Five Concubines Temple / 五妃廟

この間「五妃廟」に行った。この廟は朱術桂と言う王子の妃を五人祀る所だ。朱さんは明朝の最後の王子で、当時は明朝が清朝に負けていたところのせいで、天皇に昇格することはできなかったのだ。朱さんは先に南中国に逃げて、後に台湾に逃亡した。台湾はその時親明の鄭成功が建てた王国があったので、とりあえずそこで日を過ごすことはできたが、結局清朝は台湾にも侵入した。朱さんは自殺することにして、妃達は一緒に死ぬことを選んだ。昔（現在も？）の中国では女の徳といえば、男に従うことなので、死を選んだこの五人は非常に尊敬されていた。そのため、この廟が建てられたのだ。

I went to the Five Concubines Temple a little while back.  Aside from the link to the left, you can also read a little about the prince, Jew Shoe Gweigh, whose concubines these women were here.

Long story short, Shoe Gweigh was the last prince of the Ming dynasty.  He never had the chance to become emperor properly because the Ming was being invaded by the Manchurians, who would later set up the Ching dynasty.  Shoe Gweigh got chased first to southern China, and eventually over to Taiwan once all of China had fallen to the Manchurians.  Taiwan was at the time controlled by a Ming loyalist who had set up his own kingdom on the island after kicking out the Dutch.  Shoe Gweigh lived on Taiwan until, eventually, it too was invaded by the Manchurians.  He committed suicide rather than surrender, and his five concubines were so loyal to him that they chose to follow him in death rather than start their lives over.  This temple was later erected near their grave in commemoration of them.  In traditional Chinese society, the role of women is basically just to follow men and support them in whatever they do, so these women were highly regarded for their choice to commit suicide.

這是「五妃廟」。是奉祀朱術桂的五個妃子。朱先生是明朝最後的郡王。（對吧？我不確定這字是不是對的。但好像他沒有正式地當天皇。）清朝侵佔台灣時，朱先生寧可自殺不願投降。他的五個妃子決定要配他跟一起自殺。因為在古老中國社會上，女人最重要的任務只是配男生而已，所以這五個人算是非常厲害的女生，這樣子是奉祀的。

廟自体は大きくないが、周りの公園が広くて綺麗。

The temple is very small compared to most, but it's surrounded by this beautiful park.

廟不大，但在公園裡所以氣氛不錯。

墓場の記念碑。

A marker for the grave.

裏側に別の小さな廟がある。

There is another small shrine behind the Five Concubines Temple.  I'm unclear to its purpose.

我不知道這是什麼東西。在廟後面的另外一座廟嗎？

五妃廟の玄関。

Back at the entrance to the temple.

天井

And looking up at the roof.

天花板

ここにいる間に、フランス人の観光客もいて、ドアに描いてある四人の写真を同時に撮るために勝手にドアを閉めた。真ん中の二人は宦官。

The entrance, with the doors closed.  Some French tourists were there when I was, and they decided to close the doors so that they could get a picture of all four figures at once.  It wasn't my idea, but I took advantage of the opportunity to snap my own photo.  The middle two are eunuchs, and the outer two are female maids.

來這裡兩個法國觀光客想把四個門上的人物跟一起拍住，所以把門關下來了。

開いたドアの様子。

Here's the door open again.

開門的樣子。