Florence reminded me that there is another famous Dutch Fort in Tainan. That fort was built in 1653 and called Fort Provintia by the Dutch and the Red-Hair Tower by the locals. It was also conquered by Cheng Kung(my school's namesake) in 1661, Cheng Kung also called Koxinga was a supporter of the last Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and was chased to Taiwan by the armies of the Qing Dynasty(1644-1911).There he threw out the Dutch but his son was eventually defeated by the Qing armies.
Very little of the original fort is still there, but over the years it has been a government building and now there are two temples on the site one to the god of literature and the other to the god of the sea. Both have been restored by the Tainan City government and are examples of classical Chinese architecture.
I liked the roof decorations, they have a delicacy that that shouts out they have no practical purpose. It is art for art's sake. Of course there could be some religious meaning but I couldn't know it.
Both temples now are exhibits of past artifacts. Including part of an original roof decoration. Like this one.
This door opening is in the shape of a vase which in Chinese is the word 'ping'. And ping is the beginning of the work for safety, pingan. So this shaped door would bring safety to the inhabitants inside the door. I hope the soldiers defending the door appreciated that they had literature on their side.
Sorry no food today, I maxed out yesterday.
5 comments:
I am staying up late to do my comment. This way, I am always the first one, earlier than Pinfan. She has to work in rich "IBM" company. They keep her busy enough not to have time to read the blog, not to mention commenting.
The temple roof is very common. I have seen so many of them when I was in Taiwan that I never paid much attention to it. I am sure each shape has its own meaning. But it is all superstitious. Myabe the sharp edge is to against the evil spirit. Too much money has been spent on the temple. It is like the church that I consider it is waste of money. But again, we can say it is an art form and expression. Some might says it is priceless!
Well, I'm finally caught up also.
I love reading every thing you blog. But I imagine when school once starts that you will be busy and have to cut down on information so I'm glad that you gave us so much already. Thank you!!Ellen
I guess I'm not an early riser anymore. I'll probably never be first to post on Mike's blog. At any rate, I enjoy your pictures of the temple and your reactions to what you see. I don't think that art always is a waste of money. We need to see reminders of the past to understand how we got to be the way we are. Good luck as your classes start! Is there a school cafeteria? What is the food like there?
Thank you so much for spending time to educate us on Taiwan. Subject is really interesting.
Alan
I like Taiwan temple, and always lots of story for all the architecuture..I took a gu-gi workshop long ago in college, and learn lots of knowledge of taiwanese temple, but I forgot them all..:<
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