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The chairman of Yuan-Shuai Committee, Mr. Shan-Huei Chen

Because we wanted to understand the committee of Yuan-Shuai Temple further, we asked Miao-Gong, uncle Cai, to help to introduce us to Mr. Shan-Huei Chen, the chairman of Temple Committee. Before visiting, we thought naturally that the chairman of Temple Committee was an very old man, but contrary to our expectation, uncle Chen is a middle-aged person. He serves as the chairman of Temple Committee, but also serves as Youchang area Li-Zhang(the head of a subdivision of the district), he is very busy everyday, hence we were excited to visit him and thanked for his help.

The writer is Cih-Rong Li

Interview

Uncle Chen entertained us with the beverages.

The working range of the committee is very big including the whole Youchang area.

Uncle Chen is a witty person.

Mr. Wu helped us to ask the question too.

We wrote down uncle Chen's words conscientiously.

'Have you written down the key point? '

Uncle Chen looked through his book sometimes before telling us the correct answer.

Q:can you tell us how long the committee of Yuan-Shuai Temple has established? How many years re-elect the committee once? who are the members?

A： It had taken 36 years before reforming the system of the committee; 28 years after reforming system. There are 15 committee members in the committee; five supervisors, 5 executive directors and one chairman.

Q:can you tell us where is the office of the temple committee? How often does the temple committee have a meeting?

A： The office is here (Yuan-Shuai Temple). Formal meeting is held once every 2 months, temporary meeting is unfixed.

Q:Can you tell us how to join the committee of Yuan-Shuai Temple?

A： Elect delegates by believers assembly first, then elect the commissioners from the delegates. In addition, the qualification of delegate is whoever has resided in Youchang before 1945A.D. (Q:Why before 1945A.D.?)Because there is too much property afraid of being stolen.(everybody laughed), For example, Jia-Wei temple and Cai-GongJjhuang temple, their property were stolen. Before the unfortunate incidents, what we requested was whoever has resided in Youchang for 20 years, but now we request residing in Youchang before 1945A.D.

Q:What is the fund source of the committee of Yuan-Shuai Temple? How to operate the fund?

A： The fund almost comes from believers' donations, other comes from the ground rentals.

How to use the fund! It depends on the residents' needs! Such as subsidizing schoolchildren's lunch expenses; subsidizing school's or police office's equipments. All fund is offered to help Youchang area.

(Teacher Wu asks: 'we heard that the temple contributes 2000000 dollars to Kaohsiung City government every year, can you tell us the details?')
Yes! But the donation is not given to the government, it is a report that reported to the government how much we spend on community service every year.

Q:can you tell us why you join the committee of Yuan-Shuai Temple? what thing impress you most during your term of office?

A： Because of religious belief I join the committee.(he smiles.) Many thing impressed me! Such as the subsidy of schoolchildren's lunch is one measure which I proposed during my term of office. In the past, the committee offered a scholarship of 1,000 dollars to per class of Youchang's schools, I thought that person who could get a scholarship must has a good family conditions, so I made the scholarship into the lunch subsidy. This change has practiced for 6, 7 years.

Q:can you tell us how Yuan-Shuai Temple helps Youchang residents?

A： Give rice to the disadvantaged. (The teacher asks: When? )Four times every year, the 24th Day of Lunar 2 Month, the 9th Day of Lunar 9 Month, the 5th Day of Lunar 5 Month and the 27th Day of Lunar 11 Month. (The teacher asks: Is there special meaning on this dates? ) Because these dates are gods' birthdays. it is San-Shan-Guo-Wang god's birthday on the 24th Day of Lunar 2 Month, the committee gives rice in the front yard of San-Shan-Guo-Wang Temple. the 5th Day of Lunar 5 Month is the Marshals' birthday. the 9th Day of Lunar 9 Month is Nezha(also known as The Princely Lord) birthday and the 27th Day of Lunar 11 Month is the main god's, Marshal Liou's birthday.
(The teacher asks: what certificate is it wanted for getting rice? )
Yes, the disadvantaged who has the certificate gived by Household Registration Office Kaohsiung City, can get two dou(a unit of measure equal to 1 decaliter) of rice.

Q:What role does the temple committee act in Youchang area?

A： Yuan-Shuai Temple is the faith centre of Youchang area, so the committee hopes to help the community.

Q:What is the purpose of the committee?

A： The purpose of the committee is to practise charity!

Thanks to
◎The chairman of Temple Committee, Mr. Shan-Huei Chen