Bafen Catholic Church

Date CapturedNovember 29th, 2016 at 08:07 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 8Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length20.0 mmISO100Exposure Value14.0 EVOriginal Size1800 × 1200

In late November of last year I was riding through southern Changhua on my way to Beidou when I noticed an unusually old building at the side of the highway. With a little research I puzzled out this is the obscure Bāfēn Catholic Church (八分天主堂), a parish dating back to 1906 and located in Méizhōu Village (梅州里) on the western outskirts of Tianzhong. I haven’t found any primary source material establishing its age—but the style of the church reminds me of the nearby Ershui Public Hall (二水公會堂) in neighbouring Ershui, originally built during the Japanese colonial era in 1930. At a glance I would guess it was built sometime between 1940 and 1960.

Date CapturedNovember 29th, 2016 at 08:06 UTCCameraNIKON D3100LensAF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED IIApertureƒ / 7.1Shutter Speed1/250 secFocal Length18.0 mmISO100Exposure Value13.6 EVOriginal Size1800 × 1200

Since this is a rather obscure locale in rural Changhua there’s not much about it online. The church is briefly mentioned in this post, suggesting it is no longer in use for more than storage, and you’ll also find a few more photos here.