Hsinpu Ancestral Shrine

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Today's post is going to be a short one and without the typical amount of context that I'm able to give with these things - I thought it important however to document this historic building due to the fact that on the day I took these photos I learned that it would soon be demolished. 

Since then the building has been torn down and all thats left are photos to remember it.  

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For a bit of a backstory - During the Lunar New Year holiday I had taken an excursion to Jhudong to take photos of the semi-abandoned (and soon to be restored) Timber Industry Dormitories from the Japanese Colonial Era. On my way back I decided to take a different route and drove through the quaint and peaceful Hsinpu village to follow up on a lead I had on an abandoned church.

While driving down the road with rice paddies on either side between Hsinpu and Longtan I noticed a beautiful 'Sanheyuan' (三合院) - a traditional Taiwanese farmhouse.

These houses are actually quite common in that area of Hsinpu and in many parts of the Taiwanese countryside but are largely unkept and are more often than not in a sad state of disrepair. 

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What stopped me at this particular building though was that the door was wide open and it looked pretty much abandoned. The building was in rough shape which meant that no one was living in it anymore so I decided to get off my scooter and take a look to see what I could find.

As I approached the open gate however someone nearby called out to me and started walking over.

At this point I figured I was about to get yelled at for trespassing but instead he let me in and explained that the central portion of the building was an ancestral shrine for the Wu family (吳家) and that because it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, family members had been returning to pay their respects.

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The interior of the building had some really cool hand-drawn portraits from the Qing dynasty on either side of the main shrine as well as some portraits of the family from a time when photography was just becoming a 'thing' in Taiwan. The main shrine in the front was very simple with some spirit tablets and empty space to give offerings. 

The room also had several antique wooden tables in front of the main shrine which would have been used for family dinners in the main courtyard when the family was celebrating a special occasion.  

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The sad thing is that the person who allowed me to go in (who I assume was a member of the Wu family) and check it out told me that the old building had structural issues and was prone to leaking. The leaking was causing a lot of water damage in the old wooden building which meant that the main frame was likely to collapse and the inside was also unfortunately rotting and the smell was evidence of that. 

To the right of the main entrance were several red pieces of paper stuck to the wall. Each piece of paper was recognition of a member of the family who donated to tear down the existing building and replace it with a new one.

Unfortunately these beautiful buildings are starting to disappear at an alarming rate and I'm afraid that in the future all we'll have to remember them by is photos like these.

So, if you see one in your travels, stop by and take a minute to appreciate it.

Respect your local Sanheyuan, they won't be around forever. 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)

Yimin Temple (褒忠義民廟)

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If you've been following my blog for a while now, you'll know that I'm a big fan of Taiwan's temples - I love the history, the art and the culture that goes into making them some of the most interesting places to visit in Taiwan. Of all the temples that I've introduced however, none of them have been as difficult to write about than Hsinpu's Yimin temple.

I have lived in an area of Taiwan for the last decade and that ispredominately populated by Hakka people and most of my friends, coworkers and food I eat are all Hakka. I have a great respect for the culture and feel like if I'm going to write about this temple that I'm going to have to do it justice.

This temple is most responsible for the preservation of Hakka culture in Taiwan and no matter how many hardships the Hakka's have experienced throughout their history - this temple has played an instrumental role in reminding them that it is okay to stand up proudly and tell the world "I am a Hakka".

The Baozhong Yimin Temple (褒忠義民廟) in the tiny village of Hsinpu (新埔鎮) has thus become a Mecca-like place of worship and celebration for the Hakka people of Taiwan where their culture, history, and cuisine have been carefully preserved over the last few centuries of Taiwan's development despite discrimination and persecution from other ethnic groups. 

The Hakka (客家人) are an ethnic group which originated somewhere near the Yellow River (黃河) in what is now China's northern Shanxi (山西), Henan (河南) and Hubei (湖北) provinces. The early history of the group is shrouded in mystery and historical records aren't really clear as to their origin given that the earliest recorded history referring to the group was during the Song Dynasty (宋朝) between 960 and 1279.

They are part of the 55 different ethnic groups that makes up the Han people (漢族) and are genetically similar to the northern Chinese with the only distinguishable different being their language, culture and cuisine.

The Hakka are pejoratively known within China as the "Jews of Asia" due to the fact that throughout their recorded history they were forced to migrate en-masse on five different occasions mirroring that of the experience of the Jewish people in the Middle East and Europe. The problem with this comparison however is that the Jewish people often migrated due to the sheer hatred and racism directed towards them whereas the Hakka people migrated in order to escape the turbulence of China's warring states period and the political and social upheavals that occurred when there was a regime change in the Middle Kingdom. 

