在地藝文

Anping Chen Lai Residence has been erected in Yanping Street in the Qing dynasty. It was the residence of geomancer Ji-yun CHEN dispatched from Fujian in late Qing dynasty when he was a civil affair attendant during Japanese colonization. The building is a typical three-row street house. Part of the front row was demolished during the expansion of Yanping Street, only the second half of the front row, the middle and the rear rows survive. Inside the house there are mezzanine and coral-stone partition walls.

The Xiangguan Temple in Tainan City occupying an area of about 4,460m2is a Yiguandao temple worshipping Maitreya, Dipankara, and Siddhartha Gautama. The “Endless Treasure Museum” in the temple has a wide collection of valuable artefacts at home and abroad. The architecture of the Wuji Qingxu Temple and Sansheng Temple is elaborate and elegant. The main archway and the four 100-year-old bishop wood trees in front of the temple square make the temple more peaceful and solemn.

The hall of Shengli National School is located in the present-day Shengli Elementary School. It was originally the Tainan City Zhuwei National School founded in 1939, a primary school for Taiwanese students. It was also the only elementary school in East District are WWII. To celebrate the victory of the resistance war, the school changed its name to Shengli (victory). The hall was built by the sapper of the Armed Forces in 1953. It is a dual inclined roof wooden structure with a large span.

The lecture hall of the formerly Tainan Senior High School was built in 1918. Today, it is the assembly hall of the Tainan Second Senior High School. During Japanese colonization, there were two types of secondary schools: one for Japanese students and one for Taiwanese students. Although it was a school for Japanese students, as the number of Japanese students reduced significantly during WWII, the school was temporarily merged with the Tainan First Senior High School and later renamed as the Tainan Second Senior High School.
 

This special building always attracts people walking across Ximen Road. The Bao Public School main building was built in 1938. As it was named according to its administrative district Baoding (Bao District), it should be call “Bao” public school in place of “Baogong” school in Mandarin Chinese. In fact, visitors are often confused by this. It was the largest and the most modernized public school in Tainan during Japanese colonization.

During 200 years from the Dutch occupation through the Kingdom of Tungnin to the reign of Emperor Daoguang, Qing dynasty, Anping was an isle separated from Taiwan Island. The wasters between Anping and Tainan coast was called the Taijiang Bay with water at 5-6m deep where large vessels could sail across. Anping is one of a series of sandbanks originally called Yikunshen. There are another six sandbanks between Anping and the estuary of the Erren River. All seven sandbanks were called one to seven Kunshen’s. Anping and Beixianwei (Bassemboy) sandbank are separated by waters.

The Yingchuan Family Hall was built during the reign of Emperor Jiaqing, Qing dynasty, and refurnished in 1956. It is a brick structure standing at the settlement place of the Chens’ first generation. It carries a Minnan square shape with 2 rows and 3 entrances. It is a wooden structure with a column and tie construction, a roof of monk and nun tiles, a swallowtail ridge, and flora and dragon patterns and color paintings on the body.

The Rensho Temple enshrines Dadao Gong and Taiziyeh. It is said that the temple worshipping Baoai Dadi was built in the Kingdom of Tungnin about 300 years ago. To pray for peace and success of the voyage, Jiu-shan WU, a subordinate of Cheng-kung ZHENG, requested for an authentic statue of Baoshan Dadi from Tongan County, Fujian Province, for worshipping on the voyage. The statue was originally worshipped at Wu’s residence. As the deity was extremely spiritual and powerful, locals built a temple to enshrine the deity in remembrance of his miracles and protection.

Located in the alley near the Yeh Shyr-Tau Literary Memorial Museum, the Zexiantang Temple is like an unearthly space in the alley for its absolute serenity. The building is maintained in a classical style. On the white wall, wooden windows and doors in their natural color are embedded. Some green patterned bricks for ventilation are equipped as decorations. The layout of the worshipping hall is maintained exactly in the traditional style. Although it has been refurbished for several times since its completion in 1879, the appearance remains more or less the same as it was.

Completed in 1928, it is probably the most beautiful historical building in the National Tainan First Senior High School. The grand hall was designed and supervised by the Construction and Repair Section of the Government-General of Taiwan. It adopts the rarely seen Roman architectural style like the College of Liberal Arts, National Taiwan University. In the appearance of a majestic European church, the hall’s columns and decorations are elaborate, with a very strong academic style.