史料原文/譯文
Shengji Incinerators are common in Hakka regions thanks to the knowledge-respecting tradition. Also named Word-Treasuring Pavilion, the furnace-like Incinerator is only used to burn written papers to worship Canjie, the inventor of Chinese Characters, and Wenchang Dijin, God of Culture and Literature. This is not only the best kept but also the largest and structurally most complete of all its counterparts in Taiwan.
Placed inside a three-courtyard house, Longtan Shengji Incinerator is an axially symmetric architecture. From the entrance, you'd spot the four gate pillars, the two stone pillars, and the gourd-shaped tip from the Incinerator. When entering the second courtyard, one sees the two erected stone pens, each with curved stone walls (resembling the dragons) opening up; this is meant to augment feelings of loftiness and stateliness. Finally, the centerpiece in the inner courtyard: the grand, tri-layered structure of the Shengji Incinerator. There is a shrine with oblation incense and worship items (middle), with two square-shaped base (bottom) and altar (top).
From bottom up, the Incinerator's octagonal, squared, and hexagonal layers signal the Eight Trigrams ("Ba-Gua"), the Four Symbols (East: Azure Dragon, South: Vermillion Bird, West: White Tiger, and North: Black Turtle), and the Six Natural Factors (wind, heat, fire, humidity, dry heat, chill). At the bottom of the Incinerator reads "Qilin utters a jade book," referencing Confucius' birth, whereas the two horizontal inscriptions bless us with "Virtues transcends generations" and "May writing and knowledge flourish." While the stone dragons embracing the words "Shengji" are no longer visible, the carved couplets are legible. At the back, donor listings were carved on top, with Tai Chi and Eight Trigrams at the bottom. A masterpiece in Chinese architecture, its finesse is embodied within the minutiae and the grand.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
