南投縣

Wuchang Temple (集集武昌宮)

Wuchang Temple (武昌宮) is another of Taiwan's famous temples, but its fame is somewhat based on the infamous nature of of its history. I will do my best to explain the history of the temple, but I think I should start out by mentioning the main reason why the temple holds a special place in the hearts of Taiwanese people. 

The temple wasn’t always a household name in Taiwan, but that changed when it became one of the iconic images of the terrible terrible events of September 21st, 1999, better known as the 921 Earthquake (921大地震) or the Jiji Earthquake (集集大地震) 

The earthquake, 7.3 -7.7 in magnitude struck central Taiwan killing 2415 people, injuring 11,305 and caused over 10 billion dollars worth of damage around the country. The earthquake etched itself into the consciousness of the entire country and its effects have been long-lasting. The slow response to the earthquake was also one of the deciding factors that took away the KMT’s 50 year grip on power, the first time since the Nationalists retreated to Taiwan in 1949.

Old Wuchang Temple (舊武昌宮)

New Wuchang (新武昌宮)

The epicentre of the massive earthquake was in the small town of Jiji (集集) in Nantou county (南投縣) yet it destroyed and damaged buildings throughout the entire country. The destruction of Jiji’s Wuchang Temple however became one of the iconic images of the earthquake and what remains of it today has been preserved as a reminder to the people of Taiwan of the events of that terrible day. 

The original Wuchang temple was built in 1923 and was dedicated to a Taoist deity named the Zhenwu Supreme Emperor (玄天上帝), but it is not the temple that lies in ruins today. The ruins of the temple that you see today (which has been designated as a 921 Memorial site) is relatively new. In 1990, a wealthy local person donated a 471 square meter (471坪) plot of land to the temple and a year later a newer version of the temple started construction. From the information I've seen, 70 million NT dollars (2 million US) were allocated for its construction and it took eight years to complete. If you do the math, that means that the completed temple was only about a year old before it was destroyed by the earthquake.

Some of the destruction

Completely warped metal bars

Normally in Taiwan, this kind of thing would be considered a really bad omen, and they probably wouldn't have built another version of the temple, but when rescue teams were sent into the ruins of the temple, they found that the statues inside the temple survived the ordeal unscathed and for some reason the beards on the statues grew. 

The story of the statues reverberated around the country and donations started to pile in to make a new Wuchang temple, and a new home for these statues which were considered blessed by the gods. The statues were thus placed in protective cases and preserved for years until a new temple could be built to house them. 

Stone carving on the of the side pillars of the temple.

The old temple was left in its original state, and has become somewhat of a tourist spot for people visiting the town of Jiji, which itself has seen somewhat of a renaissance in the amount of tourism that it attracts each year. The ruins of Wuchang temple thus sit there as a stark reminder of the destructive nature of mother nature and of course to the religious that nothing is permanent and that nothing lasts forever, which are important tenets of Buddhist and Taoist beliefs.

I won't bother going into very much detail about that kind of tourism however because my friend Alexander also blogged about the temple sharing some excellent photos and also going into excellent detail about how all of this has become a sort of “disaster tourism.” I think he did such a good job describing the current situation at the temple so I won't regurgitate his points here!

Shiny and New

They say the third time is a charm, so in April 2007, eight years after the earthquake and destruction of the second Wuchang temple, construction began on the third temple. This time they were serious and had a construction budget of one hundred million New Taiwan Dollars ($3 million US) commissioning well-known wood-work, stone-carving and painting artisans from around the country to assist in the completion of the new temple. 

Construction of the new temple lasted six years and was finally opened to the public on October 12th, 2013 with three days of celebrations and traditional rituals. The new Wuchang temple is much bigger than the original with two additional buildings off to the side of the main temple with shrines and offices.

The newly completed temple sits directly in front of the ruins of the former temple and is now a memorial museum. Since the temple has become somewhat of a tourist attraction, there is an option for guided tours (Mandarin only) that will explain the destruction of the former temple and the significance of the newer one. 

The main shrine room

The main shrine room.

What strikes me most about the new temple is the craftsmanship that went into its construction. Taiwanese temples, especially Taoist temples are usually quite extravagant, but this one goes out of its way, and that is probably due to the large budget that was used to construct the temple.

The wood-work inside the main shrine room is beautiful and highly detailed. I could have just grabbed a chair and sat there looking at it for hours. The stone work on the outside of the temple and on the pillars is also highly detailed and I think the artists who contributed to the construction of the temple deserve a hand for not only their work, but their dedication to the preservation of traditional Taiwanese temple art. 

