Cide Palace (Zuoying District, Kaohsiung)

The Cide Palace[1] or Temple on Dianziding Street,[2] also known as the Dianziding, Liujia, Mazu, or Tianhou Temple,[1] is a temple northwest of Lotus Lake in Zuoying District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In Chinese, it is formally distinguished by its address[2] to differentiate it from the separate Cide Palace north of Kaohsiung's airport.

Cide Palace
Cide Palace
Traditional Chinese
Literal meaningPalace of Kindness & Virtue on Dianziding Street
Other names
Liujia Temple
Traditional Chinese
Dianziding Street Temple
Traditional Chinese
Mazu Temple
Traditional Chinese媽祖
Literal meaningTemple of the Mother
Tianhou Temple
Traditional Chinese天后
Literal meaningPalace of the Queen of Heaven

History

The temple was originally built as an unnamed temple to the Chinese earth god Tudigong. In 1821, the temple was renamed the Palace of Kindness and Virtue[2] and rededicated to both Tudigong and Mazu, the deified form of Lin Moniang, a medieval Fujianese girl now revered as a sea goddess and as Queen of Heaven. In 1941, amid the Second World War, the Japanese occupation government converted to an agriculture office and later a regimental branch office.[2] The Japanese ordered the demolition of the palace, but it was rebuilt from 1973 to 1976.

Services

On Mazu's birthday according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the temple hosts a Taiwanese opera group who performs on a stage in front of the temple's main hall.

See also

References

  1. "慈德宮", Official site, Kaohsiung: Zuoying District Office, retrieved 23 November 2016. (in Chinese)
  2. "店仔頂慈德宮", Cultural Resources Geographic Information System, Taipei: Center for the GIS, 2016. (in Chinese)

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.