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Pilgrims make first direct voyage to China

A group of pilgrims from Taipei County who arrived in Kinmen on a chartered plane Thursday made a direct voyage to China from this frontline island yesterday for a five-day visit aimed at promoting bilateral religious exchanges.

This was the first time that pilgrims from Taiwan have traveled to the mainland along this route since the Taiwan government announced its decision in August to formally allow Taiwan religious groups to travel directly to the mainland via the two offshore defense outposts of Kinmen and Matsu.

The pilgrim group was organized by the Taoist Paoyou Temple in Taipei County's Luchou City on the outskirts of metropolitan Taipei.

"We are pleased to become the first Taiwan religious group to travel directly to the mainland via Kinmen, " said Chen Ping-huang, chairman of the Paoyou Temple Management Committee.

The pilgrims took with them an icon of a Taoist deity which had been brought to the Paoyou Temple from the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian a century ago.

"This is the first time in more than five decades that the icon has traveled back to its home temple along the same route," Chen said.
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