Nanyao Palace

Nanyao Palace

NANYAO palace is a Mazu temple in Changhua County, Taiwan, China. It was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century. It is located in nanyaoli, Changhua City, Changhua County, and used to be outside the South Gate of Changhua County. It is famous as "Changhua Ma Yin Waifang". It is now a key ancient temple in China and Taiwan. On April 25, 1985, the Ministry of interior of Taiwan region of China announced that it was designated as a class III historic site.

geographical position

NANYAO palace is located in nanyaoli, Changhua City, adjacent to Nanyao road in front of the palace. There is a long and narrow square (commonly known as Miaocheng) in front of the palace. On the right side of the square is a three story octagonal pagoda shaped gold stove. At one end of the square near the Provincial Road 1 (called Zhongshan Road in Changhua), there is a archway with four columns and three doors. NANYAO palace is about 27.5 meters wide and 86 meters long, with a total area of 0.647 hectares. It is a multi courtyard structure, including Sanchuan hall, main hall, Guanyin hall, Tiangong hall, Qiancheng square, Zhongcheng square and Houcheng square. It is called "four halls, one Chenger courtyard".

Nanyaoli, formerly known as "Nanyao", is named after the tile burning village (today's Chenggong Li, Changhua City) in the north. It used to be located outside the South Gate of Changhua County. It is also known as "waimazu" because it is opposite to the "Tianhou Palace" in the county seat. At present, in terms of population, it can be said that it is the largest Li in Changhua city. The residents living in the area of NANYAO palace call themselves "Mazu palace people".

It is said that the prosperity of NANYAO palace is due to its excellent geographical and geomantic omen. It is called "the sun and the moon and the clock". Unless the sun and the moon are lost, it will decline. It is also said that this geographical clock failed. So far, there are drums and no clocks in the palace. In 1810, Yang benxian, the transferred magistrate of Changhua, came to Taiwan to "see the geography". Because of the wrong words, he misunderstood the imperial edict as "defeat the geography", so he destroyed the geography of Changhua. When Yang county came to NANYAO palace, Mazu did not allow him to see geography. After begging for no destruction, the clouds were scattered. Yang county found only the southern Yao court to greet the Eight Diagrams tableland, and the foothills had thirteen umbrellas.

Historical evolution

Doubts about temple construction

The origin of NANYAO palace is still lack of detailed information to prove. Now we can only make a comprehensive study from the temple account left by the Japanese during the Japanese occupation period and the evolution stele in the palace, as well as the relevant literature and oral biography of the local people.

According to legend, in 1723 (the year of Yongzheng yuan in Qing Dynasty), Changhua was established as a county. Yang Qian, a kiln worker, came here from Bengang South Street in Zhuluo county (now Jiayi county) to recruit workers (probably to work and burn tiles in waganzhuang). He took Mazu incense bags with him to protect himself. Yang Qian hung incense in Gongliao. When it was night, the residents nearby could see the colorful light. Xian thought that it was a God, so he became a local official The gentry raised money to carve the statue of Mazu, which was worshipped in the nearby temple of Fude. The residents' visit to the temple was often called effective, so the incense became more and more popular. In 1738 (the third year of Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty), Chen's family donated land to build a ancestral temple, which was called "Mazu Palace". In November of the same year, prime ministers Wu Jiasheng, Huang Jingqi, Lin Jun and Lai Wu raised funds to build a temple and sculpt five statues. Taking the homonym of "Nan" in the South Gate of Changhua County and "Yao" in Wa's village, they officially named it "Nanyao Palace".

Although most of the records say that NANYAO palace was built in 1738, the year of its construction has not been recorded in the official records. Only in the annals of Changhua County compiled by Zhou Xi in the reign of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, it is mentioned that "the first kiln was built outside the South Gate of the city by the people of Qianlong", rather than "the beginning of Qianlong". Moreover, the NANYAO palace underwent 17 years of reconstruction during the Japanese occupation period. After completion in 1936, there was a "historical monument" on the left side of the front hall to commemorate the reconstruction. The inscription on the monument indicates that the temple was built in 1749 (the 14th year of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty), with a gap of 11 years. However, it is more consistent with the record of "qianlongzhong" in the annals of Changhua County.

In his book the history of temples and the development of Taiwan published in 2006, Zhuo Kehua extracted another legendary story about the origin of Nanyao temple

"Recently, Lin Wenlong also interviewed and recorded a rumor: it is said that during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, Yang Qian, a resident of Bengang South Street, was employed to work in a tile kiln outside the South Gate of Changhua. He carried a incense bag from the Empress Dowager's palace of Bengang with him to pray for a safe journey. After that, Yang Qian returned to Bengang and left the incense bag in the Gongliao. One day, suddenly a woman stood upright beside the tile kiln and cried out: "the tile kiln is going to sink. Run for your life!" Everyone heard the news and rushed out. In the process of cleaning up Gongliao, Yang Qian's incense bag was discovered. People thought it was the Empress Dowager's Mazu in Bengang who intended to make a spiritual display. Therefore, the incense bag was temporarily offered to the earth temple. Later, it spread all over the world. Finally, the temple was built in the early years of Qianlong

Renovation disturbance

NANYAO palace was repaired twice during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty. In 1802 (the seventh year of Jiaqing), it was rebuilt to expand the temple foundation five times. In the period of Japanese occupation, "Qiuai was inconvenient at last". Because of the strong incense and the narrow space of the temple, the "Nanyao temple reconstruction fair" was established. It cost 60000 yen and was completed in 1916. It became a temple mixed with Chinese and western Japanese styles. However, "believers rejected this non-traditional Temple style in Taiwan, which led to the decline of incense". The temple had no choice but to make an excuse of "false foundation filling" The main hall was built in front of it, and the hall was converted to Guanyin. After 17 years, the front and rear halls and two corridors were completed. The temple has a new appearance, and a "evolution stele" was erected on the left side of the front hall of Sanchuan Hall (front hall), which tells the history and evolution of NANYAO palace in detail, with both historical and artistic value.

Change the Dragon Robe

According to the folk custom in Taiwan, Fenling temple has the habit of paying homage to its ancestors and offering incense to them. Therefore, NANYAO palace has the gift of offering incense to Houhou palace in Bengang since ancient times. In addition, in the past, NANYAO palace felt that Yang Qian brought incense from Bengang, so when he went to Bengang to make incense, he would visit Yang's descendants in their ancestral home. The Yang family felt that they could not afford this great gift, so they asked NANYAO palace to present another statue of Mazu as a memorial. Such a visit to the Yang family's grand ceremony is to offer incense to "God to God", rather than to "God to man".

Because this Mazu of the Yang family is a private sacrifice, it has poor financial resources. After a few years, Mazu's divine robe was worn out. Therefore, when NANYAO palace went to Bengang to offer incense, it changed the new divine robe of Mazu of NANYAO palace to Mazu of the Yang family, commonly known as "exchange Dragon Robe". Later, the young men of the Yang family were forced to serve as soldiers in Nanyang by the Japanese army. Since then, their descendants died. So Matsu of the Yang family moved to the Narcissus palace in Xingang. Since 1962, the ceremony of changing robes has been held in the Narcissus palace.

Main buildings

Sanchuan Hall

The front hall of NANYAO palace includes the Sanchuan hall in the middle and the dragon and tiger gate on both sides. "Sanchuan hall" is also known as "Sanchuan hall". In order to open up three doors for crossing, the left-wing dragon gate and the right-wing tiger gate are called "dragon and Tiger Gate" or "five gates" (merging the three gates of Sanchuan hall, a total of five gates). The Sanchuan hall is 30.32 meters wide and 9.96 meters deep. In front of the hall, a pair of giant columns of coiled dragons are erected on both sides, facing each other with their heads raised. There is a stone lion exorcism town palace at the main gate, which is carved with qingdou stone. The inner arched caisson is the work of Wang Shufa, a craftsman of Xidi school in Hui'an, Quanzhou. It has a regular octagonal shape, with Taiji Bagua in the middle to suppress evil. The stone carvings on the wall block and Jiaozhi firing carvings are exquisite, which have the value of historic preservation.

The roof of Sanchuan hall is a "broken eaves rising arrow type", which rises in the middle, and the eaves line is staggered, which not only strengthens the form of the roof, but also adds visual beauty. The curve of the top rises in the shape of a swallow tail on both sides, in which there are three immortals of fortune, fortune and longevity, two dragons flying at both ends, and at the end of the hanging ridge there are figures, mountains, flowers, plants, animals and other works of cutting and burning. The roof is paved with tubular tiles, and the tiles are arranged in order. There are two dragons playing with pearls on the front door of Sanchuan gate. On the left and right sides, there are a pair of fairies holding tribute plates to serve the goddess in heaven.

main hall

The main hall of NANYAO palace is a Xieshan style building with double eaves. It is 11.5 meters wide and 14.92 meters deep. It was designed by Wu Haitong in Xinzhuang in 1924. It has a hard frame, likes to use round Dou, and has varied techniques. It can be said that it is a classic building of Taiwan temples. The main hall is dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the sky, and the incense keeps burning all the year round. Therefore, the carving and painting on the wooden structure of the main hall have been blackened to cover the colorful original appearance.

There are long wing rooms on both sides of the main hall, which are divided into three rooms for the left and right dragon guards. The middle room of the left Dragon Guard is dedicated to the Duke of the state, and the middle room of the right Dragon Guard is dedicated to the throne of Changsheng and honoring the meritorious people in the temple. The other rooms are used as storage rooms, accommodation rooms for the staff on duty, or reception rooms, offices and conference rooms. The roof of the Dragon protection is a hard mountain style, with tube plate tiles laid, and water dripping from the tiles forms an orderly front eaves line. The roof decoration is very simple by comparison. Between the Dragon protection hall and the main hall, the sun moon cave door is used to distinguish the atrium and the back court. The atrium square is an open space, which is mainly used to place sacrifices and hold ceremonies. The ground is paved with large rectangular stones, and in the middle is a big copper Tiangong stove. The shape of the stove ears is inverted double dragons.

Buddism godness Guanyin Temple

The most distinctive building of NANYAO palace is the Guanyin hall in the center, which combines Japanese and Greek Baroque styles and is quite different from traditional temples in Taiwan. The structure of Guanyin hall is larger than that of the main hall, 16.62 meters wide and 13.78 meters deep. There are corridors around it. At the beginning, it was originally the main hall of NANYAO palace. Later, it was rejected by believers, and another main hall was built in front of Guanyin hall. Guanyin hall is mainly a wooden building with double eaves and many building materials

Chinese PinYin : Nan Yao Gong