Yongcheng Theater (永成戲院) originally opened for business in 1945, but in fact its forerunner was not even a theater. Rather it was run by Mr. Huang Zhi (黃直先生) as the Yongcheng Rice Mill (永成碾米廠). During the Japanese Colonial era, the Huang Family Rice Mill was in a long-term co-operative relationship with the Japanese government, and it built up an extensive network of contacts amongst government officials and merchants. As such, business flourished.
Built in 1715, Yanshui Martial Temple(鹽水武廟) enshrines Guan Sheng Di Jun. Yanshui Beehive Fireworks is a wild carnival that attracts many domestic and international tourists on Lantern Festival every year. The streets are full of people the day before Festival, on the day they are packed, and the township is full of excitement. The origin of Yanshui Beehive Fireworks was the procession by Guan Sheng Di Jun to eliminate disease by sending off the plague gods and it has become Taiwan’s most important Lantern Festival activity.
In days gone by Yuejin Harbor had a large number of merchants and was where cargo ships gathered. One of the famous scenes of the harbor at the time was the lights on the fishing boats at Jubo Pavilion. At the side of Jubo Pavilion(聚波亭), Dazhong Temple was built in 1741 and enshrines Lei Fu Da Jiang Gong, one of the followers of Er Ma Jiao of Yanshui Hupi Temple. The temple has tranquil surrounds; local people like to sit in the shade under the big tree in front and chat.
The Bajiao (Octagon) Building(八角樓) is a wooden building completed in 1841. At the time, Yanshui’s Yuejin Harbor was busy with cargo ships and merchants filled the streets. The Bajiao Building was built by craftsmen brought in from China by the Ye family who had made their wealth in the sugar industry. The building materials were mainly Chinese Fir and bricks transported from China. It was a grand house.
In the Japanese Colonial Time, it is said that injured or sick soldiers liked to visit Guanziling to recuperate. After soaking in the hot spring water and recovering their energy, they would train by walking up and down the steep steps.
Situated in the foothills of Mt. Zhentou in Baihe District(白河區枕頭山麓), Dasian Temple(大仙寺) is nicknamed “old temple.” Built during the 40th year of the reign of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in 1701, it enshrines Sakyamuni, San Bao Fo Zu (Three Treasure Buddha), Guanyin Bodhisattva and Di Zang Wang Ksitigarbha(地藏王菩薩) and also has the ashes of the founding priest for tourists to worship. Dasian Temple is a Municipal Heritage Sites. It is also a temple of one of the nine schools of Buddhism in Taiwan.
Built in 1798, Huoshan Biyun Temple (火山碧雲寺) remains much the same as it looked originally. The ancient temple has a mixed Minnan and Japanese architectural style and has a backdrop of the Pillow Mountain range, giving it a simple and elegant look. There is a hole in front of the temple that has a central role in a legendary story; it is said that just enough rice for the temple occupants to eat used to flow out of “rice gushing hole” every day. One day, a greedy monk wanted to have all the rice to himself and dug down into the hole, after which rice never came out again.
Jingzhong Temple was built in 1791 and enshrines Yue Wu Mu Wang (Yue Fei) (岳武穆王(岳飛). It most special feature is its lottery poems, said to all be written by a monk who resides at the temple. The verses of the poems are all seven characters long. To understand the lottery poems, the representative figure and content of the allusion must first be understood. The lottery poems are a real test of people’s ability to understand Chinese ancient poetry. If you are interested, why not visit and challenge yourself?
According to legend, when the ancestors crossed the sea and sailed to Taiwan in 1673, they brought a Li Fu Qian Sui (李府千歲)statue with them to help them cross safely. After they arrived safely and settled, they built three straw huts where the Li Fu Qiang Sui statue was enshrined. In 1945, Wen Fu Qian Sui was invited to enter the temple from Donglong Temple in Donggang, Pingtung(屏東東港) to help the common people. At this time it was renamed Donglong Temple(東隆宮), and the name is still used today. The King Boat Ceremony (王船祭典) is held once every three years.
Beimenyu Church(北門嶼教會) was established around 1959 and was built for local people who suffered from Blackfoot Disease(烏腳病); due to long-term drinking of ground water that contained arsenic, many locals contracted this disease, which often resulted in amputation, and suffered greatly. The church was founded to provide these people with spiritual comfort. In cooperation with Dr. Wang Jin-he, the church treated patients psychologically with faith and the doctor treated their disease with medicine. The church and doctor are respected and admired by locals to this day.