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Nanyao Temple - Where Mazu spirit was said to materialised in the form of colours.

Marcus James Woolley
May 1, 2018
3 min read

Nanyao Temple is a Mazu temple on the outskirts of Changhua City, I know I have written about Mazu and Mazu temples before but the thing is there are so many Mazu worshipers in Taiwan it is hard to avoid them,

During the Qing Dynasty there was a Mazu pilgrimage to the village of Ponkan in Chiayi County, which was the largest pilgrimage in Taiwan, during that time so many people would come to this temple on their way down to Ponkan.

Nanyao Temple was constructed in the 18th century The temple itself has architectural influences from around the world which include, Japanese, Greek and northern Chinese. A wood's craftman who goes by the name of 'Tan Ing-pin was sent to overlook the construction of Guanyin Hall during the Japanese colonial period, I believe this is the oldest section of the whole temple.

The woodcarvings that can be found around the temple makes Nanyao the most decorated temple in all of Changhua City.

The history of the place has a rather interesting story, It all started when a klin worker by the name of Yang Qian came to the area for work, he brought incense from a Mazu temple in Ponkan and placed it on his workbench for protection. The incense began to do something rather strange, it started to change a various number of colours during the night, people who were living nearby believed it was the spirt of Mazu.

In the year of 1738, the local landowners donated a plot of land for the temple to be built which would eventualy become Nanyao Temple, a thatched house was built to shrine a statue of Mazu, it took many more fundraisers and many more years for the temple to be built and to house five statues of the goddess.

As you enter the temple the large gates at the entrance has figures on them, this part is known as Sanchuan Hall, woodcarvings of dragons enrich the entrance, each woodcarving has been designed to the greatest of details, with everything from the scales to the eyes of the dragons. The dragons colums are Japanese which is still rather strange considering we are in Taiwan, the carvings also include characters from folk tales.

Passing through the many buddhist devotees, who have came to worship at the site, it is always best to try and stay out of their way, I feel a bit uncomfortable when they are bowing to a statue and I am standing in front of them, but it is still wonderful to see how other people worship.

As you wonder into Guanyin Hall, you would notice rather large mirrors which are not normally found in temples, in fact this was the first time I have ever seen mirrors as part of the decoration of a temple, they are Western styled frames made of pottery, there is one on either wall to the right and left of you as you stand in front of the statue, the locals say that the mirrors were installed by the craftsmen during the construction of the hall, but the reason why this was done no one knows for sure, The mirrors have medallions in the form of Japanese chrysanthemums, These types of frames are only found in Guanyin Hall.

I stood on one of the flat roofs that overlooks the temple grounds, the roofs of the different buildings swoop down with the typical Chinese design, it was fascinating to see the modern 21st century city around the temple but yet in the grounds it was as if we were still back in the 17th century, it was a block that has not indulged into the modern times.

The temple is a popular place and one of the main attractions in the city, it stands out from the other temples in Changhua city for it's differences in architectural design, once you get through the crowds that slowly pass through the small paths around the temple and find a quiet corner for yourself, you can truly notice the pleasant feeling of being somewhere so spiritual, as I left the grounds of Nanyao Temple I was back on one of the small side roads of the city, the large gate stands in the distance and the small structure where the buddhist like to burn paper was surrounded by buddhists from the temple, from the tranquil atmosphere to the rush of the city beyond it's doors, it is truly a jewel in the city of Changhua.