Dajia Zhenlan Temple
Main Deities
About
Every third lunar month, a single Mazu palanquin sets off on foot with hundreds of thousands of people behind it: nine days and eight nights, more than 300 kilometers through Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin, and Chiayi. This is Dajia Zhenlan Temple's Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage. Zhenlan Temple, in Dajia District, Taichung City, is dedicated to Mazu (the Heavenly Holy Mother). It is the best-known Mazu temple in Taiwan and a heartland of Taiwanese Mazu devotion. In the basement beneath its glittering halls sits the 'Golden Mazu,' a 276-kilogram figure cast from gold medallions that worshippers offered in thanks for answered prayers, and the temple's greatest treasure. If you want to feel the almost feverish devotion Taiwanese people have for Mazu, this is the place to start.
History
The story begins with a statue that crossed the sea. Tradition holds that in 1730, the eighth year of the Qing Yongzheng reign, Lin Yongxing, an immigrant from Meizhou in Fujian, brought a Mazu statue to Taiwan and settled in Dajia. That was the beginning of Zhenlan Temple. Over the next two centuries and more, the temple was expanded and rebuilt many times, and a major rebuilding in 1980 (the 69th year of the Republic of China calendar) gave its halls their grand scale of today. What truly made Dajia Mazu famous across Taiwan is the pilgrimage that has carried on year after year. Wherever the palanquin goes, whole towns pour into the streets; devotees crawl beneath it and reach out to steady its frame, hoping for a share of Mazu's protection. Today the pilgrimage is far more than a religious event. It gathers up the feelings of an entire society and has become the most vivid symbol of Taiwanese folk belief.
Dajia Zhenlan Temple
Dajia District, Taichung City
Visitor Info
Address
No. 158, Shuntian Rd, Dajia District, Taichung City
Region
Dajia District, Taichung City
Plan Your Visit
- Hours
- Daily 3:30 AM – 10:30 PM
- When to Go
- The Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage in the 3rd lunar month each year is the highlight of the year: nine days and eight nights to Xingang Fengtian Temple in Chiayi and back, with huge crowds inside and outside the temple around the departure.
Checked on 2026-10-13 · Sources: Google Maps