Southwest Coast National Scenic Area

Since the Kangxi Emperor ascended the throne, the great Navy Admiral Chen You has been worshiped at the Sicao Dazhong Temple. Rumor has it that Chen was a vice admiral in Koxinga’s pioneer camp that recovered Taiwan, to which he made such an impressive contribution that he became a legend in the Sicao area. Next to the temple is the Sicao Battery, where a row of 10-plus round canon holes in the wall tell stories of Taiwan’s oldest battlefield. The battery was built as an important naval base at the suggestion of Yao Ying, a Qing Dynasty official in charge of the defense of Taiwan. The wall is now covered in old banyan branches, and the intertwined roots reaching deeply into the seams in the stones bearing witness to what happened in those battles.