Tainan Xihua Hall

A zhaitang (齋堂), or fasting hall, founded in 1750 by four adherents of the Weng (翁) sect of the Jintong (金幢) branch of Zhaijiao (齋教), and the only surviving hall of that lineage in Taiwan. The traditional twin-courtyard compound faces west toward Fuzhou, home of the ancestral hall it descends from, and its current form dates largely from an 1894 rebuild with further additions continuing until around 1935. The principal deities are the Three Treasure Buddhas (三寶佛), and behind the main altar lies the neijiaxiang (內家鄉), a sanctum reserved for advanced practitioners, a distinctive Jintong feature rarely preserved elsewhere. The hall has been recognized as a municipal monument since 1985.