A Representation of Diaspora and Identity: Mosque Architecture in Taiwan after World War II

• Main Authors: Meng-HuanLin, 林孟寰
• Other Authors: En-Yu Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2019
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/5f6ac7

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 建築學系 === 107 === SUMMARY The thesis focuses on the relationship between six mosque architecture after World War II and the identity of Chinese Speaking Muslims in Taiwan. Chinese Speaking Muslims migrate to Taiwan with Nationalist government during 1945 to 1949. The diaspora community is composed of Military men, government employees, and teachers. The first mosque architecture of the community, Taipei Grand Mosque, was established in 1960. Following the influential event, Chinese Speaking Muslim Community in Taiwan strengthened the relationship with Saudi Arabia, which provided financial aids to the community. In later decades, the community established five following mosques: Taipei Culture Mosque, Taichung Mosque, Kaohsiung Mosque, Tainan mosque, and Lungkang Mosque. As mentioned above, two core issues lie in the thesis with architectural analysis. First, mosque architecture is analyzed in three following aspects: composition of space, form of architecture, and vocabulary of architecture. These architectural factors represent some specific identities of Chinese Speaking Muslims in Taiwan. One of the core issue is how identities of Chinese Speaking Muslims make influence on design of mosque architecture, and the other is how mosque architectural spaces make influence on the changing of community. INTRODUCTION A mosque is the most important space in Islamic daily life, which supports religious and social aspects of Islamic culture. Furthermore, it is said that mosque architecture itself implies experiences and values of muslims. Taiwan Chinese Speaking Muslims migrated to Taiwan with Nationalist Government after Kuomintang-Communist Civil War. The community kept a strong “Chinese national identity” due its close relationship with Nationalist government. However, the community mosques represent traditional Central Islamic forms rather than traditional Chinese forms. This thesis started with the question about why these muslims gave up to build mosques as traditional Chinese forms, just as they had ever seen in their motherland China. In short, the answer is deeply related to identities of Chinese Speaking Muslims Community in Taiwan. MATERIALS AND METHODS The materials of the thesis are six mosque buildings of Chinese Speaking Muslims in Taiwan after World War II, including Taipei Grand Mosque (established in 1960), Taipei Culture Mosque (established in 1984), Taichung Mosque (established in 1990), Kaohsiung Mosque (established in 1991), Tainan mosque (established in 1994), and Lungkang Mosque (established in 1988). At the aspect of methodology, the thesis follows the paradigm such as “architecture as representation of realities”, which was advanced by Aart Mekking, a Dutch architectural historian. With this paradigm, architecture is interpreted as materialization of human ideologies. In other words, architecture represents the real cosmic world of humans. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Identities of Chinese Speaking Muslim in Taiwan make influence on the design of Taiwan mosques. In consequence, mosque architecture in Taiwan reveals three key points: • Taipei Grand Mosque plays a role as “National Mosque of Taiwan”. During past decades, diplomatic activities with Islamic countries take place in Taipei Grand Mosque. These events reveal that Taipei Grand Mosque represented National identity of Muslims in Taiwan. The space of Taipei Grand Mosque also became a prototype of later mosques in Taiwan. On the other hand, forms and architectural vocabularies of Taipei Grand Mosque are also representations of ideologies such as “ummah” and “Arabian Islamic identity”. • In contract, Lungkang Mosque represents how a local settlement shaped an imagined community with similar identities. Muslims in Lungkang district intend to live around Lungkang Mosque or near by the mosque. Due to less distance and the continuous religious life spaces, muslims in Lungkang keep their unique faith and identities. • The designs of other mosques built in 1990’s more and less learned from Taipei Grand Mosque. In addition, mixing forms and elements of traditional Islamic architecture are used. On the other hand, a dynamic form of interaction between mosque spaces and the community is built after mosques were established. Muslim community in Taiwan changes constantly, causing the community tends to be diversified and complicated. Furthermore, change of Taiwan’s society leads to more communication between muslims and non-muslims. These changes make mosque spaces open to more kinds of different groups, which show as different identity boundaries in mosque spaces. For Instance, sacred and secular boundaries, gendered boundaries are discussed and clarified. Consequently, mosques in Taiwan become representations of multi-culture identity in contemporary society. CONCLUSION The thesis is the first research about mosque architecture in Taiwan. First, it organized the historical context of Chinese Speaking Muslim community and mosques architecture in Taiwan. Second, the thesis also built architectural analysis of mosque in Taiwan. It reveals that patrons’ identity and architects’ experiences are the most relevant aspects of architectural space. Third, the thesis interpreted different aspects of identities represented by mosque architecture, through different eras and regions. At last, the thesis recorded the development of contemporary muslim community in Taiwan. There is an extended scope from Chinese Speaking muslims to multi-cultural muslims in Taiwan. The relationship between mosque architecture and dynamic muslim society is also a valued aspect, which needs more clarification and discussion in worldwide contemporary Islamic researches.