Each migration found the Hakka people moving further and further south ultimately settling in areas such as Guangdong (廣東), Jiangxi (江西), and Fujian (福建) provinces and once again becoming some of the earliest Han people to migrate to Taiwan (as well as other parts of South East Asia) where they would find a permanent home. Today they are considered the most diasporic among all of the Chinese ethnic groups with a total population of around 80 million living in countries all over the world.

The Hakka people started immigrating to Taiwan in the 16th century and even though life on the island was tremendously difficult in the early years, they persisted due to their wealth of experience and their ability to adapt to new environments. Today the Hakka population in Taiwan is around five million which is about twenty percent of the entire population of the country. They live all over the country but have concentrated populations in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli as well as in the south of Taiwan in Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties.

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Related: Beipu Old Street | Hukou Old Street | Daxi Old Street | Tung Blossoms | Laotoubai Hakka Cuisine | Papa's Secret Lover | Hsinpu Dried Persimmons

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Today the Taiwanese government has set up a division known as the Hakka Affairs Council (客家委員會) to assist in preserving and promoting Hakka culture in Taiwan as well as around the world. Hakka culture and traditions however have been passed down generationally and the group has become well-known in Taiwan for the importance they place on hard work, family and relationships. The Hakka people might have been guests (客人) in the places they migrated to in China hundreds of years ago, but today they treat guests like family making them one of the friendliest and most hospitable groups in Taiwan.

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The Baozhong Yimin Temple was the original centre for the preservation and consolidation of Hakka culture in Taiwan and the role it has played over the last 200 years has been integral in keeping Hakka language and traditions alive.

Yimin Temple isn't a typical Taiwanese temple and while the exterior may look similar, there are quite a few differences that separate it from the rest. What makes it stand apart is actually quite simple - Most temples in Taiwan are dedicated to a specific deity (or even several) whereas the purpose of this one isn't for the worship a higher power but instead the proud history of the Hakka people.

To understand all of this, we have to go back to the reason why the temple was built in the first place - "Yimin" (義民) which translates into English as "righteous people" refers to a group of Hakka men who banded together to form a militia in order to protect their homes from invasion. Today they are memorialized as righteous, brave and loyal defenders of their homeland showing what is considered some of the best aspects of Hakka culture. The story is not unlike a feel-good Hollywood movie where a group of underdogs band together against all odds to achieve something incredibly unlikely.

In 1786, a Hoklo (閩南人) uprising against the Qing dynasty formed in Changhua (彰化) which later became known as the "Lin Shuang-Wen Insurrection" (林爽文件事). The Qing dynasty at the time had little resources in Taiwan (due to disinterest in the island) and was unable to quell the insurrection on its own which meant that they required assistance from groups loyal to the empire.

The Hakka people who had developed a prosperous economy in the Taoyuan, Hsinchu, and Miaoli areas of western Taiwan got together to discuss the insurrection and decided to form a volunteer militia in order to protect their lands from an army which conspired to oust the Qing and conquer lands to the north which threatened to once again send the Hakka packing.

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This time, rather than migrating of their own free will, the Hakka amassed a force of 1,300 men and marched its way into Hsinchu to battle the rebels. When the dust settled and the battle was over the Hakka militia had lost around 200 soldiers yet were victorious in battle.

When it came time to return home, the militia piled up the bodies of the deceased and placed them on ox-carts to be taken back home so that their families could honour them properly. Upon reaching Hsinpu, it was decided that the bodies would be buried in a common tomb in the Fangliao area (枋寮) of the village.

Local people pooled together money and built a large tomb for the fallen heroes who were later awarded with a hand-written plaque of appreciation from the emperor which read "Baozhong" (褒忠) or "in praise of loyalty" which was regarded as a great honour for the people in the area and was the reason why the temple was given the name: "Baozhong Yimin Temple" (褒忠義民廟).

The Hakka people share a common history with many other ethnic-Chinese groups and ancestral worship has traditionally been an important part of their culture and religious beliefs. When the initial planning started for the temple it was decided that a building would be constructed in front of where the tomb was built and inside the temple would be a spirit tablet (神位) which would be dedicated to the deceased members of the Hakka community who died during the insurrection.

This would become the foundation for "Yimin" worship in Taiwan and is a tradition that has spread throughout Taiwan over the past two centuries having expanded to over thirty temples throughout the country known as either Baozhong Pavilion (褒忠亭) or Yimin Temple (義民廟).

