Liuxing Temple Introduction
Liuxing Temple was founded by General Wang De-lu, and it is said to have close ties with Xinkang Feng Tian Temple and Beigang Chao Tian Temple, as they all inherited the three Matsu statues from Bengang Tianhou Temple. According to legend, in the second year of Jiaqing (1797), the Bengang River (now Xinkang River) flooded, destroying the streets of Bengang and the earliest Matsu temple in the Chiayi area—Bengang Tianhou Temple. The three Matsu statues originally enshrined in the temple had to be temporarily housed in a Land God Temple until the completion of the Xinkang Feng Tian Temple, founded by General Wang De-lu, in the sixteenth year of Jiaqing (1811). In the sixth year of Daoguang (1826), when Xinkang Feng Tian Temple and Beigang Chao Tian Temple competed to enshrine the Matsu statues, General Wang De-lu mediated and decided to enshrine the eldest Matsu at Xinkang Feng Tian Temple, the second Matsu at Beigang Chao Tian Temple, and the third Matsu was brought back to General Wang's home in the northern stream for worship. Later, General Wang established a new temple on the left side of his home (now at No. 3-1, Xikang Village, Xinkang Township), hoping for the prosperity of six villages: Xikang, Yuemei, Yuetan, Anhe, Houcuo, and Liudou, hence the name "Liuxing Temple." In 1906, the Chiayi earthquake caused Liuxing Temple to collapse. In the third year of Taisho (1914), Wang De-lu's descendants, Wang Shun-ji, along with Jiang Ji-zhen, Li Wusha, and others funded the reconstruction of Liuxing Temple at its current site (No. 65, Xikang Village, Xinkang Township) by employing the renowned craftsman Chen Ying-bin. Subsequently, in the fortieth year of the Republic (1951), Liuxing Temple was expanded, which continued until the fiftieth year of the Republic (1961), when the temple took its present form. In the seventy-eighth year of the Republic (1989), Taiwan Television Company broadcast the TV drama "Matsu Legend," which made the "Black-faced Third Matsu" of Liuxing Temple a household term.
