The Changes Of The Temple In The Republic Of China' Guangzhou (1918-1937)

Various religious faiths had occupied an important position in the hearts of Chinese since the ancient times and the temples where Gods were emplaced were regarded as the sacred and inviolable places too. Residents of Guangzhou inherited the tradition of the ancient tribe named "Yue" that wizards and gods were advocated, and religious faiths were advocated extremely. Between the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Guangzhou still had massive religious temples and various folk belief temples. But after the District Office of Guangzhou was constructed in 1918, in addition to continue to occupy some temples to set up schools, in order to meet the needs of large-scale municipal construction, part of the temples were demolished or changed for other uses. At the same time, during the 20's of the 20th century, Guangdong Province had unceasing wars, and Guangzhou Municipal Government auctioned off some temples to collect military expenses. From the late 20's to the beginning of Sino-Japanese War, Guangzhou Municipal Government reformed and sealed up the temples which were vulgar and superstitious in the implementation of custom reform movement. From 1918 to 1937 Guangzhou Municipal Government adopted a series of measures on some temples, such as possessing,selling and sealing up part of temples or changing some temples for other uses, which to some extent alleviated the strain situation of finance, ensured the smooth progress of municipal construction, promoted the changes of the urban appearances,traditional religion and tradition life-styles of citizens. However, in the course of implementation of these measures, because Guangzhou Municipal Government lacked thorough schemes, sometimes only adopted a simple approach, which triggered various contradictions and conflicts, such as political and religious,publics and officials, monks and so on. Historical relics and monuments also could not be well protected. All of these lessons, in today's urban development should be paid more attention.