made of cast iron, could be substituted... [Ritual Standards] In temples featuring Guandi, one of these weapons is likely to be the god's Green Dragon halberd

問杯 [crescent-shaped wooden blocks] Yin-yang and yang-yin means "yes," while yin-yin or yang-yang means "no."...By constantly lying on the altar, these blocks are imbued with the spirit of the god who is worshipped there...passing them through the smoke of the incense-sticks

A basic temple layout...copies that of a Chinese judicial courtroom of the Imperial period. The altar is the judge's bench. When he reaches a verdict, he writes it out and authenticates it stamping it with his seal. He then chooses a small flag from the rack and hands it to one of the courtroom staff who carries out the sentence.