Research on the Correlation Between Folk Beliefs and Temple Architectural Space: Case Study of Renwei Temple in Canton

Renwei Temple is the earliest recorded temple architecture established in the Cantonese region of the Song Dynasty to worship the Northern Monarch, one of the Taoist divinities. It is famous for its traditional folk culture activities such as the Northern Monarch's Birthday celebration. Renwei Temple showcases a paradigm of Cantonese folk temple architecture. It embodies the Chinese civilization's Taoist culture, philosophical thoughts and traditional activities, demonstrating the charm of architectural art in the Lingnan region. Through field investigation, interview and literature research, this paper conducts a case study of Renwei Temple in Canton, to reveal the internal relationship among religion, Confucian belief and architectural space of the Cantonese Temple, and to further explore the influence of the order of the relationship between God and Human, etiquette thought and social integration on architectural spatial characteristics in material aspect. It would help inspiring the restoration, renovation, innovation and inheritance of temple Architectures, or even the construction of public buildings in Cantonese region