Wandering in Lugang part 3

As mentioned in part 2 of Wandering in Lugang, the area around the Tian Ho temple is mainly a street market. Food vendors, tea shops, restaurants and the like abound, all thronged by tourists and day trippers.

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Heading off the main streets and into the back streets leads one to Lugang’s restored “old streets” and numerous temples. The old market streets are narrow, brick lanes lined with restored buildings that now mostly house stores selling trinkets, artwork and souvenirs. Starting from the northernmost end, we have Rih Mao Hang. This building belonged to Lin Wen-rui, owner of the Rih Mao Company and influential member of Ciyuan Jiao, Lugang’s major trade union during the Qing dynasty. Lin Wen-rui was the richest person in Lugang at the time.

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Continuing down the old street, we arrive at the Sinzu Temple, dating from 1788. In 1786, Lin Shuang-wen led a rebellion against the Qing court in China and subsequently occupied Taiwan. General Fu Kang-an was sent to Taiwan, tasked with wiping out the rebels. In 1787, he landed at Lugang and stated that his troops were aided by the goddess Mazu. To show thanks to Mazu, he received permission from the Emperor to build a new Mazu temple in Lugang. Originally, the only people allowed inside the Sinzu temple were government officers of the Qing dynasty. The original building was razed during war and subsequently rebuilt. The temple is now open to everyone, and houses some important historical data from the early Lugang era.

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The old street and its surrounding lanes and alleys feature many old buildings, rebuilt and restored to something like their original condition.

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Lugang is famed for its incense manufacturing. A lot of this is small, family-owned businesses working out of their homes. Incense is very important in Daoist and Buddhist religious activities. Burning incense is a method of purifying the surroundings, making for auspicious conditions conducive to ritual. Although the use of incense is common to all religions, it was traditional Chinese religion that first developed the practice. Worshippers typically light and burn sticks of incense in large bundles, which they wave while bowing to the statues or plaques of a deity or an ancestor. Individual sticks of incense are then vertically placed into individual censers located in front of the statues or plaques either singularly or in threes, depending on the status of the deity or the feelings of the individual. Low quality incense, the type often seen in supermarkets costing a couple of dollars, is often made mechanically and uses sawdust and glue to hold the sticks together and fragrant oils for the smell, with the smoke leading to blackened walls and being harmful to the lungs. Conversely, high quality incense, like that made in Lugang and often costing hundreds of dollars per bundle, uses natural resins, spices, and herbs and isn’t harmful to the lungs.

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One of the more popular lanes in Lugang is known as Nine Turns Lane. Every year, beginning in about September, Lugang is heavily influenced to northeast winds that blow dust into the town. To counteract these winds, lanes are often designed with numerous turns to protect against damage caused by the “September winds”. The name “Nine Turns Lane” doesn’t refer to the exact number of turns, rather it references the ninth month, September, and the fact that the number nine often represents “many” in Chinese culture. This lane has recently had its name changed. It’s now called Chinsheng Lane.

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Another well known lane is named “Breast Touching Lane” or “Gentleman Lane”. This is an extremely narrow alley, so narrow that two people cannot walk through side by side. It was considered very embarrassing for a woman to touch a strangers body, thus if a man and woman had to pass each other in the lane, then man would have to try to avoid coming into contact with the woman’s body if he wished to be considered a gentleman.

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At the southern end of town sits the Jinmen House. Built in 1787, it was both a temple and gathering place for people from Wujiang, Jinmen. When people first came from Jinmen to Lugang, this house enabled them to make contact with others from their hometown.

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Close to Jinmen House is the Wende Temple, dating from 1730. The main god housed here is Wen Fu Wang Yeh, which was originally from Chaunchou, China. When he was first brought to Taiwan, he was worshipped in a private house until people collected money to build him a temple of his own. This temple was damaged during the 921 earthquake and was expanded during the restoration process following 921.

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Back on Zhongshan Road (中山路), the main road through Lugang, there are also a number of sites. Ding’s Mansion is the only remaining Jinshi (top scholar) building in Lugang. Restored to its original grandeur, it’s now a pleasant place to sit with a coffee, thanks to a cafe located in one of the front rooms. This mansion was owned by Ding Shou-cuan, a scholar in the government at the time. Built of granite, imported tile and Chinese fir, it is relatively young by Lugang standards – not much more than 100 years old.

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The road is lined with stores selling everything imaginable, from modern clothes and electronic stores, to old barbershops and religious supplies. There are a few artisans based here as well – in fact, there are more recipients of Living Heritage awards in this area than there are in the rest of Taiwan.

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One of the more famous is Wu Tun-hou’s Traditional Lantern Shop. Wu, now in his 80s, has been making lanterns using traditional techniques for more than 65 years. His lanterns have been called genuine works of art, and his shop has seen visitors from all over the world, including Nobel Laureates and presidents. Lantern making was a craft traditionally passed down from father to son, however when Wu was a child, for some reason there was a lack of sons amongst Lugang’s many lantern crafters and the number of stores dwindled. Armed with only a primary school education, but talented in painting, handicrafts and calligraphy, the fifteen year old Wu began hanging around the remaining lantern makers, watching and learning the process. Lugang’s foremost lantern artisan at the time was Wang Yu-chueh, a fourth generation artisan from a family skilled in the art of crafting lanterns. Wang spotted some potential in Wu, and, having no sons of his own, presented Wu with a pair of 200 year old dragon-patterned lanterns that had been in Wang’s family for generations, with the desire that Wu would take over the business. Today, most lantern makers decorate their lanterns with auspicious Chinese characters but Wu favors more intricate work such as animals, figures and scenes, along with his personal favorite, dragons. His shop does still produce lanterns with Chinese characters, as shown below, but Wu leaves that to the other artisans in his employ. Unfortunately, I’ve never managed to get a photo of Wu at work.
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And so that concludes the wanderings through Lugang. I’ll leave you with the moon rising over the Tian Ho temple. Hope you’ve enjoyed the tour.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 22:18. It is filed under Travel and tagged with Photoessay, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.