Feng Tian Temple, Xingang

I have always heard from people that, “when visiting Asia, you see temple after another temple, and you see church after another church when you visit Europe”. This is not a negative statement of course, but it shows how essential the religions play the roles in every culture.

Come to Taiwan, the Feng Tian Temple (奉天宮) is one of the temples that you don’t want to miss. Located in Chiayi, southern Taiwan, the Feng Tian Temple provides not only the historical and religious culture information, but also a museum where you can enjoy the gorgeous architecture and famous Xingang JiaoZhi Pottery art.

The Feng Tian Temple is famous for the “Plug the First Incense Stick” activity on the 1st day of the Lunar New Year, and the annual 8-day 7-night Matsu Pilgrimage procession held on 3/23 of the Lunar calendar for Matsu’s birthday. Thousands and thousands believers walk from Chenlan Temple to Feng Tian Temple during the Matsu Pilgrimage process. This exciting activity has always brought world media attention on Taiwan. All this unique background makes the Feng Tian Temple one of the most important historical sites in Taiwan.

The temple contains three halls and four entrances. Three stone lions are located at the front entrance. These lions also have interesting background stories. As you can see, the bottom of the lion sculpture connects to the door pillar, which may make you think that the lion couldn’t be stolen. However, the fact is that this lion was actually carved from the same piece of door pillar stone. The purpose of the door guard lions is to expel evils and strengthen the structure of the building foundation.

Feng Tian Temple is mainly dedicated to Matsu and other important deities, such as Cheng Huang Deity, Jade Emperor, Literal, Martial Judge, and Chi and Ba Yeh…. Etc.

The Jade Emperor is located on the top floor of the temple with all the small golden deities.

In the main hall, two interesting characters are riding the dragons and hiding among all the colorful pillars on the ceiling. The bald head with booth on is on the left; the long hair with no booth on is on the right. It’s hard to discover them. They would require patience and detailed observation.

The Feng Tian Temple is located in the Xingang Township. Xingang is famous for producing the most beautiful JiaoZhi Pottery art in Taiwan. Going up to the third floor of the temple, you would see a magnificent temple roof and colorful JiaoZhi pottery decoration. Each decoration is associated with a folk story. There are too many stories to discover and too many gorgeous arts to enjoy. Does it feel like in an art museum too?

An elderly woman was selling the joss stick outside the temple. This short encounter left me an impressive memory...

A short and skinny elderly woman came to us and asked me to buy the joss sticks from her. I told her that we just finished the visit and we do not need the joss sticks. However, my heart told me that I needed to help her, so I gave her the money and told her to keep it without giving us the joss sticks. I was surprised that she returned me the money right away, and refused to accept my money without giving me the joss sticks. She did not say anything, but from her body language showing she appreciated what I did.

Along with this small event, many other local people I encountered show me street vendors in Taiwan wouldn’t push you to buy things you don’t want. What a great travel experience in Taiwan! Read More

Bantou Village, Xingang Township

Located in Southern Taiwan, Chiayi County, Bantou Village (板頭社區) is the cutest village and is filled with the JiaoZhi Pottery art. (交趾陶) It is one of the places where you can enjoy fresh air with a rural feeling. It’s also a great place to enjoy the JiaoZhi artwork offering visitors surprises in every corner of the village.

JiaoZhi is a soft ceramic used for the wall decorations in numerous temples of Taiwan. It also has become household collections. They are colorful and I couldn’t keep my eyes off them. A simple pile with all the wasted JiaoZhi has become an interesting and gorgeous piece of art. It caught my attention once we arrived here next to the entrance of the Bantouyao. (板頭窯)

Chiayi is the famous region for the JiaoZhi Pottery in Taiwan. Bantou is the birth place of the owner of the Banouyao factory, Mr. Chen, Zhongzheng. Mr. Chen was concerned about the gradually disappearing JiaoZhi pottery in Taiwan and decided to transform this farm village into a characteristics village with the JiaoZhi art.

Walking is the best way to see the whole village although it was about an hour and half walk. However, an alternative is to take the car-train which imitates the original “Wufenzhi train”(五分仔車 ) look.

We received a map at the Bantouyao, and checked out each point of interest in town. Along the road, green rice fields, fresh air and nice breeze make me feel relaxed!

