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Three of the four lesser halls, though as large as the Jade Emperor Hall and Xu Hall or nearly so, are dedicated one to the Three Matrons of fertility and childcare; one hall to the wife of Xu, whose personal names were Heshi, known as the Palace of the Consort - Furen Gong - in which her image stands on the uppermost tier of three with the Lord of Time and his sixty minions, the Tai Sui, occupying the lower two tiers; a third hall to Guan Gong, the patron deity of loyalty and honour, and patron of soldiers; whilst the fourth hall, much smaller, is virtually empty apart from a single, small pottery image of a wealth god. This spread of cults within one temple is typical of the majority of the larger temples throughout Chinese communities.
All of the images within the temple complex are of comparatively recent manufacture, certainly since the early 1980s. The original images were destroyed during the years 1949-1976, during one or more of the political campaigns against superstition or social reform, mostly during the first days of the Cultural Revolution in 1966 when the temple was gutted. Some of the new images have been well made, artistically finished in paint on plaster and concrete. Others are crude, poorly finished and eyesores for posterity. The image of Xu, however, is one of the better ones and far from crude workmanship.
The grounds and halls on the day we were there in the Autumn of 1998 were seething with devotees, many of whom had travelled some distance to pay their respects to the deities. Long strings of firecrackers were being let off and amidst the deafening racket and the palls of smoke from these and burning offerings, the whole area was what Chinese know as re'nao, excitement and noise.
Across the road, however, in the comparatively small, enclosed and dilapidated garden, silence reigned and not a soul was to be seen. On the far side of the square artificial lake in the centre of the garden is a lengthy row of small, weathered and battered modern images, all unnamed, which on closer examination appeared to be many of the emperors of China since time immemorial. A Nine Dragon Spirit Screen stretches out behind them. Of greater interest were the half a dozen small rooms, similar to horse boxes with half-doors, which lined the rest of the far side, each containing a small tableau of life-size simple and gaudily painted plaster and cement figures. These were identified as episodic scenes from the life of Xu, ranging from his miraculous birth,