University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Theses (Historic Preservation) Graduate Program in Historic Preservation 2003 Historic Preservation in Taiwan: The Restoration of Tainan Da Tianhou Gong Chen-Shan Ellen Wang University of Pennsylvania Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses Part of the Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons Wang, Chen-Shan Ellen, "Historic Preservation in Taiwan: The Restoration of Tainan Da Tianhou Gong" (2003). Theses (Historic Preservation). 323. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/323 Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Wang, Chen-Shan Ellen (2003). Historic Preservation in Taiwan: The Restoration of Tainan Da Tianhou Gong. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/323 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Historic Preservation in Taiwan: The Restoration of Tainan Da Tianhou Gong Disciplines Historic Preservation and Conservation Comments Copyright note: Penn School of Design permits distribution and display of this student work by University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Suggested Citation: Wang, Chen-Shan Ellen (2003). Historic Preservation in Taiwan: The Restoration of Tainan Da Tianhou Gong. (Masters Thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hp_theses/323 UNIVERSITry PENNSYLVANIA. UBKARIES HISTORIC PRESERVATION IN TAIWAN THE RESTORATION OF TAINAN DA TIANHOU GONG Chen-shan Ellen Wang A THESIS in Historic Preservation Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE 2003 Supervisor Reader David G. De Long David Hollenberg Professor of Architecture Lecturer in Historic Preservation Graduate Program in Historic Preservation .Aa Graduate (Tommittee Oiair 'rank G. Matero jciate Aofessor of Architecture ^ i . f\^AeAns // 9Hls> UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARIES *-w"ff?«rairsr3 Acknowledgements I brought my questions and passion for historic preservation to Philadelphia in 1997. and it has been six years. During these years, I have witnessed great changes of the United States and the world. Technology and information update far beyond my imagination while more and more monuments are destroyed. However, I believe there is something that never changes. One day, people will re-esteem the value of history. And I wish that I will be there contributing as much as I can. Upon the completion of this thesis, there are some people I would like to show my gratitude. I am particularly indebted to Professor David G. De Long, who not only advised this thesis but also has been extremely patient and helping. I am very grateful to be able to learn from him. I also like to acknowledge the advice of Professor David Hollenberg, who has generously read and commented on this thesis. For assistance with the details of the thesis. I would like to thank Mr. Chao Kung-tu and some of my friends for providing me documents and photos. During my study at University of Pennsylvania. I am very grateful to Ms. Suzanne Hyndman for her help and friendship. Finally I would like to thank my families' endless support and encouragement, especially my in-laws, Mr. Kuan-cheng Chiou and Mrs. Lih-Shu Tseng. I would like to dedicate this thesis to two of my beloved- my husband Yun-shang Chiou and our lovely daughter Hsin-he Amelie Chiou. 11 1 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ii Table of Contents iii List of Figures v Introduction viii Chapter 1: History of Preservation in Taiwan 1 1 . Return to Chinese government The debate of the restoration ofZhen Chengong shrine at Tainan 5 1.2 The Developing Period: Modernization 10 Tourism 1 The Academic Circle 15 1.3 Grass-roots Movement 18 Urbanization vs. Preservation: the Lin Mansion Event 18 1.4 Legislation: the Cultural Assets Preservation Law 20 The Conservation ofthe Dihua Street 22 Folk version ofthe Cultural Assets Preservation Law 24 1.5 Community participation 25 Learningfrom foreign experiences 26 Council for Cultural Affairs 28 Movement: Community Participation 29 Chapter 2: Mazu Temple (Temple of the Empress of Heaven) 2.1 The Significance of Mazu 34 2.2 The Mazu Cult in Taiwan 39 2.3 History of the Tainan Da Tianhou Gong 45 2.4 Architecture of the Tainan Da Tianhou Gong 49 iii . Chapter 3: The New Restoration Project 3.1 Documentation 56 3.2 Design 61 Structure 61 Design principles 66 3.3 Construction Work 69 Budget 69 Construction Scaffolding 70 Materials 71 Wall paintings 73 Workdays 77 r/?e Emergent Construction 77 Completion ofConstruction 78 Chapter 4: Evaluation of the Restoration Project 4.1 Was it a successful project? 