Lecheng Temple, Taichung台中乐成宫
- Type
- Temples and Abbeys (Gongguan)
- Location
- Taiwan, China · Taiwan · East District, Taichung · No. 48, Hanxi Street, Hanxi Village
- Coordinates
- 24.1408, 120.6982 Map ↗
- School
- Daoism in Taiwan
- First built
- 1753 (the 18th year of the Qianlong era, Qing) · Tradition holds that the deity statue was brought from Meizhou by the ancestors of the settler Lin Dafa; the main hall was completed in 1924 and the front hall in 1929, supervised by the master carpenter Chen Yingbin
- Heritage status
- Taichung City Monument (originally designated a Third-Grade Historic Monument in 1985)Taichung Municipal Folk Custom "Hanxi Mazu Procession through Eighteen Villages" (2008)Taichung City General Antiquity (2022)
Overview
The Lecheng Temple principally enshrines Tianshang Shengmu (Mazu); the Mazu it venerates is popularly known as the 'Hanxi Mazu,' and the temple is one of the 'Four Great Mazu Temples of Taichung.' Tradition holds that the deity statue was brought to Taiwan from Meizhou by the ancestors of the settler Lin Dafa, and the temple was built in the eighteenth year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing (1753). The surviving building is a two-hall structure, with the main hall completed in 1924 and the front hall in 1929, supervised by the master carpenter Chen Yingbin; the front hall has a double-eaved hip-and-gable roof, and its woodwork and cut-ceramic mosaic (jiannian) craftsmanship are refined. It was severely damaged in the 1999 September 21 earthquake and subsequently restored. The 'Hanxi Mazu Procession of Eighteen Villages' began during the Daoguang era; every year, starting in the third lunar month, the Hanxi Mazu tours in sequence through eighteen village communities including Wuri, Dali, Taiping and Wufeng, a circuit lasting more than a month, registered as a Taichung City Folk Custom in August 2008. In August 2022, the temple's Jiaqing-era altar table, the plaque 'Dharma Rain Widely Bestowed,' and the founding statue of the Second Lady Mazu were registered as city-level general antiquities. It was designated a Grade III Historic Site on November 27, 1985, and is today a city-designated historic site. In 2005, a Hall of the Matchmaker God (Yuelao) was added on the second floor of the rear hall.
Highlights
- The Hanxi Mazu
- The main hall and front hall supervised by Chen Yingbin
- The Procession of Eighteen Villages folk custom
- The Jiaqing-era altar table and other city-designated antiquities