English: Since its establishment, the Church had undergone fire and earthquakes which resulted in the collapsing of the church walls. It was not until 1869 under the support of the converters that Father Liang Fang-Ji purchased a portion of the forestland and built what is today’s WanChin Catholic Church in the likeness of the Spanish fortress. Building materials used to build the Church at the time were mainly limes, stones, kapok fiber, grizzle bricks, brown sugar and honey mixed together with no traces of steel reinforcements, yet the mainframe remained incredibly strong; in front of the Church is the twin-tower church with façade similar to the Spanish fortress. Between the towers is a gable wall with a traditional horseback image in which a cross is erected on the horseback. A crown and Dominican Order emblem decorated the lower and upper side of the gable wall respectively; Church ceiling, wall paintings as well as engravings at both side of the wall, back penthouse, preacher’s stand, and Holy Mother’s sedan chair were all made of woods with both Oriental and Gothic decoration style merged together. In 1874 during the Ching Dynasty, Minister Shen Bao-Zhen passed by WanChin Catholic Church during his Southern Taiwan routine check and saw the cohesiveness and the bonds between local residents and converters with his own eyes. He was convinced that religion indeed does possess the strength to inspire goodness in human beings as well as the power to eliminate racial discrepancies. He then reported back to Emperor Tongtzu in requesting for the Emperor’s “Royal Script” in permission for the Church to operate along with a sacred stone with “Catholic Church” engraved and embedded above the Church. Since then, soldiers and officials must bow and pay respect to the Church during their passing.
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