Touring around Changhua: Lukang

For the island, Lukang is high on the list of historical significance, second only to Tainan. This means many temples. After one day of traipsing around Lukang, I got temple-ed out, which I never thought could happen! As a rule, we religiously go around gawking at superstition and spiritual centers around the world. At one time I even had ambitions of mastering all the Mahayana iconographies, but after seeing myriad of statues in various temples I lost heart.

Fortuitously later in that evening I looked at the cultural background section of Rough Guide Taiwan. I began to get a handle on the mess. Most of the temples and statues have nothing to do Mahayana Buddhism. Instead, they are conglomerations of localized Buddhism and Chinese indigenous religions (Taoism, Buddhism, etc.), based on historical and legendary figures. Feeling enlightened, I am back on my scholastic pursuit, only the scope is bigger now.

The Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) Temple in Lukang.


The image of Mazu in the Mazu Temple.


One of Mazu's two guardian generals.


And the other guardian general (from another temple).


The domed ceiling of the Opera Stage at Longshan Temple.


Sun-Ling in the narrowest lane of Lukang.


And of course there was some cool architecture in Lukang dating from the period of Japanese Occupation. First a building on the main street, now the Folk Art Musuem...


...And a rice barn (rice grainary; also now a museum.