Dounan Longhu Hall

A Longhua (龍華) sect zhaitang (齋堂), or fasting hall, of the Zhaijiao (齋教) folk religion, founded in 1897 by Shen Guozhen (沈國珍) after he returned to Dounan from training at Taichung Temple (台中寺). That same year the Japanese colonial government promulgated the Taiwan Opium Ordinance (台灣鴉片令) and the hall assisted in housing addicts undergoing withdrawal, earning a reputation for curing opium dependency. The present Western-influenced form was built by the second-generation leader Shen Xiangdang (沈相當), under whom it briefly became one of the two principal zhaitang of Yunlin, but the main hall was destroyed by US bombing in World War 2. A slow post-war rebuilding only reached completion around 1962, and with no successor to Shen the hall gradually fell into disuse. A major restoration was carried out in 2001 but the hall is now closed outside of special events.