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Yimin Spirit Tablet (義民神位)

A spirit tablet is a plaque is meant to take the place of someone of importance or even a god. It is common to find spirit tablets within temples dedicated to Confucius (Taipei, Taoyuan Hsinchu) as well as in some Taoist temples. The purpose of a tablet like this is to designate the seat of a deity or an ancestor. Tablets like this are common throughout East Asia in places where ancestral worship is common. The tablet placed within Yimin temple reads "敕封褒忠粵東義民位" which basically refers to the fact that the Hakka warriors represented within the tablet were venerated by royal decree.  

The spirit tablet which became known as "Yimin Ye" (義民爺) isn't supposed to be a 'deity' in the traditional Taoist or folk religion sense but over time it started to serve a lot of the same function making Yimin worship a bit confusing in the context of traditional religion in Taiwan.

The original purpose of the Yimin spirit tablet was to allow the Hakka people to have a place to honour their ancestors as well as to keep the Hakka spirit alive. Local belief has it though that a few (so-called) miraculous events surrounding the tablets took place which led to people starting to pay their respect to the spirit tablet in the temple as well as using it to receive spiritual guidance and some much needed good luck. The superstitions that ultimately evolved from early Yimin worship helped to foster the importance of the Yimin Cultural Festival (義民文化節) which has become the largest event of the year on the Hakka calendar.

The Yimin festival had modest beginnings and started as a way for the Hakka community to come together once a year to celebrate the harvest and give thanks to the ancestors who helped save their land. There are many activities held around the temple and in other Hakka communities around Taiwan with a feast being one of the most important events. The festival has continued to this day and has unfortunately become most known for the 'Pigs of God' tradition which has become somewhat notorious in recent years. I explained the Pigs of God aspect of the festival in an earlier blog, so I won't go into much detail about that here. The important thing to remember is that the Pigs of God is actually just a small part of a very important festival which celebrates Hakka culture, history, cuisine and their way of life.

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Unfortunately the original temple succumbed to a fate much like that of Taipei's Longshan Temple and Confucius temple and only lasted until 1895 when it was either burnt down or bombed by the Japanese during the first Sino-Japanese War (第一日中戰爭).

The temple was rebuilt shortly after and completed in 1904 and is the structure that we see standing in Hsinpu today. It is a very simple temple that doesn't have all the glitter of a typical Taiwanese temple but at the same time is one of the most important temples in Taiwan. It was constructed in a way that it has an exterior that is quite similar in design to the Hakka-style homes of that era (of which there are quite a few well-preserved specimens in nearby Jhubei) and while it is much larger than any home of that era would have been, its interior is very much like other temples that you'd see around Taiwan only a bit simpler.

To give a little more detail the temple is constructed in a specific style consisting of two main halls, two corridors and two side halls. (二殿二廊二橫屋). The hall at the entrance has help desks on the sides with a large courtyard and a large incense pot in the middle where there are often large groups of people paying their respects. The rear hall is elevated and by a few steps and is where the shrines are located. In the main shrine there is the Yimin spirit tablet with two shrines on the sides dedicated to the Three Mountain Kings (三山國王), Guanyin (觀音菩薩) and another dedicated to Lord Shennong (神農大帝) who acts as a patron to farmers.

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The corridors to the side of the main halls lead to separate rooms filled with beautiful art and the cool-looking lamps that you see in almost every temple (光明燈) which are used as a way of collecting donations from patrons of the temple who get to have their name on a lamp for good luck and spiritual wellbeing.

Behind the temple is a small mountain where a beautiful park has been constructed. The walk up the hill during the winter months is especially nice because you get to see beautiful cherry blossoms. The important thing to notice behind the temple though is the tomb that is set up for the Hakka warriors who protected their lands and are the reason why the temple exists in the first place.

To the left of the temple there is a man-made lake with a bridge and a lot of cool things to see and the forest area behind it. Truthfully though the lake area seems a bit kitschy to me so I rarely spend a lot of time around there checking it out.

If you visit the temple during the week it can be surprisingly quiet and peaceful while on the other hand if you visit on the weekend it is usually quite busy with people doing their thing. The last time I visited when I went specifically to ask a few questions about the history of the Pigs of God festival I thought it was really cool to see a group of old men sitting at a table while a younger guy was sitting down recording the way they spoke which seemed like an attempt on his part to not only learn the Hakka language but also record the way that the older generation of people speak the language. If you visit the temple during Lunar New Year or during the Yimin Festival you're going to have a very different experience as the temple will be so busy and there will be so many things going on that it seems a little like sensory overload.

