Bengang Tianhou Temple ( zh, t=笨港天后宮, p=Bèngǎng Tiānhòu Gōng) is a temple located in Nangang Village, Xingang Township,

Chiayi County Chiayi County ( Mandarin pinyin: ''jiā yì xiàn''; Hokkien POJ: ''Ka-gī-koān'') is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. It is the sixth largest county in Taiwan. Name The former Chinese placename wa ...

, Taiwan. Sitting on the south shore of the

Beigang River The Beigang River, formerly known as the Pakan from its Hokkien pronunciation, is a river in Taiwan named for Beigang, a port 20 kilometres from its mouth. It flows through Yunlin and Chiayi counties for 82 km. At the river mouth, lies the ...

, the temple is dedicated to Mazu, Goddess of Sea.

History

In 1713, a temple named "Mazu Temple" was built in Bengang (current day

Beigang, Yunlin Beigang, Hokkō or Peikang is an urban township in Yunlin County, Taiwan. It is primarily known for its Chaotian Temple, one of the most prominent Temples of Mazu on Taiwan. It has a population of 37,899 as of September 2022. Geography The ...

and Nangang Village) east of the current location. Sometime later, a

potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US * Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska * Potters, New Je ...

named Yang Qian (楊謙) moved from Bengang to

Changhua Changhua (Hokkien POJ: ''Chiong-hòa'' or ''Chiang-hòa''), officially known as Changhua City, is a county-administered city and the county seat of Changhua County in Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. For many centuries the site was ...

in search of work. According to legend, the

incense Incense is aromatic biotic material that releases fragrant smoke when burnt. The term is used for either the material or the aroma. Incense is used for aesthetic reasons, religious worship, aromatherapy, meditation, and ceremony. It may also b ...

bag that he carried with him for spiritual protection began glowing, which the people of Changhua believed that Goddess Mazu had revealed herself miraculously. Therefore, Changhua's Nanyao Temple was built in 1738 and dedicated to Goddess Mazu. Some time afterwards, Yang Qian moved back to Bengang near Shuixian Temple. In 1815, Nanyao Temple began the tradition of making a pilgrimage to the Yang residence to pay tribute to their origins. Yang Qian's descendants thought that a deity visiting a mortal was strange, so they asked Nanyao Temple to sculpt a Mazu statue for them, which they stored in Mazu Temple (at this time renamed as Tianhou Temple). Later, the Yang family fell into financial trouble, so during the pilgrimage, Nanyao Temple would replace the clothes on the statue. The 1906 Meishan earthquake destroyed Tianhou Temple, so the statue was moved to the Yang residence, where the tradition continued. Towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the men in the Yang family were drafted by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

and all died in combat. Since no one could take care of the Mazu statue, the statue was moved to Shuixian Temple where the ceremonies continued. In 1998, worshippers bought a tract of land directly adjacent to Shuixian Temple to rebuild Tianhou Temple. The new temple measured 420

ping Ping may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Ping, a domesticated Chinese duck in the illustrated book '' The Story about Ping'', first published in 1933 * Ping, a minor character in ''Seinfeld'', an NBC sitcom * Ping, a c ...

and took five years to complete. The temple was built using traditional methods: notably, the carpenter was the son of the carpenter that helped renovate Shuixian Temple. On 10 October 2002, a ceremony was held to move the Mazu statue from Shuixian Temple, and future pilgrimages from Nanyao Temple ended at the new Tianhou Temple.

References

{{reflist 2002 establishments in Taiwan Religious buildings and structures completed in 2002 Temples in Chiayi County

History

See also

References