The Three Mountain Kings Temple in Baoli Village is the earliest mentioned in the documents, as recorded in the ‘Hengchun Town County Annals’: Mountain Kings Temple is located at the northern foot of Monkey Cave.
The inner sanctuary deity of the Three Mountain Kings Temple came to Taiwan with Koxinga during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Experts have identified the deity as being very ancient.
Koxinga, also known as Zheng Chenggong, was a military leader of the 17th century who is famed for his role in the history of Taiwan and China. Born in 1624 to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, Koxinga was a loyalist of the Ming Dynasty, which had been overthrown by the Qing Dynasty in China.
Facing north, it consists of a single hall built out of a cave. In the fifth year of the Guangxu era, Hakka residents of Cantonese origin donated to its construction.’ In popular belief, the ‘efficacy’ of a deity is greatly related to its origin. According to the oral history of local elders: The establishment of the Three Mountain Kings Temple in Baoli Village coincided almost exactly with the arrival of the early settlers, and it was brought back from their original hometown in Jieyang County.
In the annals of Checheng Township and Baoli Village, the descriptions of the Bao’an Temple – Three Mountain Kings Temple are nearly identical: ‘Bao’an Temple is located at 38 Baozhong Road in our village. It was initially built in the early years of the Qing Guangxu era, but was forcibly demolished during the Japanese colonial period. After Taiwan’s retrocession, the villagers raised funds to rebuild it, and it was completed and inaugurated in the 43rd year of the Republic of Taiwan (1954).