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For me, I love visiting this temple, especially during the busy times because it is not your typical religious place of worship. There is so much more going on there than that and that's what makes it special - its a temple dedicated to the preservation of culture and as someone who is interested in the cultural anthropology of Taiwan, it is a great place to visit to not only learn about Taiwan's history but also experience it at the same time. If you find yourself in the Jhubei area or in Hsinchu, make sure to visit this temple.

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos)

Pigs of God (神豬)

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Pose with the Pig! 

Since I started this blog a little over two years ago, one of the most popular posts has been the one about the Pigs of God festival. There isn't a wealth of information available in English about this cultural tradition, so I've always figured that the post was interesting to those who might be curious about what exactly goes on with this event after seeing something about it in the news or on social media.

My post last year was meant to explain the ritual and give a bit of the cultural context to people overseas who don't really understand what's going on but feel triggered somehow and end up condemning the people of Taiwan when they see sensationalistic news and photos about this festival. 

With this post, I plan to expand upon the information I provided about the ritual last year as well as provide some updates and personal opinion. I've attended this festival pretty much every year for the last decade, so I hope that after reading this you'll understand a bit more about this cultural tradition through my experience. The purpose of this post is to attempt to offer a balanced look at this centuries-old cultural practice and not to sensationalize things the way the foreign media does.

Before I move on though, I should add the disclaimer that there will be a few photos of dead pigs in the later stages of this blog post. There is nothing particularly gruesome but I'm just warning you beforehand! 

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The practice of putting giant carcasses of dead pigs known as the "Pigs of God" (神豬) on display as a form of animal sacrifice is a tradition that started with the Hakka people a few hundred years ago here in Taiwan. Chinese culture however is no stranger to animal sacrifice and the practice has been going on for thousands of years. This particular ritual is a relatively new one with only a two hundred year history but is one of those traditional cultural practices that has struggled to stay relevant in modern times due to to societal changes and attitudes towards animal welfare.

The event is often described as being mired in controversy but at the same time it also has the ability to arouse the curiosity of society at large who yearn for a bit of tradition in their hectic lives while others may look at it as a way to connect them to their heritage. This means that while there are quite a few people who oppose it, there are others who make sure to visit and do their best to experience the vibrance of Taiwanese culture.

The arguments for and against the festival go a little bit like this: Activists argue that this practice is not in line with modern Taiwanese society and that the tradition should cease to continue while supporters insist that it is a traditional aspect of Hakka culture and therefore it should be preserved. Taiwan is a highly developed country where modernity and tradition are often at odds with each other, so when it comes to events like this groups who support these cultural traditions are often just as vocal as the opposition when their traditions are being targeted. In most places around the world a disagreement of this nature would likely lead to violence, but not in Taiwan where people (for the most part) respect the rule of law. 

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I have covered this festival as a photographer for several years and while I personally don't agree with the practice, I do my best to understand the cultural tradition that has inspired it and generally keep my opinion to myself. I believe that my job as a photographer is to use my camera to show people what is happening and thus letting them decide for themselves how they feel. As an expat living in Taiwan, I don't think it is really my place to tell people what they should and shouldn't do and even though I have issues with animal abuse and animal sacrifice, I have to say that attending the event is always an interesting experience and offers a great perspective into the local culture.

When I first came to Taiwan there were around five-ten giant pigs put on display per year. Friends tell me that when they were younger there were at least twenty or more. That number has slowly decreased with only three showing up last year and only one this year. I spoke to the director of the Taoyuan Yimin Temple (桃園縣平鎮市褒忠祠) and he explained that there are fewer pigs this year due to "environmental concerns" (環保的關係) and the fact that fewer people are willing to raise the pigs nor do they have the space to keep them.

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Typically you can see the Pigs of God show up during the Hakka people's Yimin Festival (義民文化節) or (very ironically) during birthday celebrations for Master Qingshui (清水祖師), a Buddhist monk enshrined at the Qingshui Zushi Temple (清水祖師廟) in New Taipei City's Sanxia District.

The pigs are raised for at least two years and during that time they are force-fed in much the same way as a goose or duck in France is fed in order to make foie-gras which allows for the pig to grow to abnormal proportions. There are reports that a few days before the event takes place over-zealous farmers will force feed heavy metals to the pig to make its final weight much heavier in order to win. I'm not going to dispute that this kind of cruelty takes place but I also think that there is a lot of negativity and false information spread around to discredit the festival.

In the past the pigs would be taken out into the public square in front of the temples to be weighed and publicly slaughtered. This was a gruesome sight and one that I'm glad I've never had to experience. Foreign media outlets however report that this is still a common practice as the pigs are brought out on forklifts, weighted and they slaughtered in front of cheering crowds which I have to say is blatantly false and is only used as a means to slander the good people of Taiwan.

