Taiwan Religious Culture Map

The Koxinga Shrine was built in a Northern Chinese architectural style with reinforced concrete as the building medium. The parkland surrounding the temple complex is reached through a standalone arched entryway. Upon entering, visitors will first notice a traditional screen wall placed to prevent a head-on view of the main shrine, a stone furnace, and the torii gate erected when the Japanese transformed the temple into a Shinto shrine. The shrine complex itself is entered through the Sanchuan Gate with its horizontal plaque inscribed with the honorific “Unrivaled Among the Ancients”; the plaque is an expression of the esteem in which Koxinga is held. Beside the Sanchuan Gate is a set of granite steps leading to a stone tablet embedded in 1875 stating “Built on Imperial Order.” Inside the Sanchuan Gate are numerous wooden plaques from both past and present filled with poetry and antithetical couplets written by people in praise of Koxinga. The east and west wings bordering the courtyard contain spirit tablets and flags used to venerate Koxinga’s officials and generals. Three worship areas dominate the rear hall: the Shrine of the Queen, located in the center, contains the spirit tablet of Koxinga’s mother Tagawa; the shrine of the Prince of Ningjing, located on the left, is dedicated to the worship of the Ming Dynasty’s last prince, who committed suicide when Qing forces conquered the pro-Ming Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan (taking your life rather than surrendering was an action seen as dying for your country with honor); and the Regent Shrine, located on the right, is where prayers can be offered up to Koxinga’s grandson Zheng Kezang (1662 – 1681), crown prince and regent of the Kingdom of Tungning.

With its uppermost horizontal beam removed and the Kuomintang party emblem installed by the Kuomintang government in 1947, the stone torii originally built by the Japanese was remade into a traditional Chinese arch of Loyalty and Courage. It is the Koxinga Shrine’s most notable structure of the Republic of China period. On the pillars of the arch is a pair of antithetical couplets written by General Bai Chongxi (1893 – 1966) that praises Koxinga as a loyal, solitary general whose arduous journey and efforts to protect Taiwan earned him a name that would be glorified eternally, and whose goal was the exercise of justice rather than the pursuit of power.

The Koxinga Shrine’s main hall contains a sculpture of Koxinga that measures 2.1 meters in height. The sculpture was made by Taiwanese sculptor Yang Ying-feng (1926 – 1997) in 1961, based on a portrait of Koxinga in the collection of the National Taiwan Museum. It features a lifelike, solemn, and dignified appearance, a sharp and determined facial expression, and an official’s apparel that differs from that depicted in traditional Koxinga statues, which show Koxinga in military gear. The statue’s hands, at rest in his lap, suggest repose and its chest is decorated with a golden dragon to evoke a sense of imperial grandeur.

In 1875, Shen Baozhen submitted a memorial to the Guangxu Emperor requesting that the Koxinga Temple be reconstructed and renamed the Koxinga Shrine, and that ritual ceremonies be held every spring and fall. The request was later approved by the emperor and the imperial edict stating the emperor’s approval was kept in an imperial edict case measuring 65 x 48 x 34 centimeters and carved with nine golden dragons. The case and a replica of the imperial edict are preserved in the main hall; the actual imperial edict is now in the collection of the National Museum of Taiwan History.

Shen Baozhen received approval from the emperor to reconstruct the old Koxinga Temple as the Koxinga Shrine. Initial construction of the shrine coincided with a period in which major policies were promoted to develop the mountainous areas of Taiwan, bringing together officials from Fujian and Taiwan. During construction of the shrine, Shen wrote antithetical couplets commemorating Koxinga, praising him as a man who accomplished unprecedented feats, who left Taiwan with plentiful resources in its undeveloped mountains and river valleys, whose ultimate failure was by no means the result of a lack of effort but rather uncontrollable fate, and who was a paragon of loyalty. The antithetical couplets, carved in wood, are now installed on the two sides of the main hall. Antithetical couplets written by imperial decree in 1873 describing Koxinga’s journey to Taiwan and his efforts in local development are preserved in the Koxinga Museum, while antithetical couplets written in 1875 praising Koxinga’s mother’s self-sacrifice in allowing her remarkable son to leave China and come to Taiwan are placed on the two sides of the Tagawa spirit tablet in the Shrine of the Queen.

Formerly known as the Museum of Taiwan History, the Koxinga Museum was originally built on the grounds of Fort Zeelandia during the Japanese Colonial Period in 1932. It was later renamed the Tainan City Museum of History and relocated to Fort Provintia. When the Koxinga Shrine was rebuilt in 1963, the museum was again relocated to its current address to honor the national hero, Koxinga. In addition, the museum collection was enlarged. Because Koxinga only ruled Taiwan for a brief period of time, a part of the museum’s collection, which includes documents and historical data, also consists of Tainan-related ceramics, wood sculpture, documents, monies, bills, weapons, portraits, and books of rubbings, as well as Ming and Qing dynasty court uniforms.

A stone sculpture of Koxinga, weighing 200 metric tons and carved out of Quanzhou White—a famous pale granite quarried in Quanzhou—can be found in the garden of the Koxinga Shrine complex. The sculpture was donated to the Koxinga Shrine by the Quanzhou City Koxinga Academic Research Association in 2008.