A CHINESE COMMUNITY TEMPLE (Tsu-shi Kung Temple, Sanhsia, Taiwan) Robert P. Weller Boston University         Chinese popular religion uses temples of many different kinds. Neighborhoods frequently honor the Earth God (T'u-ti Kung) at small local temples, ghosts of the unworshiped dead at tiny road-side shrines, and major Buddhist or Taoist deities at large temples that may also be important pilgrimage sites. Probably most important, however, are the major temples located in towns everywhere, dedicated to deities who guard the town and its surrounding villages.         While there are several important temples dedicated to Tsu-shih Kung in Taiwan and in a few places on the mainland, this particular temple is responsible for the northern Taiwanese town of Sanhsia and its surrounding area. As important symbols of their communities, temples tend to be the most impressive buildings in town. A major reconstruction project began on this temple after World War II ended the Japanese occupation. Many community temples did this, but the Sanhsia temple is unusual in having used only traditional materials and techniques. The reconstruction is still continuing now.         Typical of southern Chinese temples, this one has a broad plaza in front where people gather and where Chinese opera will be performed on festival days. The temple itself consists essentially of the four sides of a square surrounding a central courtyard. The major buildings are a front hall where most people would worship the god, two side halls housing minor shrines, and a main hall at the rear of the courtyard housing images of the temple's god. Very large temples also have a rear hall just behind the main hall; Sanhsia's temple is currently constructing a rear hall. The general structure imitates the residence and offices of an official magistrate, who ruled counties in late imperial China. Traditional sumptuary laws limited the sweeping curve of the eaves, so typical of large temples, to the houses of officials. The architecture itself thus reminded people of how the god ruled their community in a system parallel to the secular bureaucracy. Gods in fact held bureaucratic ranks appointed by the earthly emperor, and iconography often further reinforced their resemblance to officials.         The southern temple style is extremely ornate, and people regard Sanhsia's Tsu-shih Kung temple as especially detailed even by those standards. Chinese popular religion has an aesthetic ideal of je-nao, literally "heat and noise," where a great deal is happening at once, and busy excitement overtakes order and calm. Good festivals feature streets packed with people and food, parades, lots of bright color, one or even several simultaneous operas, all competing for attention. Good temples have the same features--everywhere one looks complex details cry out for attention, and every possible space is filled with carvings from nature or scenes from history and fiction.