Taiwan Religious Culture Map

The Shezi area was home to the Kimassauw tribe of the Ketagalan people before the Han Chinese people settled in the area and developed the riverbanks. By the Qing era, the area had become Shezi Village. In the 3rd year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1738 CE), the Hsieh family immigrated to Taiwan from Tong'an, a county in Quanzhou, Fujian. In a rice sack tied to a carrying pole, they brought with them statues of deities like Xuantian Shangdi, Marshal Zhongtan (Nezha), General Heihu, Marshal Kang, and Marshal Zhao. The family settled in Ganziyuan, where they have worshiped these deities to this day, becoming a valuable case study in folk religion. Xuan'an Temple was formerly the Hsieh family's ancestral shrine. Built in the 23rd year of Daoguang Emperor's reign (1843 CE), the structure was built using Qili'an stones, with a foundation in stone masonry and rectangular plain brick masonry walls. The overlying douqi (technique in which bricks are laid in both horizontal and vertical layers to form box shapes) brick walls and brackets also remain in good condition. Bricks used to build the walls are estimated to be the standard Qing-era size, while Japanese bricks were also used for later renovations. In 1991, Xuantian Shangdi instructed the family to turn their ancestral shrine into a temple. Since then, Xuan'an Temple has become a local center of faith and a prominent example of a private residence turned into a local temple.