The Lingnan Grand Temple in Saigon's Chinatown 🙏

🎨Ho Chi Minh City's Tianhou Palace - Suicheng Association Miếu Thiên Hậu - Hội quán Tuệ Thành 🎨Known as the among the major Chinese temples in the District 5 Chinatown of Ho Chi Minh City, and even as a representative architectural landmark, not only is it frequented by a large number of local devotees with thriving incense, but it is also a favorite spot for foreign tourists to visit. 🎨I too brought out all my knowledge of Cantonese architecture to appreciate it thoroughly. 🎨The Tianhou Palace in Suicheng, originally established in 1760 (the 25th year of the Qianlong Emperor), is an exquisite Cantonese temple. 🎨"Suicheng" is another name for Guangzhou. The main hall enshrines three goddesses: Lady Jinhua, Mazu, and Lady Longmu, which is a very standard Cantonese belief. 🎨What's more worth mentioning is the temple's Shiwan pottery sculptures, densely distributed on the ridges of various shops and along the corridors, with the inscription "Baoyuan Kiln Made." 🎨 "Baoyuan Kiln" and "Tonghe Kiln" are not the shop numbers of Shiwan kilns in Guangdong, but rather the shop numbers of local workshops established by Shiwan craftsmen from Foshan, Guangdong, who crossed the seas to Vietnam's South China and created local workshops, collectively known as "Meishan Pottery." 🎨The scenes here include a variety of colorful characters such as actors, demons, animals, as well as Persian and European sailors and merchants. 🎨The craftsmen have retained the techniques and modes of expression of Chinese painting. Based on the use of local Vietnamese raw materials, 🎨they have not only inherited the traditional skills of Shiwan pottery but also boldly absorbed Vietnamese cultural and artistic forms and aesthetic tastes, creating a unique new style that has the characteristics of Shiwan pottery and the integration of Vietnamese national culture. #Vietnam #HoChiMinhCity