踏溯台南

踏溯台南

文學院 通識教育課程

Five-Canal Harbor Area: The Water Gods and Import-Export Tradesmen

Route Introduction

 

Jieguan Pavilion Stony-plate and the Wind God’s Temple

No. 8, Lane 143, Minquan Road, Sec. 3, Zongxi District, Tainan City

 

   In Qing Dynasty, officials assigned to Taiwan would depart from Xiamen and went through "the black gutter" in Taiwan Strait, and arrived exhaustingly in Taichiang Inner Sea. Then they changed to smaller boats to enter Tainan City.

   To receive the arriving new magistrates and to see off government officials, a pavilion was constructed by E Shan, the Taiwan governor, in 1730, on the right side of Nanhe Harbor next to Anlan Bridge outside the grand Western Gate.
  
  It was first built with four segments (a segment contains a house with a court yard), including the front gate, the official's hall, Wind God's temple and Guangying temple). In 1777, Taiwan Magistrate Jiang, Yuanshu renovated the Wind God's temple and erected a stony plate in front of the temple to give it more grandeur. The architecture and offices behind the Wind God's Temple were all torn down in 1918. In 1924, local residents chipped in to have the temple renovated.
 
  September 2013, illumination designer Zou Lien combined Jieguan Pavilion with the Wind God's temple to create Temple of Luz. This innovative design has attracted public attention on the grace of ancient heritage with light and shadow. However, the massive earthquake of Meinong, Kaohsiung occurred in February 2016 destroyed the stony bell tower built in Japanese occupational era.
 
   The structure of the drum tower was also impacted. For safety's sake, an overall renovation had been taken place. The construction was completed at the end of 2018, which turned a new leaf of the ancient heritage.