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The start of Beipu Old Street lies right on the stone-paved forecourt of Citien Temple. This county-designated historic site in Beipu Township, Hsinchu County, is the most representative Hakka center of faith in the whole county and the core landmark of the entire Beipu settlement. Dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva, it embodies the classic Hakka tradition of 'Guanyin first.' Its plan approaches the Cantonese-Hakka 'double-hall, two-wing' layout, and the Sanchuan Hall is distinguished by its sandstone carving; the pair of stone dragon pillars along the entrance colonnade are both carved as 'ascending dragons' coiling upward — a technique rarely seen in Taiwan's temples. Inside are also two sets of '24 Filial Exemplars' stone columns, finely carved and likewise rare across Taiwan. On weekends, follow the forecourt into the old street and the stream of visitors never stops.

History

The origins of Citien Temple are inseparable from the Han Chinese settlement of Beipu. In 1834, during the Daoguang reign, the Cantonese leader Jiang Xiuluan and the Hokkien merchant Zhou Bangzheng jointly formed the 'Jin Guang Fu' reclamation enterprise to open up the southeastern mountains of Hsinchu — and the Guanyin statue enshrined in the temple was, by tradition, personally brought back from mainland China by Jiang Xiuluan. In 1840 Jiang rebuilt it as a wooden temple. In 1874, during the Tongzhi reign, Jiang Xiuluan's eldest grandson Jiang Ronghua carried out another major reconstruction, adding two wings and a front hall and setting the 'two-hall, two-wing, two-side-house' layout of today. During the 'Beipu Incident' of 1907 in the late Guangxu period, Citien Temple even served as an important base, adding a page of far-reaching history to this temple.

Beipu Citien Temple

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