- Zushih Temple
Zushih Temple (zh-tp|t=清水袓師廟|p=qing1 shui3 zu3 shi1 miao4) or (zh-tp|t=三峽長福巖|p=san1 xia2 chang2 fu2 yan2) is a
Taoist temple inSansia ,Taipei County ,Taiwan ,Republic of China .Qingshui Zushi (清水祖師), or known locally as Zushih-Gong (袓師公), is the principal god worshiped here.History
Zushih Temple was first built during the
Qing Dynasty in 1767 byFukienese immigrants fromAnxi County ,Quanzhou Municipality,Fujian Province inMainland China . It has been reconstructed three times. Its last reconstruction since 1947 is most well-known for being the masterpiece of renown Taiwanese artist,Li Meishu .Festivals
Every sixth day of the first month of the
Chinese lunar calendar on Zushih-Gong's birthday, Zushih Temple holds a Pigs of God (神豬) Contest. Farmers compete to raise the fattest pig, which during the competition day, the pig is decorated with ornaments. The fattest pig is then sacrificed to Zushih-Gong. In the past few years, this tradition has been met with disapprovement by animal rights activists, and while majority of temples who practice this have started using symbolic pigs, Zushih Temple in Sansia still continues the tradition.Architecture
Unique among temples, all of the walls and columns of Zushih Temple are sculpted from stone. The details are also carved with a wide variety of styles from ancient to modern, or even western-influenced, due to the western art education of
Li Meishu .External links
* [http://home.educities.edu.tw/kjt/sansha/ The Art of Zushih Temple]
* [http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=%E4%B8%89%E5%B3%BD%E7%A5%96%E5%B8%AB%E5%BB%9F&m=text Photos of Zushih Temple on Flickr]
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