Beipu Citien Temple
Main Deities
About
Beipu Old Street begins on the stone-slab forecourt of Citien Temple. A county-designated historic site in Beipu Township, Hsinchu County, it is the most representative Hakka center of faith in the county and the landmark at the heart of the whole Beipu settlement. The temple is dedicated to Guanyin Bodhisattva, a classic example of the Hakka custom of putting Guanyin first. Its layout is two halls, two corridors, and two side wings, and its entrance hall is known for sandstone carving. The pair of stone dragon pillars along the front porch both show "ascending dragons" coiling upward on each side, a treatment rarely seen in Taiwanese temples. Inside are two sets of stone columns carved with the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, finely worked and just as rare in Taiwan. On weekends, walk from the forecourt into the old street and you'll be carried along by a steady stream of visitors.
History
Citien Temple's story is bound up with the Han Chinese settlement of Beipu. In 1834, the 14th year of the Daoguang reign, Jiang Xiuluan, a settler from Guangdong, and Zhou Bangzheng, a settler from Fujian, joined forces to form the Jin Guang Fu land-reclamation company and push into the mountains southeast of Hsinchu. According to tradition, the Guanyin enshrined in the temple was brought back from mainland China by Jiang Xiuluan himself. In 1840, the 20th year of Daoguang, Jiang rebuilt the shrine as a wooden temple. In 1874, the 13th year of the Tongzhi reign, his eldest grandson Jiang Ronghua undertook another major rebuilding, adding the two corridors and the front hall and fixing the two-hall, two-corridor, two-wing layout seen today. In 1907, under Japanese rule, the Beipu Incident took place in the very Beipu settlement where Citien Temple stands.
Beipu Citien Temple
Beipu Township, Hsinchu County
Visitor Info
Address
No. 1, Beipu St, Beipu Township, Hsinchu County
Region
Beipu Township, Hsinchu County
Plan Your Visit
- Hours
- Daily 6:00 AM – 7:00 PM
- When to Go
- Sutra-chanting and blessing ceremonies are held on Guanyin's three feast days (lunar 2/19, 6/19, and 9/19); Beipu Old Street is busier with visitors on weekends and holidays.
Checked on 2026-10-13 · Sources: Google Maps