Tainan Dehua Hall

Date CapturedAugust 17th, 2025 at 02:52 UTCCameraDC-S5M2LensLUMIX S 20-60mm F3.5-5.6Apertureƒ / 6.3Shutter Speed1/320 secFocal Length20.0 mmISO100Exposure Value13.6 EVOriginal Size3600 × 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).