Stella's Blog 黛你飛

Hsinchu, a famous windy city is often associated with meatballs (貢丸), dried persimmon (柿餅), and rice noodles (米粉). But for me, I think of the Hsinchu City God Temple (新竹城隍廟) which is one of the oldest City God Temples in Taiwan. You can also call it Cheng Huang Ye(城隍爺). God is an interesting figure in Daoism (道教) and originates from the traditional Chinese belief in the city guardian.

Throughout every generation of Dynasties in Taiwan, excluding the Japanese colonial generation, there were there highly ranked City God Temples. Tainan City god Temple was widely recognized as the highest-ranked temple during the Tungning Dynast (鄭氏王朝), whole the Taiwan Provincial City God Temple in Taipei was the highest-ranked after the Second World War. Finally, Hsinchu City God Temple was the highest-ranked during the Qing Dynasty(清朝) It was the only City God Temple preserving the inscription by the last Emperor of the Dynasty as well.

The City God acted as a supernatural judge that would make decisions pertaining to city life which had a significant impact on the life of citizens.

In 1985, this temple was recognized as one of Hsinchu City's historical sites. After visiting the temple, don’t forget to taste the authentic Taiwanese meatballs and pork soup available in front of the temple.

新竹一日遊