Fongshan Longshan Temple
Main Deities
About
Fongshan Longshan Temple is the best-preserved of all the Qing-era Longshan temples surviving in Taiwan, a designated National Monument in the Fongshan District of Kaohsiung. While most Longshan temples were founded by Sanyi immigrants from Quanzhou, this one traces its incense to the Anhai Longshan Temple in Quanzhou, giving it a lineage all its own. Dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva, the temple is prized above all for its cut-porcelain and clay-sculpture work — masterfully executed, beautifully preserved, and the very thing that draws connoisseurs to make the trip. As the foremost of Fongshan's four ancient temples, it stands in quiet, weathered dignity, a witness to the rise and fall of the old walled city and an important resource for the study of traditional Taiwanese architecture and folk belief.
History
The temple is said to have been founded in the early Qianlong era, though the exact date is lost to record. A touching folk tale survives: an oil peddler from Fujian, passing through, hung the Guanyin incense amulet he carried on a guava tree to rest — and left without it. That night the amulet glowed in the dark like a bright pearl, and the villagers, certain the Bodhisattva had shown herself, built a temple to enshrine her. Many restorations followed, the most important in 1764, when the county magistrate Wang Yingzeng led a major rebuild. Much of what stands today reflects repairs from the Daoguang era and the Japanese colonial period.
Fongshan Longshan Temple
Fongshan District, Kaohsiung City
Visitor Info
Address
No. 7, Zhongshan Rd, Fongshan District, Kaohsiung City
Region
Fongshan District, Kaohsiung City