Baisha Chengjing Hall

A zhaitang (齋堂), or fasting hall, of the Zhaijiao (齋教) folk religion founded in 1856, making it the oldest in Penghu. The hall is colloquially known as the Gangzai Fasting Hall (港仔菜堂) after the old name of the surrounding village, and in the 1960s it briefly doubled as the village’s kindergarten classroom. The current building dates from a 1994 reconstruction, and while a handful of elderly lifelong vegetarians still come to recite sutras here, most local worshippers have gravitated to the more active Zhong’an Temple (眾安寺) immediately next door.