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Bi Lian Temple
The Bi Lian Temple was known before by the name Fong Tian Shrine, build in August of 1914.
When the Japanese built temples, one of their objectives was to cultivate a daily attitude of worshiping the gods. This was one of the national strategies for unifying the people. At that time the person who was Taiwan's Zong Du [Governor General] really placed importance on creating the temples for the immigrants. Fong Tian Village was an example. Each year on June 5 there was a large ceremony. The Japanese immigrants had to put aside all their every-day activities and join in the preparations of the entire village for this ceremony as a demonstration of respect and loyalty.
In 1946 after the Japanese left, the temple name was changed to Bi Lian Temple and it was re-dedicated to Buddhist worship of "Shi Jia Mo Ni" and "Bu Dong Ming Wang." In April, 1968 a ceremony was held to invite five additional Buddhist and Taoist gods to this temple. They are the gods Guan Yin Pu Sa [Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara], Mi Le Fo [Maitreya Buddha], Di Mu Niang Niang [land goddess], Tian Shang Sheng Mu [goddess of the heavens] and Wu Gu Xian Di [god of crops]. Along the road to Bi Lian Temple are arranged special markers that help prepare the worshipper. For example, you can see Niao Ju (Shinto shrine), Shi Dong Long (Rock Lantern) and Shi Gou (Rock dog).
The "Shen she" Japanese temple heritage.
These are all cultural artifacts of the village of Fong Tian, and are worth saving.
Bi Lian Temple is the center of worship for the three villages of the Fong Tian area. There are a multitude of worshippers. Using the lunar calendar each year there are three main celebrations in the temple. Following the lunar calendar, the dates are the 8th day of the 4th month "Fo Dan Jie" (the day of the Buddha's birth), the 15th day of the 7th month "Zhong Yuan Jie" (the full moon on ghosts' month) and the 15th day of the 10th month (full moon of Xia Yuan Festival). The 3 villages take turns hosting the celebrations. 
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Japanese Period Marker of the 30th Anniversary of the Village
Nowadays you'll see a marker inside of the Bi Lian Temple gounds.It's from the Japanese period, and commemorates the 30th anniversary of the founding of this village of immigrants from Japan. On the face of the stone are carved these words "Kai Cun 30 Zhou Nian Ji Nian" (30th Anniversary of the Village Founding) and "Taiwan Zong Du Chang-Gu-Chuan-Qin Shu" (Calligraphy of Mr. Chang-Gu-Chuan-Qin, who holds the Zong Du position in Taiwan). "Wei Dang Shi de Shui Yue Liu Xia Le Ji Nian" (Leaving a reminder of these days for the future.)
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Hiroshima Style Smoke House
There was a short heyday in Taiwan during the Japanese period when tobacco was grown. Fields were located in the east rift valley, and there, Fong Tian was an important growing area. In 1913 the Japanese first imported the tobacco variety American yellow tobacco. At first they grew it in Ji Ye (now the Ji An Village). Then they expanded into the Fong Tian Village. In 1918 the Japanese established the "Yan Cao Geng Zuo Zhi Dao Suo" (Tobacco Cultivation Guidance Office) to help improve the tobacco strain and improve local cultivation methods in Zong Li (now known as Fong Li Village).
At that time, all you had to do was look at how many smoke buildings each household had, and you'd know how rich they were. The farmers in the tobacco fields, could skillfully pick their "green gold" while talking and laughing. During the preparation of the tobacco leaves, the strong fragrance of tobacco floated out from the tall smoke house buidings, dancing in the air, and gave warmth even in the cold of winter. Today, even though there's no tobacco grown, you can go to the current-day villages of Fong Pin and Fong Li and see the Hiroshima type, and the Osaka type of smoke building. Standing there you can mingle in the history from Taiwan's Japanese period immigrant industry.