79 4.2 Was it a successful restoration? 85 Stylistic restoration 86 Authenticity 88 Conservation 90 4.3 Conclusion 93 Bibliography 95 Appendix: 1 Highlights of Laws and Regulations of historic preservation in Taiwan 102 2. Construction Time Line 104 3. Index of Chinese characters 108 IV 791 List of Figures Fig. 1.1 Some of the Euro-Japanese institutional structures built by the 2 Japanese Fig. 1 .2 Palace complex of the Forbidden City in Beijing: Taihe dian 4 and Qinian dian Fig. 1 .3 The new buildings modeled after the Forbidden City 5 Fig. 1.4 The eastern gate of Taipei City 6 Fig. 1 .5 Zheng Chenggong Shrine 7 Fig. 1 .6 Saccam fortress (Chikan lou) 9 Fig. 1 .7 A mansion of Lin family at Madou 1 Fig. 1 .8 Ceramic figurines in Ciji temple at Xuejia. and those of 12 Zhenxing temple at Jialijia of Jiaying County were stolen in 1980. Fig. 1.9 Xitai Fort on Xiyu. Penghu County 13 Fig. 1.10 Destruction of the movie makers 13 Fig. 1.11 The map of Tainan city in 1780 14 Fig. 1.12 The garden of Lin Benyuan at Banqiao 1 Fig. 1.13 The mansion of Lin Antai 1 Fig. 1.14 Dihua Street 23 Fig. 1.15 The village of Tsumago-juku, Japan 26 Fig. 1.16 The village of Erkan at Penghu 3 Fig. 1.17 The Bao'an Temple in Taipei 33 Fig. 2.1 Map of Fujian province, China 34 Fig. 2.2 The demon servants of Mazu 36 1 Fig. 2.3 Image of Mazu from the Song dynasty 36 Fig. 2.4 Images of Mazu indicate the evolution of her titles 38 Fig. 2.5 The Mazu temple at Penghu 40 Fig. 2.6 Scene of a procession of Mazu 42 Fig. 2.7 Pilgrims in the procession on the birthday of Mazu in 1997 43 Fig. 2.8 The Mazu temple at Meizhou. Fujian 44 Fig. 2.9 The committee members of Mazu temple at Dajia with the 44 mission of bringing back a statue of Mazu from Meizhou. Fujian in 1987 arrived Meizhou Fig. 2.10 The reconstruction perspective drawing of the Yiyuanzi yuan 45 palace and surrounding area and the plan of the Yiyuanzi yuan Fig. 2. 1 1 The illustration of Tainan Da Tianhou Gong in Chongxiu 49 Taijun gejianzhu tushuo Fig. 2.12 The sanchuan roof style is usually found in the entrance hall 5 Fig. 2.13 Comparison of the layout of the Da Tianhou Gong 52 Fig. 2.14 Front view of Bai dian (worship hall) 52 Fig. 2.15 Floor plan of the Tainan Da Tianhou Gong 53 Fig. 2. 1 6 Vendors and people gathered in the cheng 54 Fig. 2.17 The committee of Da Tianhou Gong greeted the statue of 54 Mazu from Meizhou in 1997 Fig. 3.1 One of the dragon columns in the Sanchuan Hall 57 Fig. 3.2 Illustration of each hall before the restoration 59 Fig. 3.3 View of the Da Tianhou Gong and the adjoining houses 60 Fig. 3.4 Sanchuan Hall of the Da Tianhou Gong 62 VI Fig. 3.5 Historic photos of the Da Tianhou Gong 63 Fig. 3.6 Four pillars rebuilt in the Sichiiiting 64 Fig. 3.7 Elevations showing three accesses between the central 65 complex and the western complex Fig. 3.8 a. Illustration ofjointed wooden columns in Chinese tradition 66 b. examples in Baoguosi monastery in Ningbo, China 66 Fig. 3.9 The southern walls were leaning about 1 7 cm 68 Fig. 3.10 The scaffolding during restoration showing the limited space 71 between the roof of scaffolding and that of the main hall Fig. 3.11 a. Ting Ching-shih was repainting one of his earlier wall 75 paintings in the Guanyin Hall b. the finished wall painting 75 Fig. 3.12 a. one of the wall paintings done by Chen Yu-feng before the 76 restoration b. Chen Pei-yu was matching the color after cleaning it 76 Fig. 4.1 Floor plan of the restoration of the Da Tianhou Gong. 87 including Zongrenfu, designed by Chao Kung-tu Fig. 4.2 White-stone balustrade made in Fujian, China 89 Fig. 4.3 A craftsman was filling the missing part of a wooden 91 component Vll Introduction I was raised in one of the row houses' in Mengjia (Mong-ga in Taiwanese), one of the earliest developing districts in Taipei. In my memory, that was the most interesting space Fve ever experienced. The wooden house had two stories, and two sections, which had a small courtyard in between. The partitioning was relatively rough; especially the first floor of the front section basically had only one partition separating the furniture shop and the private area. Behind the door was a furniture workshop, where a back door directly connected to a tiny street. As the capital city of Taiwan, Taipei has developed rapidly over the last fifty years.