Lei family ancestor temple
"Lei family ancestor temple" is for commemorate Chen Wenyu, who was
first provincial governor elected in Leizhou during Tang Dynasty, it is
also the king of folk thunder’s temples in world.
Why a provincial governor, with a simple rank of city level official,
can obtain respect ? That is what the tale about Chen Wenyu says.
During the Chen dynasty, the Leizhou Peninsula was a world of ethnic minority, in political and economic turmoil.
Chen Wenyu’s family was a local hunter’s household in Feng village. One
of their hunting dog had 9 ears. Chen Wenyu’s father was good hunter;
he usually went hunting with that dog. Before moving, he used to look
at the ears of this dog, if one ear moved, he would catch one animal,
if two ears moved he would catch two animals, and so on. One day, Chen
Wenyu’s father wanted to go hunting, he saw that dog’s nine ears moved
together and was really excited. However, he walked half of the day and
didn’t get any animal, then he decided to leave and called his special
dog which was running around the small wood. Without success.
Chen Wenyu’s father and the other peoples had no choice, they entered
the wood to see what happened. They only saw the dog with nine ears
digging the loose soil, revealing a giant stone egg. Chen Wenyu’s
father brought the egg back to home, then put it in the main hall.
The next day, the weather was gloomy with strong wind, only heard
terrific noises, the great thunder with flash lighting hitting the main
hall, frighten the whole family. After the thunderclap, they saw the
egg shell blossom, a real baby appeared in main hall. He was Chen
Wenyu, as peole said, the King of Thunder. This year was the second
year of Chen Chaotai (642 A.D.).
