Research On The Decoration Art Of Dragon Pillars Of Taiwan's Temples

Taiwan is a place with diversified religions. There are over 10000 temples in Taiwan, including Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and various folk religions. In the decoration of temples, there are complicated structures and beautiful colors which creating a unique delightful atmosphere. The dragon pillar is an indispensable part of them and it is also the representation of the carving art in Taiwan, showing the unique ethnic and cultural features. Compared with the other pillars in Chinese ancient temples, the dragon pillar holds its own unity and special features. The dragon pillars take various dragons as the main body, which make the architecture divine and lively and they share their beauty in a way which could move all the audience. With the development of history, the dragon pillars showed up in every temple in Taiwan. Their shape has developed from one pair of dragons in earlier ages to multiple pairs of dragons. Soon, the decoration of the dragon pillars spread in Taiwan and every pillar turned out to be the dragon pillar. The beautiful architecture and carving arts of the dragon pillar make the architect more divine and create the right atmosphere of a holy temple. The dragon pillar represented the aesthetic of Taiwan people in different times and it is the treasure of Chinese carving art.This study focuses on the analyses of the decoration art of the dragon pillars of Taiwan's temples. First, this study will present a brief introduction to illustrate the research background, literature review of studies both at home and abroad, and the significance of the study. Then, this study will generalize the decoration art of the dragon pillar from its source, meaning and structure. Based on the generalization, the study forms a whole picture for the dragon pillars. Moreover, the study gives a different generalization from the perspective of different schools and categories, with the analyses of features through case study. Third, based on the time table, the study will focus on the Qing dynasty, the occupation of the Japanese and the “Republic of Chin”a in order to compare the features of the dragon pillars in different times. Meanwhile, with the exploration of the histories and culture reasons, the study hopes to present a meaningful analyses of the decoration art of the dragon pillar and offer an over-all view to the dragon pillar in Taiwan's temples so that to provide advice for further studies.