Donglin East Well Introduction
The "Donglin East Well" in the Donglin Settlement of Lieyu Township was excavated in the 4th year of the Jing Tai era (1204) during the reign of Emperor Ningzong of Song, built by Lin Yanzhi. It has a history of over 800 years and is the largest ancient well in Kinmen, featuring a unique construction method. In 2004, due to village renovations, stairs and granite pavements were laid around the ancient well, and a stainless steel protective frame and transparent glass were added above the well, designating it as a county-level historic site. The well is built using stone slabs measuring 160 cm in length, 40 cm in width, and 11 to 13 cm in thickness, constructed from the bottom of the well to the mouth, forming a square well body with each side measuring 130 cm. Each of these identically sized stone slabs has a cut-out measuring 15 cm in length and 20 cm in width at the lower left and upper right corners, and is constructed using an alternating pattern of protruding and recessed techniques. On the part of the well railing facing north, three lines of regular script are engraved in the center, reading from right to left, "Jia Tai Jia Zi Chun Lin Yan Zhi She" (嘉泰甲子春林彥智捨). In the center of the well railing facing south, there are two lines of regular script engraved that read "Da De Yi Si Chong Xiu" (大德乙巳重修), with six characters in total. Due to its southern exposure to sunlight for a long period, the granite surface has weathered considerably, making the inscriptions difficult to read; among them, the characters "De" (德) and "Chong" (重) are relatively clearer as they are located in the center of the stone, while the other four characters at the edges have weathered more and are less legible.
