ABSTRACT
The reception halls of temples go by such names as “shangke tang,” “ke tang”; or “pilgrim lodges” are used in Taoist temples in Taiwan. As these names imply, these buildings serve as temporary accommodations for devotees who come to pay homage to Buddha or take part in some religious assemblies, and there is no charge for lodging traditionally. Instead, devotees generally make some donations to serve as lodge fees, whose amount is subject to their decision and is therefore a variable sum. In terms of management, the reception halls of temples are used mostly when temples hold some events, so they remain unoccupied most of the time and lack regular maintenance, except the pre-event period that temples usually recruit some volunteers to do the cleaning. As a result, the common lodging quality of the reception halls is poor. Nevertheless, thanks to the prevalence of Buddhism and Taoism, the number of temples in Taiwan with “reception halls” or “pilgrim lodges” is substantial, so we recommend these “reception halls” or “pilgrim lodges” be repurposed and reused by consulting the management of the Rushi Hotel Group in Xiamen. For the temples themselves, this kind of management can improve their management of “reception halls” or “pilgrim lodges” and increase their revenues at the same time. For the local regions, it can boost the development of the tourism industry.