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"Doctor's House" Historic Building
During the Japanese period this was the clinic for immigrants. They called it the "Doctor's House." You can find it if you go to the Fong Tian Elementary School and stand at the door. When you look in, past the playing field, the Doctor's House is on your left. This building has Japanese architecture with a tile roof and wooden slats along the outside wall which are arranged like fish-scales. At each entrance is an ante-room (see photo). This together with the ghost-head tiles are the unique features of this building. It's an outstanding piece of architecture.
East Taiwan, at this time was not at all developed. There were several diseases that were life-threatening to the new immigrants. These included what was called "fong tu disease" (now malaria), "huang se re" or yellow heat, "si jun xing de chi le" or a kind of red diarrhea and "yang chong" disease (scrub typhus). The national immigration policy focused in on the importance of health and in each village they set up clinics, and isolation facilities. As well each clinic had a doctor a pharmacist and a midwife.
Today in Fong Tian (2008) the doctor's house is getting new attention as it links to our promotion of the Fong Tian area as a unified community once again. We have many building projects, but also there's a strong momentum to set up a community health service team. This includes training of medical volunteers. We hope residents can live more healthy and happy lives, carrying on the spirit of the Doctor's House.
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Fong Pin Village Land God Shrine
A few months before this web site was set up, this shrine was torn down. It no longer exists. But it was in this area almost a hundred years, and her we describe it.
This type of shrine is a rare example in Taiwan of a Japanese land god shrine. The god is the daily life protector or guardian of the community and households. At the end of the Japanese period (1945) there was a sudden influx of Chinese from mainland China and the new inhabitants in this area adapted this shrine built to the Japanese land god to become a "tu di gong" or a Chinese culture land god temple (or shrine) and worship the land god there. And they set up a Land God temple association to coordinate the workshop activities. In 1971 a gate was built (see photo) for the Lu Tian Di god.
The "Di shen" (a Japanese Land God's name) worshipped at this shrine is rarely seen in Taiwan. The shrine, located at Fong Ping Village, has a base made of washed granolith. On that is a reclining rock, on top of which sits a big rock with the two large carved words "Di Shen" (see photo). On the side of the rock is carved the time this shrine was established. It reads: In the 9th month of the 15th year of the Zhao Ho Period, followed by the words "She Ri Zhen Zuo." Another carving on the rock says: "Commemorating the 2,600th year of Huang Ji." The god of this shrine is the Japanese equivalent of the Chinese "tu di god," (Land God) the community and household guardian. People say that the tu di god shows up among people as a white fox.
Recently there was some new construction on the perimeter road. It goes by Dong Hua University. They widened the road to 30 meters. It goes through Fong Ping Village. Many of the old wooden buildings from the Japanese era have been demolished and replaced with cement buildings. The community has undergone a drastic change of appearance. The Land God Shrine has now been destroyed. Now the wooden gate that was around the shrine is abandoned, lying on the ground beside a Han-Chinese Tu DiTemple.
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Japanese-Style Farm Buildings
In the Fong Tian immigrants village the earliest type architecture had main houses made of wood, with grass roofs. This type of building had already stopped being built before WW2. Then, after liberation from the Japanese, Taiwan immigrants moved into the Japanese immigrants village. With it they inherited the plan laid out by the Japanese on land use. Each household got 441 pings, so they could manage their own living space as they wished. This is unheard of elsewhere in Taiwan.
Now in Fong Tian you can still see rare Japanese farmhouses over 70 years old. In these houses, the roof is covered by Japanese tile. The main crossbeam and the ceilings are made of camphor wood. Walls inside the house braided bamboo covered in mud and finished with a layer of chalk. The outer wall of the building is covered with wooden slats arranged in a fish scale pattern. This type of house and the typical traditional western Taiwan house were dramatically different. Taiwan immigrants who moved in had very different habits of life and value. Some of them made modifications in the buildings. For example, they'd not take off their shoes inside, or not distinguish the inside and outside flooring. In others, the raised Japanese-style bedroom floor was torn out. Or, because meal habits were different, they'd make a bigger family kitchen.
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