Donglin East Well Introduction
Donglin East Well in Donglin Settlement, Lieyu Township was dug in the 4th year of the Jia Tai era during the reign of Emperor Ningzong of the Song Dynasty (1204) and was built by Lin Yanzhi. It has a history of over 800 years and is the largest ancient well in Kinmen with a unique construction method. In 2004, due to rural reconstruction, steps and granite pavement were installed around the ancient well, and a stainless steel guardrail and transparent glass were added above the well, designating it as a county historic site. The well is made from stone slabs measuring 160 cm long, 40 cm wide, and 11 to 13 cm thick, constructed from the well's bottom to the mouth, forming a square body with each side measuring 130 cm. Each of these similarly sized stone slabs has a notch of 15 cm long and 20 cm wide chiseled at the lower left and upper right corners, built using an alternating method of convex and concave construction. The center part of the well rail facing north is engraved with three lines of regular script, reading "Jia Tai Jia Zi Chun Lin Yan Zhi She" (嘉泰甲子春林彥智捨) from right to left. The center part of the well rail facing south is also engraved with two lines of regular script stating "Da De Yi Si Chong Xiu" (大德乙巳重修) consisting of six characters. Due to prolonged exposure to sunlight, the granite surface in the southern section has eroded significantly, making the inscriptions unclear, while the characters "De" (德) and "Chong" (重) in the center remain relatively clear, whereas the other four characters on the edges are more eroded and not very legible.
