Lukang Rimaohang

Founded around 1784 by the Quanzhou trader Lin Zhensong (林振嵩) and his son Lin Wenjun, Rimaohang was the largest shipping firm (船頭行) of the Quanzhou Guild and the town’s wealthiest household from the late Qianlong era to about 1840. The family bankrolled the 1786 relocation of the Lukang Longshan Temple but Lin family fortunes declined as Lukang harbour silted up after the 1820s. The front court of the original three-court complex was demolished in 1998 during a township road-widening project, prompting descendants and conservationists to protest and halt further demolition. The surviving two courts were designated a city monument in 2000 and restored between 2003 and 2005.