Mengjia Longshan Temple

The Mengjia Longshan Temple (Chinese艋舺 龙 山寺, Pinyin Měngjiǎ Lóngshānsī, Dragon Mountain Temple Mengjia ') is a temple in Wanhua ( Mengjia ) in Taipei.

Architecture

The size of the Longshan Temple is about 1,600 square meters and is oriented in a north-south direction. Its floor plan is modeled after the Chinese character回, in the center of the square courtyard is the main hall of the temple. This is the typical form of the palace traditional Chinese architecture, which is based on a distinct central axis of Pailou, the vestibule, the main hall and the rear hall. The main deity of the temple is Kuan Yin.

History

During the Qing Dynasty, many Han Chinese from Fujian and Guangdong immigrated to Taiwan. Because of the dangerous path and the ship's passage through the Taiwan Strait they took their popular religion as a protection to Taiwan and established there the temple by our native model. The Longshan Temple is a good example. It was built in 1738 by immigrants from China Quanzhou Prefecture. These immigrants are also referred to as the " Three - Yi -immigrant " because it arises from the three districts (Chinese: yì邑) Jun-Jan, Nan- An and Hue -An ancestral prefecture Quanzhou.

After an earthquake in 1815 and a typhoon in 1867, repairs were carried out. In order to facilitate the repair of termite damage, was in 1919 a Buddhist monk all his savings, so that the temple could be restored. So the temple to this day remained. 1945 its main hall was destroyed, the Kuan Yin statue was not damaged.

In the Sino- French War in 1884 an army of volunteers against France was established. At this time, the official government of Taiwan Province was in Hsinchu and not in Taipei, the Longshan Temple served as the official residence in Taipei. The volunteers signed with the name Seal of Longshan Temple and carried on even when the office to do military service. Therefore, the Qing Emperor gave to the temple as a recognition plaque with the inscription " Eternally radiant mother ", in relation to the main deity of the temple, Kuan Yin.