| 忠烈祠 | |||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 忠烈祠 | ||||||
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| Korean name | |||||||
| Hangul | 충렬사 | ||||||
| Hanja | 忠烈祠 | ||||||
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Martyrs' shrines orhero shrines (Chinese:忠烈祠) are religious buildings used in Chinese hero cults. They are a kind ofCi Shrine, which is a separate building built to praise the spirit of loyalty and righteousness, and to memorialize the martyrs who died for the country. In addition to shrines dedicated to martyrs and loyal subjects, some of them are converted from other buildings, such as Shinto shrines.[1] SinceConfucianism advocates the virtues ofloyalty andrighteousness, the construction of the Temple not only commemorates and enshrines the martyrs who were martyred in the country, but also serves the purpose ofmoral education.
InChina, there were ancestral shrines dedicated to loyal subjects and martyrs, and the names of the shrines were given by theEmperor. TheFayuan Temple in Beijing was built byEmperor Taizong of Tang to commemorate the martyrs who died in the Eastern ExpeditionGoguryeo, and was originally called Jienzhongsa Temple, but was renamed Fayuan Temple in theQing dynasty.
This practice of building shrines to honor loyal and martyred soldiers, and then having them named by theMonarch, also spread to other regions in theChinese cultural sphere, such as theKorean Peninsula andVietnam. After the end of themonarchy in these areas, the hero shrines were installed by thegovernment.
According to the statistics of theMinistry of the Interior of the Republic of China in 1942, more than 600 counties and cities in mainland China had already set up loyalty shrines, mostly consisting of the oldConfucius Temple,Guandi Temple,City God Temple,Jizo Temple [zh],Dongyue Temple, and evenShuangzhong Temple [zh], Wuhou Temple, and other temples with small temples attached to them for worship. TheCapital Loyalty Shrine could not be built because of the war against Japan, even before the Nationalist government moved to Taiwan.
Although there were many martyrs' shrines built in China, some collapsed due to disrepair and others were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
Within mainland China, there exist many martyrs' shrines in which soldiers and other war heroes of China have been enshrined, from conflicts such as theSecond Sino-Japanese War. These include:
The ancient martyrs are: Xinzhou Loyalty Ancestral Hall inShanxi Province,Xinzhou, Lujiazhuang Village, founded at an unknown date, dedicated to Gongsun Pestle and Mortar of the Jin Kingdom in theSpring and Autumn period[6][7]。The Zhou Wang Temple in Wuxi Yixing,Jiangsu Province, is dedicated to Zhou Di, a Jin Dynasty general who died in the Jinxi expedition.
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Most of the existing shrines were originally converted fromShinto shrines from theJapanese era after the war by theNationalist government, and are dedicated to officers, soldiers, police, and people who died in the line of duty for the Republic of China and have their significant loyalty deeds.
In accordance with the "Rules for the Sacrifice of Martyrs' Shrines" promulgated by the Ministry of the Interior of the R.O.C., Martyrs' Shrines are located at the seats of municipal governments in acity andcounty. TheNational Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine is set up at the seat of the central government, and thePresident officiates at the shrine.
Following a 1998 legal amendment, people who were not affiliated with the military could be inducted into the shrine. Lin Ching-chuan, a teacher who died trying to save children in the1992 Taoyuan County tour bus fire, was the first civilian to be inducted into the shrine. Several police officers and firefighters who have died in the line of duty have also been commemorated at the shrine, including Yang Chi-chang, who died in theTaiwan McDonald's bombings. Healthcare workers on duty during the Hoping Hospital lockdown of the2003 SARS outbreak have also been inducted. Wen Yung-nan, who died in 1973 while delivering mail in the aftermath ofTyphoon Nora, was the first postal worker to be inducted.[8]
TheKorean Peninsula also has a number of shrines dedicated to martyrs who died during theIncarnate Japanese Rebellion, such asSong Sang-hyeon, theBusan Chungyeolsa dedicated to GeneralJung dial, theBusan Chungyeolsa dedicated to General Lee Sun-sin, the Lord of Chungmu, theKorea under Japanese rule, theKorea under Japanese rule, and theKorea. Korea's head of state, patriots, and martyrs, such as theSeoul National Cemetery in Tongjak-dong, Tongjak-gu, Seoul.
Influenced by Confucianism, which originated in China, Vietnam also has a number of loyalty shrines. TheMartial temple inHanoi city.Dong Dao county, a temple in the Vietnamese area of theTemple of Literature, is aMartial temple of the post-Li dynasty, built in 1685, and is dedicated to famous generals of the Vietnamese dynasty. During the Nguyen dynasty, Nguyễn Tri Phương of theFrench Armed Forces, the officer who sacrificed himself against the invasion of the city, was also enshrined in the temple, along with Nguyen Linh, Truong Quoc Duy, Hoang Duy, Duan Thieu, and Nguyen Gao. The Martyr's Shrine is dedicated to the fallen soldiers during the Vietnam War.
Japan set upShōkonsha during theImperial era to enshrine the spirits of those who donated their lives to the country, and during the war, they were all renamedGokoku Shrines, except forTokyo Shrine, which was renamedYasukuni Shrine.[9] The shrine is often considered to be a symbol of Japanesemilitarism.[10] The shrine lists the names, origins, birthdates, and places of death of 2,466,532 men, women, children, and various pet animals.[11] Among those are 1,068 convictedwar criminals, 14 of whom are A-Class (convicted of having been involved in the planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of the war).[12] This has led to manycontroversies surrounding the shrine.
Some overseas Chinese in theEast Asian cultural sphere have also built martyrdom shrines in their hometowns, such as the Tangwo Martyrdom Shrine in Tangwo Village, Chiang Mai Province,Thailand, which was built by local Chinese to worship the fallen soldiers of theLone Army of Northern Thailand Third Army. The shrine is dedicated to the fallen soldiers and sages of the Third Army of theKuomintang in Burma.[13]