Xia Tai Shan Rock Introduction
Xia Taishan Temple, also known as Xia Miao and the Grand Master Xian Ying Taishan Temple, is located in the Taishan District, which has two Taishan Temples. Due to the topography of Taishan, the southwestern high area is referred to as Ding Taishan, while the northeastern lower area is called Xia Taishan, hence the two temples are distinguished by their locations as Ding Taishan Temple and Xia Taishan Temple. Both temples worship the same main deity, Grand Master Xian Ying. The Ding Taishan Temple was built during the Qing Dynasty, in the Qianlong period, at Qizi Foot, about 250 years ago, by Li Fugi's grandfather Xu Yan and uncle Xu Yuan, who were invited from Anxi, Quanzhou, Fujian to Taiwan for worship. Later, due to the flourishing incense offerings and the increasing number of believers, the faithful in the Xia Taishan area recognized that it was inconvenient to travel to Ding Taishan, which led to the idea of establishing a separate temple. This initiated in the first year of the Guangxu era (1875) with the proposal from Huang Yonglai and Cai Wu Zhu, who advocated for a donation from the believers to establish the Xia Taishan Temple, which is the origin of the current Xia Taishan Temple. The temple underwent renovations in the 10th year of the Taisho era (1921) and again in the 56th year of the Republic of China, completing the renovations in the 65th year. In the 71st year, further repairs were made to the hall's circular pillars and other places. A stone tablet marking the renovation during the Taisho era is embedded in the wall of the bell and drum tower, recording the names of the donors, amounts, materials used, and financial transactions. The left and right walls of the front hall feature stone tablets erected during the 65th year of the Republic of China. In front of the temple courtyard is the Taishan Bridge stone tablet, and across the street is a theater. The couplet on the theater reads: "If true or false acts out the joys and sorrows of parting and reunion, it is ancient and modern, differentiating good and evil, loyalty and treachery."
