Taiwan (March 2025): Chiayi City and
Around
To
see the locations of the places pictured below, click here. (A
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Chenghuang temple, Chiayi City:
This temple
was originally built in 1715, but most of the current buildings date from its
1837 renovation. Its main
god is the Chiayi's City God. The temple consists of a series of four main
parts. The fourth (the rear part) is a multi-story building offering a stunning
view over the temple's gate and other three parts.
- Illuminated facade of
the temple at night.
- Left picture: Facade of
the temple seen in broad daylight. Right and following pictures: Views over the
temple from the last floor of its rear building. The temple's gate is visible
at the top of the two photos.
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- Statues of various
deities in the temple.
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- Warning fresco
illustrating one of the most important responsibilities of the City God:
deciding the fate of citizens after their death.
- Taiwanese opera singer
performing on a movable stage in front of the Chenghuang
temple. Typical plots of the songs are legends and historical events
embellished with romantic elements.
- Men dressed as Taoist
gods in a street procession near the Chenghuang
temple.
Jiuhuashan temple (嘉義九華山地藏庵), Chiayi City.
This temple is mainly a
Buddhist temple, but it also includes halls dedicated to Taoism and
Confucianism. It enshrines many deities, with Ksitigarbha
being the main one. A Buddhist temple has existed at this site since the first
half of the 18th century. Over time, it was modified and enlarged multiple
times. The present-day temple, a tall seven-story building called the Lotus hall, was completed in 1979. The temple's ensemble
also contains two other buildings. One is the Chiayi Zhaozhong
temple (嘉邑昭忠祠) dedicated to commemorate the memory of
the Hakka militiamen killed in three civil uprisings during the Qing dynasty.
It was rebuilt several times, the last reconstruction dating from 1999. The
other building is a multi-usage building facing the Lotus
hall.
- Left: Lotus hall. Right: Zhaozhong
temple.
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- Left: Giant Buddhist statue
on the roof of the multi-usage building. Right: Buddhist deity in the Lotus hall.
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- Wood carvings on doors
in the Lotus hall.
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- Mural in the Lotus hall.
Baihe Daxian
temple, Tainan City municipality:
[Note: Tainan City is a special
municipality of Taiwan that covers a much larger area than the actual city of
Tainan. The Baihe Daxian and Huoshan Biyun
temples (see below), which are both
located in the northwest corner of this municipality, are much closer to
downtown Chiayi than to downtown Tainan.]
The Baihe Daxian temple is a Buddhist temple located about 16km south
of downtown Chiayi in hills overlooking the western plain of Taiwan. It was
established in 1701 on this site by Zen master Canche. Over time, it underwent
multiple expansions. In 1915, the eighth-generation abbot, the Zen master Derong (1884-1977), decided to rebuild the temple in the
style of the Nara's Todai-ji. This project gave the temple much of its current
appearance, which features Sino-Japanese architecture and decorations..
- Three large
pagoda-shape towers next to the temple entrance.
- Group of young men
exiting the temple.
- Entrance gate of the
temple.
- Main hall.
- Back side of the main
hall.
- Wall paintings in the
main hall. (Left: Representation of Daruma, the founder of Zen Buddhism.)
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- Guanying
hall.
- Nuns praying in the Guanyin hall.
- Sanbao
hall.
- Buddha statues in the Sanbao hall.
- Columns and roof of the
Sanbao hall.
Huoshan Biyun
temple, Tainan City municipality:
Located 2km south of the Baihe Daxian temple,
this temple is another Buddhist temple nestled in lush hills above the western
plain of Taiwan. It was built in the early 19th century and rebuilt several
times. The last major reconstruction dates from 1949. Guanyin is the temple's
main deity.
- Left and center: Stone lions standing on balls, warding off evil
spirits at the entrance of the temple. Right: Statue inside the temple.
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- Views of the temple
rooftops from its upper level, with the head of a Guanyin statue emerging at
the bottom of the picture.
- Blessing of small
statues in incense smoke.
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- Colorful stone carving.
- Japanese-inspired hall
at an intermediate level of the temple.
- Small hall next of the
main buildings.
- Fire and Water Spring (水火同源). It is located a short walk (about
1km) from the temple. Natural gas bubbles up from the ground and burns
continuously, while water from a spring flows gently
between rocks and fills a pond.
Beigang Chaotian temple, Yunlin county:
Located in the town of Beigang, 16km northwest of downtown Chiayi, this temple is
one of the most important Matsu temples of Taiwan. It dates back to the late
17th century, but, as many other old temples in Taiwan, it has been remodeled
and expanded several times since then. It is visited by more than a million
pilgrims every year.
- People carrying small
Matsu statues that had been blessed in the temple.
- Entrance of the temple.
- Roof details.
- Inside the temple.
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Chifa Matsu temple (持法媽祖宮), Huwei township, Yunlin county:
Located 30km north of
Chiayi, this is a recently built temple, very likely the most recent Matsu
temple in Taiwan. It aims at being both a religious temple and a work of art.
- Courtyard immediately
beyond the entrance gate.
- Prayer hall dedicated
to Matsu and one of its dragon pillars.
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- Statues of Matsu.
- Statues of other
deities.
- Four examples of Cochin
pottery used throughout the temple for decoration.
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Large fresco in the
temple.
