aeeble

In 1721, the 60th year of Emperor Kangxi’s reign, the Zhu Yigui uprising broke out in Taiwan. Regional Commander Lan Tingzhen was ordered to suppress the revolt. He therefore traveled in person to Meizhou’s Chaotiange to invite the true form of the Holy Mother (Mazu) to sail with the fleet and protect the crossing. After landing, the Holy Mother was first enshrined in Tainan’s Grand Tianhou Temple. Once peace was restored, she was welcomed to Dādūnzhuāngdiàn (today’s Sanmin Road area in Taichung) and installed in a temple named “Lánxīng Gōng.” Later, because the building had weathered many years of wind and rain, local gentry raised funds for restoration and renamed it Wànchūn Gōng. Destroyed during the Japanese colonial period and rebuilt after Retrocession, the community strove to restore its former solemn grandeur. A consecration ceremony was held, offering the three-fold presentation of incense to Mazu in gratitude for divine favor. Successive projects included the main entrance’s “Tianhou Pavilion” archway, above whose gate is written “The Gate of Access,” proclaiming that Mazu worship, beyond its religious dimension of reverence for Heaven and awe of the divine, also calls believers to cultivate virtue so as to manifest the excellence of filial piety.