The Art of Jain Nian at San Sen Temple

      San Sen Temple keeps the traditional and rare characteristic of temple art, Jian Nian, which has great history value. The most splendid part is on the rooftop with dragons, phoenixes, animals, Fu Lu Shou, Treasure Tower and figures that tell the stories of loyalty and Gods.

      What is Jian Nian? It originally came from Mainland China, and was called Kan Ci or Jian Hua by the Chinese. It started from Chao Zhou and Shan Tou in Guan Don in 1600. Chao Zhou had been an important production site of ceramic. There were a lot of broken parts of used ceramic, which were then used as the materials for Jian Nian.

      Technically, the skills of Jian-Nian are close to the Western Mosaic Art. The original meaning of Mosaic is the detailed work of inlaying, which means to mount materials onto some other materials, and to fill the gaps in between. Jian-Nian is to cut all the ceramic materials into all sorts of shapes, and to set them on surface made of concrete to form decorative pictures.

    Jian-Nian is based on the ground of modeling and painting. It uses wires as bones and concrete as flesh to sculpt figures, animals, flowers and grass. The ceramic was cut off and attached as the skin. The finished products are the art works that we saw in the traditional Taiwan temples.     

    With new materials being discovered and brought in, there were a few revolution as to the materials used in Jian-Nian. During the time when the Japanese government was ruling Taiwan, the originally used ceramic was replaced with colored glasses. Then, the industry of plastic was raising, and colored plastic chips were brought in. Nowadays, ready-to-use materials were adapted into this art.

However, the fact that San-Sen Temple is able to keep this almost-lost art is an indication of the power of religion and the display of traditional art. It is a true dedication to the local culture.