Purpose of Patrol

Youchang locals look forward to the annual patrol of Yuan-Shuai Temple. The patrol is one of gods' kindnesses, and its purpose is to protect locals' safety.

Process of Patrol

Youchang locals look forward to the annual patrol very much.

The Annual Patrol combines the four major temples in Youchang ：Yuan-Shuai Temple, San-Shan-Guo-Wang Temple (Temple of the Three Mountain-Kings), Ford TempleⅠ(Temple of the Land-God) and Ford TempleⅡ(Temple of the Land-God). Youchang older generation of residents always call the patrol 'Gods seize Devils'. During patrol, the temple will prepare a big cauldron poured oil and charcoals burned below the cauldron. If oil sounded from the cauldron, it hints there is devil here, and then the gods will seize it.

The ancient Patrol

The ancient route maps of the patrol.

The date of the Annual Patrol is on the 15th Day of Lunar 8 Month

According to the report which Mr. Chu-Hua Sun interviewed Youchang gentleman Mr. Sen-Gong Lin:
"The four major temples of Youchang:Yuan-Shuai Temple, San-Shan-Guo-Wang Temple (Temple of the Three Mountain-Kings) , Ford Temple Ⅰ(Temple of the Land-God) And Ford Temple Ⅱ(Temple of the Land-God) , happen to form a rhombus pattern on the geographical position.

'Gold Way' is the routes which the gods pass through during patrol.

The routes of 'Gold Way' is start from San-Shan-Guo-Wang Temple (Temple of the Three Mountain-Kings), to Ford TempleⅡ(Temple of the Land-God), to Ford templeⅠ(Temple of the Land-God) and finally to Yuan-Shuai Temple. This old 'Gold Way' is all footpaths, and you can see different views on the way: wastelands, farms and san-ho-yuan(Chinese traditional house). Because Youchang's topography is high in the east and west side, and low in the middle, so the 'Gold Way' often flooded in early years, When Japan colonized Taiwan, gentleman Yi-An Yang, the ancestor of Yang family, led locals to build gutters along the 'Gold Way' in order to stop the flood.

The present Patrol

The present routes of Patrol is no longer the early 'Gold Way'.

With the development of Youchang, the range of community has been expanding, now the routes of the Annual Patrol is no longer the early 'Gold Way'. The date of the Annual Patrol is on the 15th Day of Lunar 8 Month, the routes are decided by gods' instruction; however, they are almost the same every year. The routes are as follows:
start from Yuan-Shuai Temple－Jyuguang－Asia city－Lanchanglu Bridge－Yuanjhonggang Bridge－ go back to San-Shan-Guo-Wang Temple (Temple of the Three Mountain-Kings) －the town of Youchang－ go back to Yuan-Shuai Temple finally

The folk performance team in Patrol

The youngster Jumping Drums team

The female Jumping Drums team

The dragon puppet performance team

There are always many folk performance groups follow in the Annual Patrol. The four major temples of Youchang own these folk performance groups together, and the groups can roughly be divided into four kinds: Song-Jiang-Jhen team(Chinese traditional corps composed of villagers), the Jumping Drums team, lion puppet performance team and dragon puppet performance team. The members of these teams are mostly Youchang locals. Before the patrol or before the god's birthday, they will be in the font yard of Yuan-Shuai Temple doing the exercise for their performance.