The beauty of Taiwan – Taipei City – Lungshan Temple

If you want to know how different Taiwanese religion from Western, you have to visit some famous temples in Taipei. Of course, if you have spare time, there are more than 11,400 temples in Taiwan. Every county in Taiwan has more than 600 temples in average and Tainan County is the number one because there are 1182 temples in Tainan.

The best way to visit Lungshan temple is so easy. Jump into MRT and get off at Lungshan temple station on Blue Line. Thus, you can imagine how important Taiwanese religion is to Taiwanese daily life. We have to build up an MRT station for this.

Lungshan temple is one of the oldest temples in Taipei city. It was built up in 1738, reconstructed in 1815 because of a huge earthquake, and renovated in 1867 because of a serious typhoon. So, until now, Lungshan temple is a 280-years-old temple.

In 1985, Taiwanese government announced that the Longshan Temple is the second-class historical site of national protection. It is listed as a trip destination for international tourists visiting Taiwan with the National Palace Museum and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

Longshan Temple regularly holds annual festivals and folk activities such as the Lunar New Year Lantern Festival, the Bathing Buddha Festival in April, and the Ghost Festival in July. People come to Lungshan temple to show their respect to Gods, make a wish for themselves or others, and also appreciate the beautiful architecture of Taiwanese temples.

The major God in Lungshan temple is Guanyin; he/she represented the end of sadness and bitterness of life because he/she sacrificed him/herself for all people. There are other Gods in Lungshan temple as well and every God has his/her duties for human beings. One of them is Love God. He is so different from the love God figures of Western cultures, such as Venus and Cupid. He is a wise and nice old man with a long, white bread. He uses red string to connect two people who are meant to be. Therefore, if you are desperate for love, you can pray to him when you are visiting here.

Anyway, Taiwanese temple is a fantastic place to know Taiwanese culture and it is also a greater joyfulness than see an exhibition in a museum because temples in Taiwan is full of life and spirit.

Lungshan temple’s open hour is from 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM every day!