Taiwan Religious Culture Map

Commonly known as Dadaogong Temple, Changhua's Ching'an Temple was an important center of faith for those who immigrated to Taiwan from Tong'an, Quanzhou. The temple faces south and is a deep, narrow complex that consists in two main structures and a courtyard, including two hallways and two side wings. The three-bay-wide front hall and main hall both have yingshan (gable) roofs with swallowtail eaves, while the one-bay-wide, eight-column baiting (worship pavilion) has a xieshan (hip-and-gable) roof with swallowtail eaves; this is one of the temple's most distinctive architectural features. Unlike most temples, there are simple, squared columns below the front gate's roof overhang instead of the typical dragon columns. In addition, squared columns are used anywhere rainwater might cause erosion, including the front hall, hallways, and baiting. Such squared, solid columns are rare among temples in Taiwan. Artifacts in the temple, including couplets, the offering table, the stone incense burner, and old plaques, are all at least a century old. The doors with wood-carved latticework at the front gate and stone lions on either side of the central entrance all suffered damage in World War II. In particular, one of the stone lions has a missing piece in one corner of its mouth caused by Allied bombing.