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Hakka's from out of town paying respect to Yimin Yeh (義民爺)

While most religious groups that have practiced this type of animal sacrifice have put an end to the practice, Yimin Temple (義民廟) and Sanxia's Qingshui Zushi Temple (清水祖師廟) are the last to carry the torch. Both temples have had to tone things down though and the Qingshui temple has promised to end the practice by 2017 and find another way to carry on the tradition in an attempt to placate both the traditionalists and those who stand up for animal rights.

Last year, the winning pig weighed around 840kg (1680台斤) and this year the sole entry into the contest was around 675kg (1350台斤) showing a bit of a decrease from years past. For a bit of clarity - market sized hogs sell when they are at about 250 - 270 pounds (113-122kg) meaning that the Pig of God this year grew at least 5-6 times the normal size while winning pigs of the past have reached anywhere between 800-900 kilograms making them almost ten times the size of a normal healthy pig.

The pigs are raised in a way that they are constantly overfed which eventually forces them to become immobile. This lifestyle is extremely unhealthy for the animals as they develop painful bed sores and often suffer from organ failure and various other ailments. Despite knowing all of this, after the pig is slaughtered there are long lines of people lined up to get a piece of the freshly butchered hog that is freely distributed to the people in attendance.

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The historical nature of the is event is a bit hard to understand and (even if you speak Mandarin) there aren't a lot of resources on the Internet to really explain why it all started but after several hours of research I was turning up blanks. So, I decided to just ride my scooter over to Hsinchu's Hsinpu village (新埔鎮) and visit the largest and most important Yimin Temple to get the answers I needed. 

The origin of the event shares a history with the formation of Yimin temple itself - The temple is a religious and cultural centre for the Hakka people but it's purpose is to memorialize the patriotic Hakka militiamen who worked together to protect their homes and later quell several rebellions (林爽文事件及戴潮春事件) against the Qing Emperor in the late 1700s. 

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After each rebellion, the deceased members of the Hakka volunteer army were brought back and buried in the area where the temple now stands. For their heroism and loyalty to the Qing empire, the emperor sent plaques in their honour to thank them for their service and their sacrifice. The temple was ultimately built to remember these heroes but also to give the Hakka people a place to worship and celebrate their culture.

The deceased militiamen were honoured with a spirit plaque (神位) in the newly built temple which became known as "Yìmín Yé" (義民爺) and thus became the reason why the Hakka people celebrate the Yimin Cultural festival (義民節) every summer. In the early days of the festival there would be a huge feast to celebrate the deceased heroes and this feast always consisted of pork because it was one of the most important ingredients used in Hakka cuisine and also readily available to the people of that era.

This doesn't really explain why the Pigs of God became a competition though - This came years later when a young Hakka boy from Hsinpu who wanted to pass the Imperial Exam (科舉) visited the temple to pray to Yimin Ye to ask for a blessing in passing the test. When he eventually passed the test and returned to Taiwan he went back to the temple to thank Yimin Ye for help in passing the test. As a way of thanking the 'Yimin' his family prepared a huge feast at the temple for all the people to come and celebrate his achievement. During the feast it was decided that from then on it would become a tradition for a large pig to be raised in honour of Yimin Ye and to be presented during the Yimin Festival. The responsibility for raising the pig would ultimately rotate between the prominent Hakka families in order to ensure that each family did its part and that people wouldn't foolishly waste their money when they had such an important responsibility.

This rotation went on for quite some time but ultimately a healthy competition started between families as the pigs raised for the festival became larger and larger each year. A large pig became a symbol that a family was quite well off, so farmers started doing whatever they could to make the pig they had to raise grow as large as possible. When the problem of "face" comes into these kinds of things in Taiwan, a competition is bound to happen, and in this case, it was to be expected that even in off-years people would still raise a pig to submit to the competition while at the same time offering gratitude to Yimin Ye.

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Basically things got out of hand because of a drunken conversation over a feast of amazing food.

In the history of the world this isn't the worst thing that could have happened because of a drunken conversation - but I think knowing the history gives me hope for the future - A future without the Pigs of God! 

If the whole point of this was to have a feast and get together with the community, there are ways to do that which don't require giant pigs. Instead of raising a giant pig, the money that is spent on feeding such a giant animal for two years would probably be better spent on preparing an actual meal of amazing Hakka food for people to enjoy! 

There are many ways to improve amazing festival while at the same time celebrating Hakka culture and history - I have seen with my own eyes that a lot of these changes are already taking place and that while the Pigs of God were an important aspect of the past, they are not an important part of the future.

If you have any questions, comments, corrections or criticisms, don't be shy, comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Photos)