Hanlu Temple · A temple you can walk into
Wenquxing Hall
A small hall between Mazu Hall and the high platform, and the reason students still leave celery on an altar.
In the hall
A single-bay hall on a low base, blue-robed figure holding a book, a desk in front of him with brushes and an inkstone.
It is the quietest hall in the compound. Most visitors pass it on the way to the platform and never look in.
Who is this
Wenquxing is the fourth star of the Big Dipper, Megrez. Wenchang Dijun — the god of literature — is a later, separate figure, the deified spirit of Zitong in Sichuan. Folk practice long ago merged the two.
So students pray to Wenchang and say Wenquxing, and nobody minds. What they ask for is the same thing: a clear head on the day.
In a real temple
Wenchang halls sit beside academies, Confucian temples and old examination compounds, because the building was part of the institution. In a Buddhist temple the star is an guest, not a resident.
The offerings are puns: celery for diligence, scallion for cleverness, garlic for reckoning. In Taiwan it is common to leave a photocopy of your admission ticket on the altar, and to take it back afterwards.
Written in English for readers outside China; the Chinese version is longer. All eight lots of this hall are in the lot library.