Dacheng Hall
Red columns.
Nick-D — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Zhuge buLiang — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rutger van der Maar — CC BY 2.0 · Dquai — CC BY-SA 4.0
Taiwan's first Confucius temple, built in 1665 under the Tungning kingdom founded by Koxinga, and the island's first official school, which is why its gate bears the title First Academy of Taiwan. Confucius's birthday is still celebrated here each autumn with traditional rites. The temple is a calm complex of halls with red walls and curved tiled roofs, the finest being the main Dacheng Hall with red columns and a two-tier roof, ringed by paved courtyards and giant banyan trees casting wide shade. Around it is an open park where residents sit and exercise in the morning, facing an old stone gateway and little Fuzhong Street with its cafés and shops. It is far quieter than the city's folk temples. The park and outer courtyards are free; the inner halls charge a small fee, on which sources differ. Temples are living places of worship: dress modestly, speak quietly and do not photograph worshippers up close.
Red columns.
Deep shade.
Small cafés.
Nanmen Road, central Tainan
It is Taiwan's first Confucius temple and its first official school, built in 1665.
