[2024 Fuzhou Attraction] Travel Guide for Fuzhou Museum (Updated Nov)

A Taoist priest holding a compass to measure feng shui, at Fuzhou Museum.

Finally, I arrived in Fuzhou, the hometown of Wang Anshi, Zeng Gong, Lu Jiuyuan, and Tang Xianzu. So many literati came from here, how can I not be fascinated? At Fuzhou Museum, you can learn about the history, culture, customs, natural resources, and intangible cultural heritage of Fuzhou. The guide in the lobby on the first floor told me that the statue standing on the first floor is the treasure of Fuzhou Museum, and I must not miss it. This gave me a goal and attraction. In the exhibition hall on the second floor, I finally saw the statue of a Taoist priest holding a compass. In May 1985, the tomb of Zhu Jinan, the governor of Shaowu in the Southern Song Dynasty, was discovered in Yaobei Mountain, Moyuanli Village, Wenquan Township, Linchuan County, Jiangxi Province. The porcelain figurine in the tomb holds a dry compass. The most distinctive feature is that the figurine holds a large compass with a pointer on one side of the chest. The middle of the needle is rhombic, with a small pit in the middle, and the two sides of the needle are long strips, pointing up and down. The needle tip is spear-shaped, and the whole needle is located in the center of the compass, with the needle tip connected to the compass. The compass is a wide flat ring with obvious scale lines. Excluding the needle tip and the scale lines covered by the figurine's hand, there are 15 scale lines in total, with 2 of them very close and connected at one end, while the distance between other scale lines is roughly similar. It is estimated that this is a compass with 16 scales. Its overall shape is the same as the ivory compass of the Qianlong period, the modern compass of Suzhou, Jiangsu, and Xiuning, Anhui, except that the compass held by the porcelain figurine of the Southern Song Dynasty is relatively rough and primitive. This shows that the dry compass appeared and was used in China at least 800 years ago. The base of these porcelain figurines is engraved with the words "Zhang Xianren". Some scholars believe that the porcelain figurine of "Zhang Xianren" is not the usual yin-yang master or feng shui master, but a general term for Taoist priests. Jiangxi is rich in feng shui and is also the birthplace of Taoism. Naturally, Taoism is related to feng shui and compasses. Taoism has made great contributions to the invention and widespread use of compasses, and Taoism is therefore closely related to feng shui.