Tainan Dehua Hall

Date Captured

August 17th, 2025 at 02:52 UTC

Camera

DC-S5M2

Lens

LUMIX S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6

Aperture

ƒ / 6.3

Shutter Speed

1/320 sec

Focal Length

20.0 mm

ISO

100

Exposure Value

13.6 EV

Download

3600 × 2400

A zhaitang (齋堂), or fasting hall, of the Longhua (龍華) branch of the Zhaijiao (齋教) folk religion, established on this site by Xie Pujue (謝普爵) and three fellow adherents in 1834. During the Japanese colonial period it was nominally affiliated with the Sōtō Zen sect for protection, absorbing the nearby Deshan Hall (德善堂) in 1918 after the latter was demolished for road widening, and in 1923 lost its own outer courtyard to what is now Fuqian Road (府前路). Its side wings were destroyed by Allied bombing in World War 2 and rebuilt in 1950, with further restorations through 2000. Following the decline of Huashan Hall (化善堂) in Anping it became the principal Longhua propagation center in southern Taiwan. The main hall holds two Guanyin idols, one original and one inherited from Deshan Hall, alongside murals by the celebrated painter Pan Lishui (潘麗水).