Outlookxp@Wikimepia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Chinese name: 巧聖仙師祖廟

Located at: Taichung City (Central Taiwan)

Year of Establishment: around the 18th century

Due to its proximity to Daxue Mountain (大雪山) and other forests and the convenient transportation of goods on the Dajia River (大甲溪) nearby, during the Qing Dynasty, Dongshi became the transit station for logging and the construction of naval vessels. Over the years, the area attracted many Chinese immigrants who crossed the Taiwan Strait to settle here.

The most representative one was an early settler named Liu Qi-dong (劉啟東), a Hakka from Dapu County in Guangdong Province. He led a group of more than 100 craftsmen to live in this area. They engaged in logging and the timber industry, and they gradually formed a settlement. At that time, Dongshi was called “Liao Xia (寮下)” or “Jiang Liao (匠寮),” literally meaning “under the shacks” or “shacks of craftsmen.”

In 1770, the Qing court sent its head craftsman Zheng Cheng-feng (鄭成鳳) to lead more than 100 military workers to Dongshi to build a work station so that they could collect camphor wood for shipbuilding. Because Dongshi was originally the location of several indigenous settlements, these workers often ran into conflict with the indigenous tribes and some members even got killed when they attempted to access the timber resources of the region. To enhance their unity and seek inner peace, the Lu Ban statue was enshrined and a temple was built near the work station. Each time before they set off for the mountains to cut down trees for timber, the workers would go to the temple to worship and to pray for safety.

Legend has it that, in the 1960s, a Taipei timber merchant who had encountered difficulties in business had prayed for a turn of luck in front of the statue of the master Lu Ban in the temple, and promised to repair the temple if his wishes for good fortune came true. Indeed, timber prices went up that year and the timber merchant was able to earn enough money to tide over the difficulties he had faced.

Therefore, the timber merchant later appealed to people from the timber-related industries to renovate the Ciao Sheng Sian Shih Temple. As a result of the reconstruction, the original ordinary appearance of the temple was changed. Swallow-tailed eaves and ornaments on the roof were added, transforming the temple into a refined and splendid building.

Each year during the month before Lu Ban’s birthday on the 7th day of the fifth lunar month, the various Lu Ban associations from all over Taiwan would gather at the temple to honor the master. During this period, Dongshi is thronged with a constant stream of worshippers and visitors.

The temple is more than 240 years old, and the history of its construction is inextricably linked with the development of Dongshi where the settlement of artisans was formed. A plaque inscribed with the words “exquisite craftsmanship” at the temple is the work of the craftsmen of the Qing Dynasty.