Xinzhuang Guangfu Temple

Of the four old temples on Xinzhuang's old street, the best preserved is, oddly, the one that lost its worshippers: Guangfu Temple, which locals still call the Three Mountain Kings Temple. The Three Mountain Kings are a local faith from Chaozhou in Guangdong, carried across the strait by Chaozhou settlers. When those settlers later left Xinzhuang, the temple lost its incense and its patrons — and so escaped the rounds of renovation that remade its neighbors, keeping its Qing-dynasty face. Today it is a national monument: the gate carvings are cut from Guanyin Mountain stone, the roof frame is Minnan-style yet uses rare square beams, and the front is built of red brick while the rear is dark brick. Slow down here when you walk the old street.