Taiwan (2008-2025): Taipei
City (Part 2/2: South of Minquan
W. Rd. MRT station)
To see the locations of the places
pictured below, click here. (A Google map with red markers will open in a new
tab.)
Dadaocheng Cisheng temple (March
2025):
This is yet another
temple dedicated to the highly popular Taoist goddess Matsu.
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Dihua Old Street (April 2017):
This historic street is lined up with
shop houses selling Chinese medicines, herbs, and dried-food. Many of these
houses are built in Chinese Baroque style dating from the 1920′s. Few
older ones are in Fujianese style.
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Taipei Xia Hai City God temple
(March 2025):
This small temple was
built around 1859 and has never been rebuilt or significantly remodeled since.
As its name indicates, it is primarily dedicated to the City God. However,
another deity, Yue-Lao, the god of love, attracts many singles looking for their
soul mates and couples hoping for a smooth going. This rather unusual temple is
also said to have the highest density of deity statues in Taiwan.
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Tianhou temple (November 2018):
This temple, dedicated to
Matsu, was first built on another site in 1746 during the Qing dynasty.
However, its history during the 20th century was complex and unusual. It was
demolished in 1943 during the Japanese occupation to make way for the
construction of an airstrip. Previously, in 1910, the Japanese had built a
Buddhist temple, known as the Hongfa temple, dedicated to the famous Japanese
monk Kobo-Daishi (whose name 弘法大師 is pronounced ″Hongfa-Dashi″ in
Chinese) on the
current site of the Tianhou temple. In 1948, after Taiwan's retrocession to the
Republic of China, it was decided to move the preserved remains of the original
Tianhou temple to this temple, which was then renamed the Tianhou temple. In
1953 this temple was destroyed by fire. A new structure (the current one) was
rebuilt and completed in 1959. Although Matsu is its main deity, the present-day
Tianhou temple also continues to attract worshippers who pray to Japanese
deities. It is nestled among taller buildings.
The Red House (November 2018):
Built in 1908, this octagonal building
is one of the oldest in Taipei. Originally a market building, then a theater,
it is now a multi-usage building.
Qingshui temple (November 2018):
Built in 1787, this
folk-religion temple is dedicated to Master Qingshui. Born in the Anxi county
of the Fujian province of China, Master Qingshui (1047-1101) was a Buddhist
monk who became a local hero for saving the population from starvation during a
drought. After his death, he was deified in the local folk religion. His cult
was later brought to Taiwan by immigrants from the Anxi county. According to
one legend, his face was blackened by smoke while he meditated in a cave.
Another legend says that statues of Master Qingshui drop their noses (see photo
below!) to warn people of an imminent disaster.
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Qingshan temple (November 2018):
Built in 1854, this
temple celebrates Zhang Gun, a famous Chinese general during the reign of the
emperor Sun Quan in the 3rd century. Deified under the posthumous name Qingshan
Wang, he is revered as a god who protects his followers from disease, rewards
virtue, and punishes evil. The temple's standing statues, most of which have a
penetrating gaze, are particularly stunning.
Longshan temple (November 2015):
This temple was built in
1738 by immigrants from the Fujian province of China. It is mainly a Buddhist
temple dedicated to Guanyin, the highly popular bodhisattva of infinite
compassion in Chinese Buddhism. But as many as 165 Buddhist and Taoist deities are
also worshiped here. The temple was damaged several times, by earthquakes,
typhoons, and bombing during World War II. Its most recent major restoration
dates from 1957.
- Main entrance gate.
- Inner courtyard (left)
and roof detail with a dragon sculpture (right).
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- Golden incense burner
(left and center) and wall painting (right).
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- Offerings to the gods.
Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (October 2015 and
March 2025):
- Multi-arched entrance
to the memorial complex seen at night (2025).
- National Theater,
located to the right of the complex after passing the arched entrance (2025).
- Main hall (left) and seated statue of
Chiang Kai-shek in the hall (2015).
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- Main hall seen at night
(2025).
Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (November 2018):
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Songshan
Ci Hui temple (March 2025):
This large Taoist temple
consists of a central five-story building flanked by two pagoda-shaped towers.
It is dedicated to the Mother Goddess (more commonly known as the Queen
Mother), who cures diseases, prevents disasters, and alleviates misfortunes.,
- Statues of guardians at
the entrance of the central building.
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- Main prayer hall with
the statue of the Queen Mother.
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- Another statue of the
Queen Mother.
- Portion of a gilded
carved mural.
- Ceiling in the main
prayer hall.
- Statues in a smaller
room of the temple.
- Painted ceiling.
Shrines in the Four Beasts hiking
area above the Songshan Ci Hui temple:
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Taipei 101 (2008, 2018 and 2025):
- From left to right (2008): 508m-high
Taipei 101 seen from its base; 660-tonne steel pendulum at the top of
Taipei 101 protecting the building against earthquake; view from the top.
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- Taipei 101 seen from the Sun Yat-Sen
Memorial Hall, on a rainy day (November 2018).
- Taipei 101 seen from the Four Beasts
hiking area (March 2025).
Taipei Grand Mosque (March 2025):
It was built in the late
1950s to serve Muslim immigrants from China and inaugurated in April 1960.
Southeast of
Taipei City (2009, April 2017):
- Tasting tea
in a small tea shop of Wenshan District, next to National Chengchi University
(NCCU) and...
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...in a teahouse of the Maokong hills
above NCCU.
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Zhinan temple (March 2025):
This vast temple complex
comprises three main buildings. The largest, by far, is a Taoist temple (first
built in 1891 and since considerably enlarged). The other two are the modest
Buddhist Daxiong chapel (built in 1973) and Dacheng chapel dedicated to Confucius.
- View of the Taoist
temple. The main deity worshipped here is Lu Dongbin (also spelled Lu Tung Pin),
one of the Eight Immortals of Chinese mythology (he allegedly lived 220 years).
A scholar, a poet, and a county magistrate who lived during the Tang Dynasty
(618-907), Lu Dongbin was renowned for his kindness. He
was deified posthumously.
- Women praying in the
main hall. (The statue of Lu Dongbin is visible in the middle of the first
photo below.)
- Other statues in the
Taoist temple.
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- Carved figures on
wooden doors in the Taoist temple.
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- Statues of three
deified generals worshipped in the Taoist temple.
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- Buddhist statues in the
Daxiong chapel.
- Statues
of three disciples of Confucius in the Dacheng chapel.
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Yinhe cave, temple and waterfall (2014):
[Note: This place is located in New Taipei City. I
include it here because it is very close to the border between Taipei City and
New Taipei City, and reached by a hiking trail from the Wenshan district of
southern Taipei (see above).]
The small Yinhe temple (actually, more
of a shrine than a temple) is quite unusual: it is built into a cave and on the
side of a vertical cliff, next to a waterfall. It is accessed by a staircase
built into the cliff.
- The temple and the cascade, surrounded
by lush vegetation.
- Altar dedicated to Guanyin and statue
of Lu Dongbin (see previous comments on the Zhinan temple) in the temple.
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