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 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 店仔頂慈德宮 | ||||||
| Literal meaning | Palace of Kindness & Virtue on Dianziding Street | ||||||
| |||||||
| Other names | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liujia Temple | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 六甲廟 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Dianziding Street Temple | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 店仔頂廟 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Mazu Temple | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 媽祖廟 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Temple of the Mother | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Tianhou Temple | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 天后宮 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Palace 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
- "慈德宮", Official site, Kaohsiung: Zuoying District Office, retrieved 23 November 2016. (in Chinese)
- "店仔頂慈德宮", Cultural Resources Geographic Information System, Taipei: Center for the GIS, 2016. (in Chinese)