Taipei Xia-Hai City God Temple Audio Guide

Xiahai City God Temple: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Xiahai City God Temple

   Welcome to Dihua Street in Taipei's Datong District, and to number 61, where you will find Xiahai City God Temple, known locally as 霞海城隍廟. This is the heart of Dadaocheng, the old trading quarter beside the river. The temple is small, yet it carries a great deal of the neighborhood's story. Xiahai City God Temple stands among the three great temples of Dadaocheng, together with the Fazhugong temple and the Cisheng Temple of the sea goddess Mazu. It honors the City God, and it is also known far beyond Taiwan as a place to pray for a good marriage. Its story begins with migrants from Tong'an in Fujian who had to leave their first home and start again. Over the next few stops we will follow that journey of the god's statue, look at the temple's modest but richly decorated building, meet the Moon Elder who matches lovers, and watch the festival that fills these streets every year. Take a moment to notice the narrow frontage, the smoke and the steady flow of visitors before we begin.

2. 02

   A God Who Moved House: Xiahai City God Temple's Origins

   The story starts with a voyage. In 1821, over a hundred people from Tong'an, in the Quanzhou region of Fujian, sailed to Taiwan and landed at Mengjia, now Wanhua. A merchant named Chen Jinrong kept the Xiahai City God statue they had brought from home in his own house, and fellow villagers came there to worship. Then came 1853 and the violent clash between rival communities known as the Ding-Xia Jiao feud. The Tong'an people lost, and they withdrew north to Dadaocheng to rebuild their lives. One account says that they snatched the City God's golden image out of the flames as they left. At first the statue sat in a modest shop, and believers felt this was unfitting for a deity. Gentry from the community, including Lin Youzao, raised funds for a proper temple. Construction began in 1856 on South Street, and the temple was completed in 1859. The land was donated by Su Feiran, a senior naval officer of Taiwan, and in the west wing the community honored 38 fellow villagers who had died in the conflict. Today the temple still stands as a witness to how Tong'an migrants made Dadaocheng their home.

3. 03

   Small Hall, Rich Details: Xiahai City God Temple's Art

   Step inside and you will notice how compact the hall is. The temple site covers only 46 ping, a traditional Taiwanese measure of floor area. Even so, it keeps the classic southern Fujian temple style, with graceful curves and a love of decoration. The ornament includes clay sculpture, murals, painting, cut-and-paste work and Jiaozhi ceramics. Alongside works from the period of Japanese rule, much of the restoration was carried out by renowned craftsmen. Look at the walls of the worship hall. On either side and beside the shrine are ink-wash figure paintings by Chen Shouyi, son of the famous Tainan painter Chen Yufeng. The hall carries the themes of long life and good fortune, while beside the shrine you will find a gathering of immortals and the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Their lines are simple and strong. In the main shrine the statues are arranged in rising tiers, and the City God sits at the center. The name tells you his job. Cheng means city and huang means moat, so he is the guardian of the moated town, a god who watches over good and bad deeds. There is also a local belief that the temple sits on a hen's nest site in feng shui terms, which is why worshippers have been wary of enlarging it for over a century.

4. 04

   Matchmaker and Festival: Xiahai City God Temple's Living Traditions

   Many visitors come for the Moon Elder, the old man of the moon who ties couples together. His statue, carved by master Wang Daorui of Luzhou and commissioned by Chen Guoting, has been worshipped here since 1971. The tradition holds that a woman, grateful that her children's marriages had all gone well after she prayed to the City God, wanted a deity to share the matchmaking work. Those whose wishes come true return with gifts on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the Moon Elder's birthday. The other great moment is the thirteenth day of the fifth lunar month, the City God's birthday. The procession is first recorded in 1879, when the tea trade made Dadaocheng prosper. The Japanese authorities banned such processions at first, and the ban was lifted in 1898, when a plague broke out and people sought divine protection. The festival is a sequence of rituals, including a secret night inspection, the procession itself and a Buddhist ceremony. Fearsome generals such as the Seventh and Eighth Lords march in the parade. Locals say it is where people watch people, and the saying goes that Beigang welcomes Mazu while Taipei welcomes the City God.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off from Xiahai City God Temple

   As you leave Xiahai City God Temple, look back at how small it is and think about how much history sits in so little space. A community in exile, a rebuilt home, a port that grew rich on tea and a god who now also looks after hearts. On Dihua Street, the old trading road, you are surrounded by the same Dadaocheng that this temple once anchored. Notice how the street feels busy with ordinary life, just as the temple does. If you come back in another season, you might ask yourself what the neighborhood looks like when the processions of the thirteenth day of the fifth lunar month move through it, or when worshippers bring thank-you gifts for the Moon Elder. Every visit here can reveal a different side of the place.