阿蓮清和宮

Alian Qinghe Temple

June 16th, 2016

An important temple at the heart of Alian in northern Kaohsiung. According to local legend it was founded in 1665 around a protective amulet of Marshal Xin (辛府元帥) that a passing traveller had hung in a tree on the edge of the settlement. Local accounts attribute a string of miracles to the talisman, including guiding lost travellers home and repelling bandits, and a thatched shrine was built on the site. It has been rebuilt numerous times over the centuries, even relocating as the center of gravity of the settlement shifted westward. The present two-storey hall, completed in 1985 and dedicated in 1987, enshrines Xin Tianjun (辛天君) on the main altar.

The rooftop carries a typical arrangement of the Three Stars of Chinese folk religion or Fulushou (福祿壽), the personifications of good fortune, status, and longevity, set out in the traditional right-to-left order. Fu (福), holding a child, is the avatar of Jupiter; Lu (祿), depicted as a mandarin official, corresponds to the star Mizar in the Big Dipper; and Shou (壽), the long-lived old man with a domed forehead and a gnarled walking stick, is the southern star Canopus, also known as the Old Man of the South Pole. Together they sum up the traditional Chinese conception of the good life and turn up on temple roofs all over Taiwan.