《黃品傑 Huang John》

We discovered that most locals in Linkou actually do not know much about the history and background of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple, despite the fact that Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple is an important religious center for inhabitants of Linkou. Nowadays, most youngsters in Linkou were from other cities and countries. Because of the high pressure at work and the abundance of recreational options, they wouldn’t like to spend time on knowing about local historical stories. They rarely go to temples to take a walk or worship.

Although I am not local residents in Linkou, I would like to know about Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple. This is because the school I enrolled in—Kang Chiao International School—is located in Linkou district. To create more connections between the temple and the believers, the workers of Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple held a lot of traditional ceremonies, such as putting lanterns on the water, killing a huge pig, playing “zhi-di drama” and so on.

In order to solve the problem that people know little about Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple, utilizing the club gathering time, members of the cyber fair club hope to enable people of Linkou to renew their perception about Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple. We also hope to enhance club members’ knowledge about the past and the present of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guayin Temple.

《賴世依 Lai Justin》

The research of Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple gave me a taste of the charm of local folk stories and the architecture of the temple, which includes 38 pillars made of over-a-thousand-year-old Taiwan cypress, sophisticated sculptures and solemn Buddha figures. All of them are unforgettable.

The story on the sculptures that teach us “happiness lies in contentment” also made me impressed. This is not only because the sophistication of the sculpture, but also because the story uses concise words to convey its meaning. The latter reason is even more amazing.

It is also very convenient to find your own worship candle among the sixty thousand candles in the temple. You only have to enter your phone number. The incorporation of this system by the temple represents the combination of the traditional and the modern. It is definitely a great concept, which enables people to visit and worship the temple in modern times.

In general, Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple is definitely not just a temple and a religious center. It is also a piece of magnificent architecture with hundred years of history, which combines the tradition and the modern technologies (eco-friendliness and novelty). So, Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple is certainly a piece of architecture full of characteristics.

《張芸瑄 Chang Amber》

I consider this social and historical study meaningful, because in the process of collecting data and conducting interview, I learned about the appearance of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple in Qing dynasty, Japanese colonial period and at present. I also clearly learned how Chinese people came to Taiwan in in early years, and the change of “Zhetou” in Linkou, such as the performance of zhi-di clubs and their characteristics. During the process of conducting interviews, workers of the temple told us some further information based on our questions. For example, the transformation of the ritual that kill huge pigs. In the past, every household kept pigs. Pigs was their most important property, so they chose to sacrifice pigs for gods. It is hard for them to bear the thought of killing pigs. However, nowadays, the ritual uses pigs raised by other people. Residents hire certain people to raise the pigs, making them fat and big in order to win the contest. This made me think about how to find rituals which are suitable for the present while preserving the traditional culture at the same time.

《魏羽彤 Wei Isabella》

Nowadays, Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple is an important religious center of Linkou. It is also the oldest and the biggest temple at Linkou. Many people come to worship when they have problems or want to pray for their safety and health. During the interviews, we found that despite our interviewees’ identities as Linkou locals, some of them still didn’t know much about the history of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple. By searching the information about Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple in Qing dynasty, Japanese colonial period and at present, we learned about its history, festivals and the difficulties it once confronted. For instance, how people insisted on protecting their religion under the rule of Japanese. Thus, we want to pass down the historical stories of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple.

《陳柔羽 Chen Zoey》

During the research, I wanted to give up several times because the information on the internet is very complicated, and some of it was missing. Our teacher told us that this was a wonderful research opportunity. We could write down the questions, and then interview the local elderly and historical/cultural workers. When conducting the interviews, I discovered that the history of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple is way beyond our imagination. Compared with the information we got from the internet, we can even select the content. Ah ha, this is the meaning of conducting research! Through collecting data and writing, I hope to enable more people to learn more about the local characteristics of Linkou.

《楊秉真 Yang Emily》

After this research project, I get to know the history of Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple, learning that there are historical stories, origin and meaning behind every ceremony. I also find that through the architecture I can learn about the relation between Japan and Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple. In the investigation, I learned a lot of background knowledge that cannot be found on the internet. For example, the ghost festival of Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple is related to stories at the arm-confrontation period. Discovering that the transformation of Guanyin Temple from Qing dynasty, Japanese colonial period to modern times can be connected to the events we learned from history textbook, also helps me, a student from another place in Taiwan, to know more about the history and culture of Linkou.

《張銜容 Chang Amber》

To me, the most impressive thing is the preparation process of the interview, for the interview is the test of the completeness of the data. In fact, I found that our questions are a bit insufficient after the interview. Local interviewees shared a significant amount of information with us, such as the time that they go to worship, or whether they have participated the activity of killing the huge pig. Interviewees shared that on the way to school when they were children, they saw that someone is killing the huge pig. They also witnessed the second reconstruction process of Zhu-Lin-Shan Temple, for example, Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple turned to a grandeur temple from an iron-sheet house. In terms of the tips of interviewing, we should connect the questions properly without pause, and ask some further questions if we have related curiosity. At the final stage of organizing data collected from the interviews, I found some different information compared to that I got from the internet. For instance, Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple has once reconstructed into an iron-sheet house. The information on internet didn’t mention about this. Through this interview, we learned about people’s childhood memories regarding Zhu-Lin-Shan Guanyin Temple, thus get to know the characteristics of this temple and the history of Linkou.