Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In fact, most temples you see in Taiwan today will not have a traditional southern style
at all. Since the 1960s the trend has been to build in the so-called northern palace style.
Such temples are squat and broad, with a flat roof ridgeline and a flat interior ceiling.
Decorations tend to be repetitive and are often prefabricated in China. The change resul-
ted from political reasons (to please the Nationalist government), insecurity among
Taiwanese regarding the worth of their southern heritage, and cost-cutting measures.
BRANCH TEMPLES & THE DIVINE POWER OF THE MOTHER
New temples are almost always established as a branch (or daughter) of a larger
and more famous mother temple. This involves a rather fascinating process called
fēnxiāng(spirit division).
In this practice, representatives from the newly built temple go to the elder one
to obtain incense ash or statues. By doing so they bring back a little of thelíng(di-
vine efficacy) of the original temple deity to their own humble house of worship.
Periodically representatives from the daughter temple must return to the mother
to renew or add power to thelíngof their statue. At the mother temple they once
again scoop out incense ash to place in the incense burner of their own temple and
also pass their statue through the smoke of the mother temple's incense burner.
The process is usually accompanied by a large parade.
The Dying Masters
Taiwan has a serious problem ahead with the lack of fresh blood moving into the tradi-
tional decorative-arts field. The last survey of jiǎnniàn masters in 2004, for example,
showed that only 37 remained. A combination of low prestige, long hours and low pay
has made traditional craftwork unattractive to younger Taiwanese. One master woodcarv-
er we met from Pingdong even said he refused to pass his skills on to his children, not
wanting them to get stuck in a dead-end career.
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