Gongguan Xinxing Tianhou Temple

A Mazu temple in Pingtung City with an unusually layered history. The site began as a Makatao (馬卡道) kuwa (公廨), an Indigenous shrine to the deities of earth and grain. Han Chinese settlers later reinterpreted the altar as one to Tudigong (土地公). In the late 18th century the Hong family ran a sugar mill on the adjacent land and locals began calling the resident deity Pugongye (廍公爺), the “mill god”. Eventually veneration of Mazu was incorporated into the shrine and, after a fire destroyed the original structure in 1928, a new building was raised on the same plot, with Mazu in the main hall and Pugongye relegated to a side altar.