The Taoyuan Martyrs' Shrine () is a

martyrs' shrine The Martyrs' Shrine, also known as Shrine of the Canadian Martyrs (french: Sanctuaire des martyrs canadiens)is a Roman Catholic church in Midland, Ontario, Canada, which is consecrated to the memory of the Canadian Martyrs, six Jesuit Martyrs an ...

Taoyuan District Taoyuan District (), formerly known as Taoyuan City () prior to the establishment of the special municipality of Taoyuan in 2014, is a district of Taoyuan City in northwestern Taiwan. The municipal seat of Taoyuan City is situated within its bor ...

Taoyuan City Taoyuan () is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) located in northwestern Taiwan, neighboring New Taipei City to the north-east, Yilan County, Taiwan, Yilan County to the south-e ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

History

Taoyuan Martyrs' Shrine was built by the Japanese as the Touen

Shinto Shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

(桃園神社) in 1938. After World War II, the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

government changed the Shinto Shrine into Hsinchu County Martyrs' Shrine, then 1950 became Taoyuan County Martyrs' Shrine. Statue of

Koxinga Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...

and tablets of numerous Chinese war heroes like

Liu Yongfu Liu Yongfu () (1837–1917) was a Chinese warlord and commander of the celebrated Black Flag Army. Liu won fame as a Chinese patriot fighting against the French Empire in northern Vietnam ( Tonkin) in the 1870s and early 1880s. During the Sin ...

were honoured in the main shrine.

Architecture

Taoyuan Martyrs' Shrine is one of the best-kept Shinto shrines outside of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The structure is made largely of unpainted, unvarnished cypress, and the shrine incorporates Japanese and modern Taiwanese architectural styles. File:NamePillarOfTouyanMartyrsShrine.jpg, Naming Pillar File:TheToriOfTouyanMartyrsShrine.jpg, Torii File:Taoyuan Shinto shrines-1.jpg, Gardens and entrance File:Taoyuan Shinto shrines-2,Taiwan.jpg, Administration office File:TheAdministrationOfficeOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 1.jpg, Administration office File:TheAdministrationOfficeOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 2.jpg, Administration office File:TheWaterAblutionShelterOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 1.jpg,

Chōzuya is a Shinto water ablution pavilion for a ceremonial purification rite known as ''temizu'' or . The pavilion contains a large water-filled basin called a . At shrines, these ''chōzubachi'', are used by worshippers for washing their left ha ...

(手水舍, The Water Ablution Shelter) File:TheWaterAblutionShelterOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 2.jpg,

(手水舍, The Water Ablution Shelter) File:TheBronzeHorseOfTouyanMartyrsShrine.jpg, Bronze horse File:TheKomaInuOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 1.jpg,

Komainu , often called lion-dogs in English, are statue pairs of lion-like creatures either guarding the entrance or the ''honden'', or inner shrine of many Japanese Shinto shrines or kept inside the inner shrine itself, where they are not visible to the ...

(狛犬) File:TheKomaInuOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 2.jpg,

(狛犬) File:TheRoofOfWorshipHallOfTouyanMartyrsShrine.jpg, The roof of

Haiden Haiden may refer to: *A Gewürztraminer wine * Haiden (Shinto), the hall of worship of a Shinto shrine See also * Heiden (disambiguation) {{disambig ...

(拜殿, worship hall) File:MainHallOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 1.jpg,

Honden In Shinto shrine architecture, the , also called , or sometimes as in Ise Shrine's case, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine, intended purely for the use of the enshrined ''kami'', usually symbolized by a mirror or sometimes by a sta ...

(本殿, main hall) File:MainHallOfTouyanMartyrsShrine 2.jpg,

(本殿, main hall)

References

External links

桃園忠烈祠
(Chinese)
Taoyuan Martyrs Shrine
{{Taiwan-struct-stub 1938 establishments in Taiwan Taoyuan District Martyrs' shrines in Taiwan Buildings and structures in Taoyuan City Tourist attractions in Taoyuan City