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Taidong Tian Hou Temple, also known as Pi'nan Tian Hou Palace is a Mazu Temple located in Taidung County, Taiwan. It was the last temple built in Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty. It is also famous for its Lantern Festival celebrations and the fireworks parade where firecrackers are thrown at Lord Han Dan.

Qing Dynasty Period
After the Taishou incident on August 2nd 1888, Zhang Zhao-Lian was grateful for the blessings of Mazu. He had the army dig a well in 1889. Money was donated by lower ranking officials and gentry to help support the construction of the well. Zhang Zhao-Lian also named the well at the site the "Lin Quan" well. There is a stele beside it that states: The temple was completed on March 17th, 1891 the year of Emperor Guangxu. It was funded by the officers and soldiers posted in Taitung; therefore the surname of the officers and soldiers is Yuan, Yang, Yi and "donation" the names were transliterated by Manchus. At that time the site of the temple was where present day Dongchan temple lays. There are five official Mazu temples in Taiwan. This was the last temple recognised by the Qing Dynasty. It is also the only Qing Dynasty temple in eastern Taiwan.

The temple was originally built on the Baosun coast in 1881. The Zhaozhong shrine was built by Yuan Wen-Tun. In 1893 it was destroyed by a typhoon. The god was temporarily moved to the side of the temple. Later, when the Tianhou temple was built, it was placed inside the right guard room.

Japanese Colonial Era
In 1930 a strong earthquake caused cracks in the temple. There were suggestions for relocation. Wu Jin (Wu Jin-Lin) donated 1,600 square meters of land that was originally a vegetable garden, and Lin She, Chen Dong-Lu, Lai Jin-Mu, Zhang Yi-Chun, Lin Jiang-Ning and others raised funds from supporters across Taiwan. Relocation took three years to complete and was finished in 1933. No official deed or title was issued for the land, which led to issues later. The first supervisor, Zhang Zhi-Yuan, retired due to his old age, and the local gentry trusted Kim Mu to preside over the temple affairs.

In 1941, with the rise of Japanese colonialism, the Japanese wanted to change Taiwanese folk beliefs to Japanese Shinto. On one occasion, Chief Inobe Shigeo of the Police Division convened a meeting at the Mazu Temple in Taitung City to advocate abolishing all temples in Taitung and converting them into shrines. First, the Aboriginal Nan Yishi  was asked and agreed. Second, Chen Zhenzong, a Christian gentleman, was asked and also agreed. Third, Lai Jin-Mu "Taitung Sanlai", was asked; he said that the temple was "owned by everyone and the people should be consulted". He was scolded by Inobe Shigeo. Fourth, Wu Jin-Yu replied that at least the Tianhou Temple and Haishan Temple should remain, as they are the center of the people's faith. As well, the war was at its peak and the people needed their faith and places of worship.

Postwar Period
In 1945 gentlemen including Lai Jin-Mu launched a fundraiser to renovate the temple, which was completed in March 1948.

After the Kuomintang government came to power, more than 1,000 square meters of land around the temple was registered as county land. It was not until 1979 after palace affairs were settled, that the committee found that the land was registered in the name of the Taitung County Government. It was too late to correct it the error.

In addition, to rehabilitate disabled officers and soldiers, the military set up a temporary correctional home for the national army through the temple. Part of the temple was lent to the citizens to stay temporarily The temple remained active. When the military leased the land, it was agreed to renew the contract once every 10 years. Article 1 of the 1957 contract stipulates: "When Party A (the military) does not need to use the land in the future, or when the counter-offensive against the mainland is successful, the buildings on the ground are unconditionally given to Party B (Tianhou Temple) for use". This led to a dispute. The temple later carved this history on a stone wall as a protest.

In the late 1970s, the Temple Committee launched a fundraiser to raise more than 2 million yuan to build 18 residential houses on Lane 24, Shengli Street, Taitung City. The temporary residents of the temple were relocated. The committee was awarded the "Earnest Public Welfare" plaque by Linyang Port, the provincial capital. Later construction completed the first giant archway at the front door, the second recreation platform, the second floor of the morning bell and twilight drum was added to the main hall. The temple remained active and the number of believers increased day by day.

On December 31st, 2003,  it was listed as a cultural asset of Taitung County. It did not however, meet the standards set to be listed as a national monument.

In 2014 and 2015 the temple committee confronted the military to reclaim land such as the Tedong Camp.

Worship of the Gods
The lord of the Matsu god is said to be from Meizhou Island in Fujian. Another version is that according to the "Tainan Grand Tianhou Temple Records" Zhang Zhao-Lian presented the "Lingzhu" plaque to the Grand Tianhou Temple in 1889. In accordance to beliefs, and with thanks to the Mazu saving him, he used the deity's power and went to Taitung to build the Tianhou Temple. A copy of the "Lingshu" plaque was given to Taitung Tianhou Temple, which was inaugurated on November 20, 2010.

In the historical records of Hu Chuan's (a Qing Dynasty official) diary and "Taitung Province Interview Record", Hu Chuan recorded the Tianhou Palace as Tianfei Palace (the name of a Mazu Temple in Shanghai ), and visited this temple, the Guanyin Temple, the land shrine, and the Zhaozhong Temple every time he visited.

