Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Family Ties

With plenty of time to kill this afternoon, I did a little bit of sightseeing in the southern part of T'ái​chūng​ 臺中. Located in a small lane just off of busy Kuó​kuāng Road 國光路 lies the ​"Taichung Ancestral Temple of Lín​'s Family, Inc." 台中林氏宗廟. Yes, that's "Inc." - this temple is apparently a business entity of legal standing. It's also a "Third Grade National Historic Monument", whatever that entails. All over T'ái​wān​ 台灣 you can find references to different gradations of preservation, without any explanation as to the significance of the different grades. About the only thing I know about this temple is that it was built in 1919 - all the brochures and signs on site were in Chinese only. Perhaps because of its designation as a historic sight, and/or its status as a family temple, there weren't any worshipers around at the time I stopped by (though there was one man doing some t'ài​ chí 太極拳-like exercises with what looked liked a sword in the front courtyard, plus a couple of photographers). Still, ​the Lín​ family ancestral temple made for a pleasant break from a busy day.

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