If you are in the Jiji area, make sure you check out both the old temple and spend some time taking in the atmosphere and artistry of the new version and of course take some time to learn about the terrible 921 earthquake that forever changed this country. 

Hopefully the third time is a charm and this time Wuchang Temple has better luck. The amount of craftsmanship and work that went into constructing this one is quite considerable! 

Stay safe Wuchang Temple! 


Sun Moon Lake (日月潭)

For most North Americans who come to Taiwan it can be a bit of a strange feeling seeing how excited Taiwanese people get when they talk about how large and beautiful their 7.93 km² Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) is even when the smallest of our Great Lakes, Lake Ontario is 18,960 km² in comparison. 

That being said, everything is relative. The Great Lakes are polluted and are frozen nine months of the year, and as all arguments like this go: Size isn't Everything

Sun Moon Lake is majestic and even though its not actually that big, its easy to see why it is the pride of Taiwanese people from every part of the country.

Oddly enough, Sun Moon Lake is so popular that it also appears on one of the pages of the most recent version of the passport of the People's Republic of China (not to be confused with the Republic of China) despite it not even being within the territory that it actually governs.

That is almost tantamount to Canada having Mount Rushmore in our passport. Nevertheless, that whole predicament is an argument for another day. 

The lake is situated in Taiwan's Nantou County (南投縣) and is surrounded by mountains on all sides.

Nantou happens to be one of my favourite places in Taiwan as its one of the most scenic areas for hiking with the Alishan scenic area (阿里山國家風景區) and the Yushan National Park (玉山國家公園.)

The county is directly in the middle of the country and gives easy access to some of the highest points of Taiwan's Central Mountain Range (中央山脈) with 41 of Taiwan's 100 mountains which have peaks over 3000 meters high.   

The lake is considered holy land and the area surrounding it is home to the “Thao” (邵族), one of Taiwan's Indigenous tribes which has unfortunately become one of Taiwan's smallest remaining (recognized) indigenous groups. 

Like many other indigenous groups in Taiwan who are still unrecognized by the central government, it took far too long for the Thao people to actually get the recognition they deserved when it came to their home and their claim that Sun Moon Lake is part of their holy land. 

Over the past century, they have had to endure the Japanese occupation which considered all indigenous groups “savages” and then the latter half of the century with the Chinese Nationalists who did their best to “sinicize” all of Taiwan’s indigenous people by forcing them to learn Mandarin and changing their way of life. 

They fortunately received recognition in 2001 as one of Taiwan’s ten different ethnic indigenous groups and the population has slowly started to rise due to efforts to preserve the culture.  

Lalu island (拉魯島), a small island in the middle of the lake is especially important to the Thao people, but has been used in the past as a popular place for weddings by other ethnic groups who came to the island.

Even more unfortunate is that the island has suffered over the past century due to the construction of a dam that raised the water levels in the lake and the effects of the devastating earthquake on September 21st 1999 (九二一大地震) which rocked central Taiwan and wreaked massive destruction. 

Since the cooling of hostilities between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China (China) tourism has become a major source of income for the area and what was once a very relaxing and peaceful area to visit has now become laden with development and littered with tourists who take boat rides across the lake ultimately causing a lot of pollution. 

When I first visited the lake years ago I thought it was a perfect escape from the bustling cities in the north. You could sit on the board walk and watch the sun rise or the sun set in perfect quiet.

When I visited this time however every five meters that I walked I was asked by somebody if I wanted a boat ride, which made me feel like I was touring somewhere in South East Asia.

The lake itself, despite all of this however is still beautiful. I visited on Christmas, and while most Canadians oddly wish for a white Christmas, I was perfectly happy with my colourful Christmas with the emerald green waters of the lake, the blue sky and the green mountains that surround it. It was also a nice escape from the weather in the north of Taiwan which at the time was pretty dreary. 

I didn’t have much time during this visit to Sun Moon Lake as I was just stopping by for a few hours before making my way up into to the mountains. I did have a nice walk around half of the lake and had an excellent view of the lake from the Starbucks by the boardwalk. 

I sincerely hope that the Taiwanese central government and the Nantou county government has the foresight to curb some of the development around the lake and do more to preserve the pristine beauty of the area so that future generations can enjoy it as much as we do now. 

If you have a chance to visit Taiwan, make sure Sun Moon Lake and Nantou is on your list of places to visit. 

Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots)