Yuanching Temple, Changhua彰化元清观
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- Taiwan, China · Taiwan · Changhua City, Changhua County · No. 207 Minsheng Road
- Coordinates
- 24.0796, 120.5426 Map ↗
- School
- Daoism in Taiwan
- First built
- 1763 (28th year of the Qianlong reign of Qing) · Built through joint funding by Quanzhou-descended immigrants in Changhua, commonly called Tiangong Tan; renovated in 1887 with a theater stage added
- Heritage status
- National Monument (1985)
Overview
Yuanching Temple, commonly called Tiangong Tan, was built through joint funding by Quanzhou-descended immigrants in Changhua in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong of the Qing (1763); it is dedicated primarily to the Jade Emperor, with the Queen Mother of the West and the Most High Lord Lao worshipped alongside, making it one of the earliest temples in Taiwan dedicated primarily to the Jade Emperor, and also one of the few Daoist temples named "Guan" that also enshrines the Most High Lord Lao. The building follows a three-hall, two-courtyard layout, comprising a front hall, main hall, and rear hall, and preserves mid-Qing wood carvings, stone lions, and cut-and-paste ceramic decoration; the main hall contains artifacts such as the "Sovereign of the Vault of Heaven" plaque from the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong (1762). It was renovated in 1887, when a theater stage was added. Because roads were widened during the Japanese colonial-era urban renewal, part of the temple halls were set back, and in the popular saying of the "Three and a Half Tiangong Temples of Taiwan" it is regarded as the "half temple." It was designated a national historic monument (originally second-class) on August 19, 1985. On April 9, 2006, it suffered a fire that destroyed the main hall and side corridors, a major loss for a national historic monument; restoration was completed in December 2010, and a grand rite of restoration, reconsecration and blessing was held on January 5, 2011.
Highlights
- The Qianlong-era "Sovereign of the Vault of Heaven" plaque
- A three-hall, two-courtyard layout with a theater stage
- The 2006 fire and the 2011 restoration
- The "half temple" of the "Three and a Half Tiangong Temples"