Xinzhuang Wu Temple
Main Deities
About
Other temples paint fierce door gods on their gates; the gate panels of Xinzhuang Wu Temple are bare, studded only with 108 door nails — symbols of the Thirty-Six Heavenly Generals and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, meaning that Guansheng Dijun's martial prowess is so supreme he needs no door gods to guard him. This temple in Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City, is the oldest Guan Di temple in northern Taiwan and a designated historic site. It witnessed the prosperous era of Xinzhuang's 'forest of a thousand sails' as a port, and to this day preserves many precious old plaques and stele inscriptions, an important relic for the study of Xinzhuang's history.
History
During the Yongzheng reign (around the 1730s), immigrants from Zhangzhou, Fujian, pooled their funds to build Wu Temple, dedicated to the God of War, Lord Guan. Xinzhuang was then the most flourishing port and trading town in northern Taiwan, its harbor crowded with masts and sails, and Wu Temple was where the merchants prayed for thriving business and urged one another toward loyalty and honesty. It was renovated and expanded many times through the Qianlong and Jiaqing reigns, and in the Daoguang era it received an official inscribed plaque, formally becoming a temple of the officially recognized sacrificial register. Under Japanese rule this old temple once faced the threat of demolition, and survived only through the determined protection of local gentry. It still holds precious relics — Qing-dynasty stelae, old plaques, and stone lions — quietly witnessing Xinzhuang's century of change from a thriving port to a modern town.
Xinzhuang Wu Temple
Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City
Visitor Info
Address
No. 340, Xinzhuang Rd, Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City
Region
Xinzhuang District, New Taipei City