October 24, 2020
On Saturday, October 24, I met up with Guo Qing (國慶), a fellow student at NTNU studying Education. Here he is:
He offered to show me around Xing Tian Temple in Zhongshan. The temple is sometimes spelt Hsing Tian Gong in English due to variations in translation – in Mandarin it’s 行天宮. The Tourism Bureau of the ROC (Taiwan) has more about the temple:
The front of the temple was quite beautiful.
The same part of the temple from inside.
Taipei Travel says: “Xingtian Temple is the most-visited temple in northern Taiwan, attracting upwards of 10,000 people a day. Situated in the heart of Taipei, the temple is unique in that it does not allow worshippers to burn “spirit money” or make offerings. There are also no donation boxes or opera performances, and no commercial activity is allowed.” (https://www.travel.taipei/en/attraction/details/484).
I saw many people in blue cloaks; Guo Qing said that these were the temple staff, who replace monks.
Praying to Guan Gong (關羽) the main deity. The Tourism Bureau states that he was “a famous deified general who lived (A. D. 162-219) during the Three Kingdoms period. A man, who valued loyalty and righteousness above all things, Guangong is worshipped as the God of War; since he was adept at managing finances, he is also worshipped as the patron saint of businessmen.”
TravelKing mentions that “there is a Xingtian Temple underpass avenue. At the underpass avenue, visitors will be able to see numerous fortune telling stands. It is also another popular place to visit when visiting Xingtian Temple. The underpass avenue is also known as the ‘Fortunetelling Street’. The fortune tellers would offer answers to people who has (sic) troubles or vexations.” (https://www.travelking.com.tw/eng/tourguide/taipei/xingtian-temple.html )
So we followed the signs to Fortunetelling Street. As described, it’s an underpass directly beneath the intersection of Min Quan East Road and Song Jiang Road. The underpass contains many recesses where the fortune-tellers sit; see the photo above. Only a few of the recesses were open, though I noticed a sign saying they could speak English.
Then we went to a Starbuck cafe, where I took Guo Qing’s picture at the start of this email.
Richard
Wandering Richard 