Songboling Shoutian Temple

Perched on Songboling at the southern end of the Bagua Mountains and dedicated to Xuantian Shangdi, Shoutian Temple traces its origins to 1657, the 11th year of the Ming Yongli reign, when settlers worshipped Xuantian Shangdi's incense in the mountain valleys. Only in 1737, the second year of the Qing Qianlong reign, was a small temple built on the present site. On the strength of its reputation for answering prayers, it grew into one of the most important ancestral temples of Xuantian Shangdi worship in Taiwan, and over the centuries its incense has been divided across the island to more than 18,000 temples. Xuantian Shangdi temples everywhere organize groups each year to return to Songboling and pay respects to the ancestral temple, forming an unbroken pilgrimage network. On the third day of the third lunar month, Xuantian Shangdi's birthday, drums and gongs thunder across the mountain and troupes gather, as pilgrims from all over Taiwan turn this ancestral temple into the liveliest religious festival in central Taiwan. The wide view from Songling and incense handed down through the generations have made Shoutian Temple a sacred place in the hearts of Xuantian Shangdi's devotees.