TW-468274 403 - ая открытка

Country: Taiwan

Distance: 8,438 km

Travel time:  9 days

On postcard: Longshan Temple, Lukang

Longshan Temple is the largest temple in Lukang (Lugang), highly valued as the Hall of Taiwanese Art & culture and the Treasure of Chinese Architecture. The class 1 historic site attracts architecture researchers from all over the world.
Being known as the first Buddhist Temple in Taiwan, the temple was constructed during the Ming Dynasty. A Buddhist monk from Wenling was travelling to the South Sea Putuo Mountain with a statue of Guanyin made of stone. While he was crossing the sea, his boat was hit by a storm and drifted to Lukang (Lugang). He began his Buddhist practice along the streets and during the year Yongli 7 of the Ming Dynasty, he built the Longshan Temple by the Lukang (Lugang) Port. It was said that this was the beginning of Buddhist practice in Taiwan and Longshan Temple was the first Buddhist Temple in Taiwan. In year Qianlong 51 of the Qing Dynasty (1786), the old temple were no longer needed and abandoned. Not until years after, a Buddhist monk in Quanzhou raised funds and received assistance from industrial associations in order to rebuild a new temple structure at the current site based on the old Wenling Longshan Temple.
Longshan Temple has always been a temple which enshrines the Guanyin as the God of Mercy. Local Taiwanese call it Guanyin Ma and every year, on the 19th day of the 2nd lunar month of the lunar calendar is the birthday Guanyin Ma where services and festivities are held in the temple annually to celebrate the birth of God of Mercy.