At the center of the Zhaozhong Shrine are the martyred soldiers and civilians in Kaishan Fuban, the left general is Yuan Wenzheng, and the right general is Zhang Zhao-Lian.

In 2009 to increase income for "expanding the youth market", the temple began to offer worship of Yue Lao, a god of marriage and love. A student workbook of suitable size was put it into the left hand of an idol of Yue Lao to act as a marriage book. The words  "First President Jiang Gongguo" and half of the word "Xun" were exposed on the outside of the book. Temple visitors bagan to wondered why Yue Lao would hold President Jiang's wishes from the afterlife? The temple replaced the book with a red marriage book.

There are also tributes to Goddess Zhu Sae, Emperor Wenchang, Bodhisattva Guanyin, Tudigong (local god),Cheng huang (god of towns and cities).

Qingjiao Festival
Lin Jinquan, who has been in charge of temple affairs since 1953 held the Ping 'an Festival in November 1962, and held the Qing 'an Festival every Year of the Tiger.

The Qingjiao festival has been held every twelve years since 1962. During the construction of the temple, Taitung citizens were forced to go vegetarian for seven days. It was forbidden to slaughter pigs, chickens, and ducks. The market prohibited the sale of fish, and fishing boats were prohibited from leaving port. Canned meat from shops could not be put on the shelves. The police supported the "no meat" mandate and set up checkpoints at major external intersections in Taitung, such as Nanhui Highway, Nanheng Highway, and provincial Highways 11 and 9. Meat imported from abroad or other cities was prohibited from entering Taitung. The local neighborhood leader was responsible for collecting money from households. This was known as "ding kou qian," "ding" refers to men and "kou" refers to females. Men were expected to donate more money than women. Later, due to closer equality between men and women, both sexes gave an equal amount of money.

When entering the temple, the fire ceremony was at the front. Drums are played to meet the fire-god in front of the temple. Fire inside the temple was completely prohibited, and the fire god was not returned to the temple until 5 pm.

In 1986 Hsu Shui-teh, who was the mayor of Taipei at the time, presented the plaque "Same Merit as Heaven", and Su Nancheng, who was the mayor of Kaohsiung at the time, gave the "lai su" cypress wood plaque. They were removed and stolen during the renovation of the temple in 2010 and appeared on an auction website with an asking price of 40,000 yuan each. After the temple party coordinated with the auction site, the plaques were promised to be returned free of charge.

With the diversification of religions and changes in economic patterns, there was some opposition has to donations and vegetarianism. In 2010 the Temple representative Lin Youde said that collecting money was not as popular as in the past, and neighborhood leader MR. Li stated more bluntly that the group collecting money seemed to be frauds or beggars.

Lantern Festival Parade
The temple is famous for the fireworks activity in Taitung during Lantern Festival, known as the "Northern Sky Lantern, Southern Bee Cannon, Eastern Cold Bomb". It has been said that the Lantern festival parade existed in the Qing Dynasty. It has also been said the Taitung Mazu parade was due to the relocation ceremony of the temple in 1933 (according to Taitung literary historian Lin Kuncheng), and the Tianhou Temple parade was held every year thereafter. The origin of the Lantern Festival was legendarily introduced by a duck farmer in Western Taiwan after the war, and later evolved into fireworks for worshippers to pray for peace.

In 1954 the temple was enlisted by the national army as a correctional institution, stopping the parade. The festival was taken over by Haishan Temple. In 1979 the white terror incident in Taiwan occurred at Haishan Temple, so the location was closed and the Lantern Festival was handed back. In 1981 the Tianhou Temple was to again host the Lantern Festival on the grounds that the festival did not belong to Buddhism. At that time, when it was held under the name of "Civil-Military Gala", the Air Force Volunteer Base had a special group of dragon and lion dancing groups.

According to statistics since 1986 the parade team has appeared in the formation of traditional divine carriages, children, five battalions and seven grandfathers, eight grandfathers, three crown princes divine puppets, as well as electric five battalions, art pavilions, floats, dragon formation, lion formation, Songjiang formation, family general regiment, official leader, eight generals, Shi family general, five poisonous gods, five ways of wealth god, twelve star monarchs, thirteen taibao, eight immortal art formations, Zhong Shi art formations, squadron formation, flower basket formation, high barrel formation, jumping drum formation, big drum formation, cart drum formation, bull formation, cock drum.

In 2002 the Taitung County Government Tourism Bureau introduced the Bombing of Lord Han Dan and Lantern Festival parade into the tourism industry, giving advice but not intervening. There was a lack of public authority in management of the event, and negative news such as counterfeiting occurred during a temple lottery in 2009.

In 2016 Lantern Festival Parade and bombing of Lord Han Dan submitted to the Central Committee for deliberation, striving to register it as a national "Important Folklore and Related Cultural Relic", but it was not passed. The members of the jury believed that the cultural details were low, too much emphasis was placed on the commercial nature of tourism, and the homogeneity of the formation was high. The competition became vulgarized with pole dancing, resulting in low participation of residents. It was rare to see the local characteristics of Taitung, there was no folklore and cultural roots.

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