If you pay attention to the wall decorations on the fences of the residency, you may see a cute and humorous JiaoZhi art. Not only children love to hug them, adults love to photograph them. They are all designed differently. Each art has its story. It is said that it tells what this resident was working for living, sheep, cows, and fishing…. They also reflect the old time rural children’s life.

The largest art wall piece is the Large Melia Azedarach Tree (大苦楝樹), also known as Chinaberry tree. The location of this village is far away from the sea that makes hot summer and cold winter. This type of weather hard for most of the plants, however, it’s good for Chinaberry tree. It gets purple flowers in the spring, green leaves in the summer and seeds in the Fall. All those characteristics are all reflected on this large piece of artwork.

As I look at it closer, they are made with porcelain bowls that were broken, cut, then pasted and cemented. The whole tree was made up with 20,000 bowls.

Comparing it to the height of ours, you can see how tall this artwork is!

Another point of interest in this village is the 100-year-old Wufen Railroad. It is also known as “Wufenzhi Railroad”. The railroad track is only about 67.2cm wide and only half of the standard track size, so it was named as “Sufenzhi Railroad” (half of the size). (五分仔車 )

Before the highways, the local residents relied on “Wufen Railroad for transportation. It used to be the most profitable railroad owned by the Taiwan Sugar Corporation, so the railroad was also called “Golden Railroad”. It was completely closed in 1998 because there has not had a need for service.

With the effort of Mr. Chen, Zhongzheng and local residents, the train station and a gorgeous train park were rebuilt in 2004.

We enjoyed our visit so much in every corner. I was impressed that a former farm could be transformed into an artistic village without being interrupted by commercials. Actually, by visiting many farms or fisherman villages in Taiwan, I was left with the impression: “no selling, no advertising, but relaxing and refreshing in a clean, no pressure, and artistic environment.” Read More

Gods’ Garment Embroidery Factory

Religion is one of the essential cultures in Taiwan. A variety of traditional folk deities are placed in the temples or in the homes for worshipping or family blessing. The splendid colors and delicate embroidery deities’ garments have become public attention. Seventy percent of Taiwan’s deities’ garments are produced in the “Shen-Fu, Creative of Embroidery” factory in Puzi, Chiayi County. (嘉義縣朴子市) Once we entered the factory, I was attracted by all the vivid colors and cute mini deities’ clothes on the display counter. From there, Taiwanese traditional folk religious deities’ garments are no longer far away from me to feel, touch, and own. “Shen-Fu Creative of Embroidery” (神斧) has changed my look of Taiwanese deities garments from a mystery religious piece to a gorgeous art piece.

Shen-Fu is operated by the third generation of the family. Three brothers of the family utilized their creative skills to develop all kinds of deities’ clothes, hats, belts, and flags for different events and needs. They not only pass on the traditional religious, but also make it to attract younger generations to discover the fun side of religious.

I found the mini deities clothes are the cutest. According to the legend, the garments that deities worn can bring luck and expel evils. Parents ask for these worn clothes in the temples for their children to keep for these reasons. These mini garments are made with different colors for different deities. I bought a “Good luck orange mini deity clothes” (NT150/$5). They told me the orange clothes can be worn by all kinds of deities. Each mini clothes comes with a description, a cute container, and a well-design store bag.

Here is the factory in the back making the embroidery garments. The process is pretty complicated, which includes drafting, picking colors, sewing, hand embroidery, coating, sewing again, and quality control.

The workers are so friendly, but busy. Many buyers were there, workers took time to assist each one of them in selecting the garment to fit their needs. Generally speaking, the garment of the deity can be replaced every 10 years or for different events. The worn clothes usually are placed in the back of the cars to protect driver’s safety. Do not toss the garments as they said; they are better being off to burn.

Here are the various accessories for the deities, such as hats, belts, flag… and so on.

The customer brings its own deity statue here. He or she can either choose the already made garment or the custom made by carefully measuring the size, heights, and widths of the deity from the Master. Customer can also select the accessories. Masters will carefully put them on.

I found Shen-Fu products very creative, fun, attractive, and impressive. This factory not only promotes its business in order to attract tourists, but also turns this place into a local folk art and culture exhibition center.

Shen Fu website

Address: No.211, Bowen St., Puzi City, Chiayi County

Telephone: 05-3706384 Read More

Biking in Jingliao

陽光初灑的晨間，在鳥語花香、靜謐清幽的鄉間騎單車，是件很舒服愜意的事，我們騎著民宿借來的單車，盡情享受這難得的鄉間早晨時光。

Biking in the early morning under the sprinkle of the sun and with birds singing and flower fragrance on the country road is quite pleasant. We borrowed the bikes from the family lodging and enjoyed this morning on the country site.

