Hanwengong Temple

Surrounded by mountains and rivers, Hanwengong Temple has a quiet and secluded environment. “Hanwengong Temple” is carved on the three gates’ stone gateway, entering from the right gate; you can see the nearly 100 meters stone porch behind the gateway on the right of the corridor. 404 calligraphies selected from the gifts or inscriptions of national leaders and famous painting and calligraphy experts both at home and abroad were inscribed on stone tablets and engraved. Together with the ancient stone steles, the two add radiance and beauty to each other, making the ancient temple more solemn, refined and striking. It is a solemn and dignified temple with Hanyu’s statue in the center of the mail hall and Zhangqian and Liwan were molded accompanying him. Inside the temple, antithetical couplets were engraved on the stone pillars and 40 pieces of stele inscription of past dynasties are on the four walls, which record the history of Han Temple, Hanyu’s achievements on governing Chaozhou and the poetic proses extolling the Han Temple. There is a stele inscription on the left of the main hall, saying, “The achievements are beyond Yu”, which is from Hanyu’s essay. He thought that it was harder to govern people than control the river under the pressure of ancient religious and imperial authorities, so he used the sentence to praise that Mengzi’s contribution towards the propagation of Confucian School’s idea was not less than Yu’s controlling on the river, while the successors quote his words to praise him conversely.