San Chong Temple Introduction
The San Chung Temple, also known as the Three Loyalist Temple, is located on Long'an Street in Shuangxi Village, Shuangxi District, New Taipei City. This temple venerates the statues of three loyal ministers from the late Southern Song Dynasty: Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu, and Zhang Shijie. In the 46th year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1781), Lian Yuanqiao, a native from Jiangdu Township in Changtai County, Fujian Province, led a group over the sea to Taiwan, bringing with him a statue of Wen Tianxiang. After traversing mountains and ridges to reach Shuangxi, they found it a desolate area yet full of beautiful landscapes, and thus decided to settle here, engaging in land development and building thatched huts for worship. The settlers, although not fleeing from war, still carried the strong spirit of the Han people to restore the Ming Dynasty and, having left their hometowns and crossed vast oceans, inevitably felt a sense of emptiness; they entrusted their spirits to the protection of deities, seeking peace and comfort. As a result, the worship of the statue of Wen Tianxiang grew increasingly popular. Lian Yuanqiao, having led the people from the mainland to Taiwan, convened a discussion to create statues of Lu Xiufu and Zhang Shijie to worship alongside Wen Tianxiang, collectively referred to as the Three Loyalists, and raised funds to build the temple, which was completed in the seventh year of the Tongzhi reign. In the 83rd year of the Republic of China, in accordance with urban planning for the widening of Datong Road, the original temple was demolished and rebuilt. The San Chung Temple has historically been a center of faith for the people of Shuangxi District, with a thriving incense offering. Besides the Three Loyalists as the main deities, the temple also worships other figures such as the Three Generations of Ancestors, the Heavenly Mother, Guansheng Dijun, Guanzhang Shengwang, Prince Yanping, Shakyamuni Buddha, and Avalokiteshvara.
