With plenty of time to kill this afternoon, I did a little bit of sightseeing in the southern part of T'áichūng 臺中. Located in a small lane just off of busy Kuókuāng 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'áiwān 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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