從民宿的三合院甫騎出，紅磚牆邊這綠的、紫的、紅的、黃的繽紛景象隨即映入眼簾，美麗豐富的色彩讓人驚喜不已。

We started from the courtyard. Vibrant colors with green, purple, red and yellow came into our eyes. We were astonished by these vivid colors on this side of red brick wall.

牆邊的另一邊，種了許多諾麗果，問了問路過的伯伯，才知這些諾麗果不是野生，而是刻意栽種的，據說諾麗果有排毒、消炎、降血壓與抗腫瘤等功效，故這幾年在台灣被炒得很火熱。

Lots of Noni fruits are growing on the other side of the brick wall. We asked an elderly on the road and found out that they are not the wild Noni, but were planted. It is said that Noni fruit has detoxifying, anti-inflammatory, antihypertensive and anti-tumor effects. Noni fruits are getting popular in Taiwan now.

拍夠了也欣賞夠了，正準備要正式展開單車之旅時，卻見民宿大哥的爸爸－黃伯伯前來，原來他是來看我們起床沒，提醒我們早晨的菁寮很美，要記得騎車去走走，鄉下人真的很熱情！

After the photos were taken, we were ready to take off. Mr. Huang (the father of the family lodging owner) came and reminded us not to miss the beautiful morning of Jingliao by bike. They were so warm!

菁寮大多都是傳統紅磚厝，而且處處綠意盎然、花木扶疏，蜿蜒騎乘在村落裡，邊吹風邊賞景真的是一大享受。

Most of the houses in Jingliao are red brick houses. Jingliao is filled with green trees and flowers. Riding within the village with the nice breeze is such an enjoyment.

我們沒有目的地的隨意騎逛，村裡的紅磚厝、紅磚牆及紅磚巷，隨便一個角落都很迷人，可以說是處處都有驚喜。

We were riding around and found surprises on every corner of the red brick houses, walls, and alleys.

這間三合院是「茄芷阿嬤工作坊」，這間作坊不僅傳承了老一輩的藺草編織技術，還提供社區媽媽再就業的機會。不過，我這次只是經過，並沒有入內參觀。

Here is “Jiazhi Mamma’s workshop” in the courtyard. It offers the Lin Grass waving technique to the women in the community. We were just passing by and did not visit inside.

「黃家古厝」是一棟中、西融合的建築，正面為仿文藝復興形式，後屋身則為閩南式建築。古厝建於1928年，是後壁鄉碩果僅存的日治時期的洋樓建築，不過目前並不開放參觀，只能透過圍牆窺探。

“Huang Old House” integrated the Chinese and western architecture. The imitation of the Renaissance style design is showing in the front and Taiwanese design in the back. It was built in 1928. It is the only remaining western house in Houbi Township left during the Japanese Colonial Era. It is not opened to the visitors yet. I could only peek through the wall.

這座矗立在稻田中央的「菁寮天主教聖十字架教堂」，是於1986年贏得普立茲建築獎得主－Gottfried Boehm的作品。很難相信，在這樣的鄉間竟然藏著大師級的作品！

“Jingliao Catholic Church” is located in the middle of the rice field. It was built by Gottfried Boehm who won the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1986. It’s hard to believe that an art work from a great architecture is hidden here.

參觀完教堂，別忘了到對面的菁寮國小走走。目前在國小裡尚可見到日式舊辦公廳與木造禮堂。照片裡淺藍色木造建築，為建於民國四十五年的舊辦公室，目前做為菁寮國小的圖書室。

After the church, we went to Jingliao Elementary School across the street. The Japanese style old office hall and wooden auditorium can still be seen. This blue old office building was built in 1956; it became the library of the school.

[建於民國四十年的中正堂]

Zhongzheng Hall- built in 1951.

蔶寮是個可以真實體驗「生活在鄉間的美好」的地方，有機會來到此，不妨消去時間的壓力，去吸納鄉間特有的悠閒，享受一段舒服的農村旅行吧！

Jingliao is such a nice place to experience the rural life. It helped to release the city stress, gain the leisure farm experience, and make the farm journey enjoyable! Read More