Keelung Qing'an Temple Audio Guide

Qing An Temple: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Qing An Temple

   Welcome to Qing An Temple, known locally as 慶安宮, the Mazu temple that has watched over Keelung's harbor town for well over two centuries. You are on Zhongerlu, in Keelung's Ren'ai District, right beside the old Kanzaiding fish market area. The temple's official address is Number 1, Zhongerlu. Mazu, the goddess of the sea, is known in the temple's formal title as Heavenly Holy Mother. Here the locals simply call her Keelung Ma. That makes sense for a port city. Keelung was a harbor where coastal merchant ships came and went, its land was poor for farming, and most residents lived from fishing. Praying for a safe voyage was part of daily life. Qing An Temple is counted among the Three Great Temples of Keelung, together with Dianji Temple and the Keelung City God Temple. It is also listed among the Eight Scenic Spots of Keelung. Over the next few minutes you will hear how a small shrine by a hill became a landmark, why three Mazu statues sit here side by side, and how wars, festivals and a famous legend shaped its story.

2. 02

   Qing An Temple: From Tiger Hill to Zhongerlu

   The story begins in 1780, in the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. Settlers from Zhangzhou built a modest Mazu shrine on the west shore of Keelung harbor, beside Huzai Hill at a place called Niuchou Port. It was a small temple for a small community of seafarers. Then the town grew. As more migrants arrived, the south shore of the harbor turned into a street market, and the community needed a temple closer to the heart of town. In 1815, a man from Neihu village named He Shilan donated land on the west side of the Shiying Port stream, now known as the Xu River. That land is where Qing An Temple stands today. The Mazu image was moved from Huzai Hill to the new temple, and it was formally named Qing An Temple. One account adds that local gentry purchased the site and that He Shilan gave part of it. The move also reflects the harbor itself. Keelung's shoreline was reclaimed over time, and the temple ended up tucked into a crowded city street. Even so, it has kept an old, quiet character. The area around Kanzaiding grew up as the market quarter that this temple was built to serve.

3. 03

   Qing An Temple: Three Mazu, One Reconciliation

   The most distinctive feature here is something found at no other Mazu temple in Taiwan. Qing An Temple enshrines three Mazu together, each from a different origin: Meizhou Mazu, Quanzhou Mazu and Zhangzhou Mazu. The temple originally had the Meizhou Mazu. In 2004, devotees brought back a Quanzhou Mazu, and in 2005 they brought a Zhangzhou Mazu from Zhangzhou. This matters because Keelung's history includes fierce feuds between Zhangzhou and Quanzhou settlers. Having both groups' goddesses sit under one roof is read as a symbol of reconciliation between those old rivals. In that same year, 2005, a great stone statue of Mazu was completed in the temple courtyard. It was carved from a single raw block of bluestone weighing 60 tons. The figure stands 22 and a half Taiwanese feet tall on a base eight and six tenths feet wide, and it is set on the dragon side of the courtyard. As you stand in front of it, notice how it brings the scale of a harbor guardian down to a human level.

4. 04

   Qing An Temple: War, Legend and Festival

   Qing An Temple has lived through the turbulence of Keelung's port history. In 1884, during the Sino-French War, French forces occupied Keelung for several months, and the temple narrowly escaped destruction. After the war, Liu Mingchuan asked the Guangxu Emperor for a calligraphy plaque reading Dai De Er Tian. The plaque's whereabouts are unknown today. Under Japanese rule, the processions of Qing An Temple, the City God Temple and Dianji Temple were required to extend to Keelung Shrine for incense offerings. Between 1921 and 1924, they were pushed into a joint procession on the third of June, the shrine's festival day, but from 1925 each temple went its own way again. Then came the Pacific War. Keelung was a major port, and heavy American air raids damaged the temple badly. Legend tells that the founding Third Mazu of Nanyao Temple in Changhua appeared as a woman in the sky and caught the bombs in her skirt, protecting the people of Keelung. In gratitude, Qing An Temple invites that Mazu to Keelung each year before Mazu's birthday, on the nineteenth day of the third lunar month, a custom that continues today. Qing An Temple is also the birthplace of the Zhongyuan Festival, Keelung's major celebration. Each year in the seventh lunar month, the temple still serves as its lead host.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Before you go, take a slow look at the details. After the war damage, restoration began in 1963 under a management committee led by Chen Hanzhou, a former provincial councilor, and took more than seven years. The mountain gate was added in 1976. It is a pavilion-style gateway with a double-eaved roof and walls of bluestone, and its great round pillars carry a calligraphic couplet that prays for protection across the strait and the whole island. Inside, look for the finely carved dragon pillars and the plain, sturdy stone lions in front. The outer walls are of laid brick, while the inner walls were refitted in Italian stone. The main hall stands on the highest ground of the temple complex and is its largest space, where the Heavenly Holy Mother is enshrined. Once you have visited, listen to the bustle around you and think about how many ships have come and gone under this goddess's gaze.