Ci shrine - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taipei Yuanshan Loyalty Shrine
Ci shrine
Chinese

A Ci shrine, (祠), is a kind of religious building that originated in China. They are used for honoring people and ancestors.[1]

They are a kind of Chinese temple and are different from Miao Shrines which honor deities instead of people and ancestors.[2]

Ci shrines were often built by the public to worship public figures, sometimes living ones. In the Ming dynasty, the people of Teng County built a ci shrine to the life of Zhao Bangqing. Hero shrines were built to heroes who died for the country.[3] The Chinese hero cult honors such heroes at Ci shrines.[4]

The character for Ci shrine

Since ci and miao are similar, sometimes they are mixed together. Some ci shrines are dedicated to Confucian, Daoist, or Buddhist deities such as Wong Tai Sin Temple.[5]

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  1. 教育部,卡米爾. "教育百科 | 教育雲線上字典". pedia.cloud.edu.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  2. "二、道教宮廟組織或管理章程範例-適用管理人制" (PDF). Cabu.kcg.gov.tw. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  3. 蔡錦堂:〈從神社忠烈祠--戰前與戰後台灣「國家宗祀的轉換」〉。
  4. "義民爺 - 新北市客家民俗信仰館". www.hakka-beliefs.ntpc.gov.tw. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  5. https://archive.today/20220920045407/https://eastweek.my-magazine.me/main/3782