Yuanbao Temple ( zh, t=元保宮, p=Yuánbǎo Gōng) is a temple located in North District,

Taichung City Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Tai ...

, Taiwan. The temple is dedicated to the

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

Baosheng Dadi Baosheng Dadi is a Deity of Medicine worshiped in Chinese folk religion and Taoism. The deity is very popular in Fujian, Taiwan and the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Historical Personage Wu Tao or Wu Ben () was born in the villag ...

History

Historically, the area around Yuanbao Temple was known as Laicuobu, named after Lai family from

Pinghe County Pinghe County () is a county of the prefecture-level city of Zhangzhou, in southern Fujian province, PRC, bordering Guangdong province to the west. Administrative Division The administrative centre or seat of Pinghe County is Xiaoxi (). Towns ...

that settled there. The clanspeople brought a copy of Baosheng Dadi from Xintian Temple in

Zhangzhou Zhangzhou (), alternately romanized as Changchow, is a prefecture-level city in Fujian Province, China. The prefecture around the city proper comprises the southeast corner of the province, facing the Taiwan Strait and surrounding the prefec ...

and built a temple in 1791 for the deity, with the help of the following seventeen villages: * (賴厝廍) * (乾溝子) * (田心子) * (犁頭店) * (土庫) * (麻園頭) * (後壠子) * (東大墩) * (邱厝子) * (三十張犁) * (水景頭) * (廍子) * (軍功寮) * (舊社) * (二分埔) * (三分埔) * (水湳) The temple had a large influence on the region and was the religious center those seventeen villages. Major renovations were done to the temple in 1846 and 1924. In 1962, the seventh-generation keeper of the temple's son formed a committee and started several expansion projects to the temple complex, which added several new halls for more deities. After the end of

Martial law in Taiwan Martial law in Taiwan () refers to the periods in the history of Taiwan after World War II during control by the Republic of China Armed Forces of the Kuomintang-led Government of the Republic of China regime. The term is specifically used to ...

, in 1988, Yuanbao Temple made a pilgrimage to in Longhai District,

Fujian Province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

, to "refill" the spiritual energy of the deity. The pilgrims believed that Baijiao Ciji Temple is the successor to Xintian Temple, but when they arrived, they did not find any evidence of this claim. Later, they traveled to the nearby , where they found documents belonging to Xintian Temple. Hence, Yuanbao Temple recognizes the latter as its predecessor.

Festivals

The largest annual festival at Yuanbao Temple is the birth of Baosheng Dadi, celebrated between the tenth to fifteenth day of the third month in the

Chinese calendar The traditional Chinese calendar (also known as the Agricultural Calendar ��曆; 农历; ''Nónglì''; 'farming calendar' Former Calendar ��曆; 旧历; ''Jiùlì'' Traditional Calendar ��曆; 老历; ''Lǎolì'', is a lunisolar calendar ...

. During the festival, a parade of worshippers tour the six largest villages in the original seventeen, spending one day in each village in this order: Houlongzi, Mayuantou, Qiucuozi, Sanshizhangli, Erfenpu, and Laicuopu. The statue used in the festival is the black-faced Baosheng Dadi; according to legend, this statue went missing in

Nantou County Nantou County (; Hokkien POJ: ''Lâm-tâu-koān''; Hakka PFS: ''Nàm-thèu-yen'') is the second largest county of Taiwan by area, located in the central part of the country. It is also the only non-coastal county in Taiwan. Its name derives fro ...

and was found by worshippers a decade later. Then, Baosheng Dadi appeared to them asking to return to Yuanbao Temple. After its return, worshippers regard this statue as the most powerful in the temple's possessions. During

Lantern Festival The Lantern Festival ( zh, t=元宵節, s=元宵节, first=t, hp=Yuánxiāo jié), also called Shangyuan Festival ( zh, t=上元節, s=上元节, first=t, hp=Shàngyuán jié), is a Chinese traditional festival celebrated on the fifteenth d ...

, Yuanbao Temple is one of the few temples that use candle

lantern A lantern is an often portable source of lighting, typically featuring a protective enclosure for the light sourcehistorically usually a candle or a wick in oil, and often a battery-powered light in modern timesto make it easier to carry and h ...

s instead of

LED light An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...

s. The temple also holds

glove puppetry Glove puppetry () is a type of opera using cloth puppets that originated during the 17th century in Quanzhou or Zhangzhou of China's Fujian province, and historically practised in the Min Nan-speaking areas such as Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, the Chaos ...

shows for the public.

References

{{authority control 1791 establishments in Taiwan Religious buildings and structures completed in 1791 Taoist temples in Taichung

History

Festivals

See also

References