Located in the heart of Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area, the Xia Hai City God Temple (霞海城隍廟) has become a must-see attraction thanks to the manager’s decades-long effort to preserve the temple and revitalize the community.
“When I travel abroad to promote tourism to the temple, I always invite people running businesses in the neighborhood to come along,” said 69-year-old Tracy Chen (陳文文), who has served as temple manager for 26 years.
When hosting travel shows abroad to introduce the temple to potential tourists, Chen takes the opportunity to showcase local delicacies, such as pastries, cakes and tea, she said.
Photo: CNA
Some people believe that the temple’s city god helps their businesses flourish, she said, adding: “However, it is ancestral workmanship that has left a rich cultural milieu and makes the temple an attractive destination.”
Following the sudden death of one of her brothers in 1994, Chen shouldered the temple’s managerial duties, making her the sixth generation to head the family-owned place of worship, which was built in 1859 on Dihua Street (迪化街), in what is now Datong District (大同).
The Ministry of the Interior in 1985 listed the temple as a historical monument. It is touted as one of Taipei’s “big three” temples, along with Baoan Temple (保安宮) in the same district and Wanhua District’s (萬華) Longshan Temple (龍山寺).
Although it is small, covering just 152m2, the temple has the highest density of statues in Taiwan, housing more than 600 deities in addition to the city god, his wife and the renowned matchmaking god, Chen said.
One of Chen’s many initiatives to revamp the Dadaocheng area, which saw its heyday as a major shipping port on the banks of the Tamsui River in the mid-19th century, is a twice-per-month group tour designed for people to explore the area’s history and culture.
Since the “Wandering Dadaocheng” project was launched in June 1997, more than 500 tours have been conducted, with experts in architecture and historical relics leading visitors on strolls through the alleyways steeped in history to understand Taipei’s past and experience the neighborhood’s mix of old and new.
The temple’s management was surprised that members of the public — and not just historians — have welcomed the tours so warmly.
The enthusiasm that the tours have generated for area preservation has helped keep the community’s collective memory alive, Chen said, adding that it has been a major push behind public and private refurbishment projects.
More than 70 community buildings have been awarded listed-building status by the Taipei City Government, she added.
“Thanks to decades of effort, we are proud to say that the Dadaocheng community is recognized as the nation’s best-preserved historical neighborhood,” she said.
International tourists visiting Taipei in 2017 ranked the Dadaocheng area as the third most-loved attraction, a survey released in October last year by the city’s Department of Information and Tourism showed.
The historic district is famous for century-old buildings of various styles that have been repurposed into shops selling products of time-honored workmanship, including tea, Chinese herbal medicine, dried goods and snacks, textiles and calligraphy brushes, alongside trendy venues that house cultural and creative industry start-ups.
“I was really touched when I recently came across a travel guide book in a Japanese hotel that juxtaposed photographs of Xia Hai City God Temple and Taipei 101,” Chen said. “That made me feel our efforts had not been in vain and that we must keep them up.”
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai