JodockWorldTravel

Kaohsiung, Taiwan is a beautiful city with much to offer.  Our half day tour barely scratched the surface. 

The two main religions in Taiwan are Buddhism and Taoism, a reflection of the part India and China have played in the country’s history.  The influence of these religions is felt everywhere, from the many temples that populate the landscape to the joy and humility of the people you meet. 

Our first stop was The Spring and Autumn Pavilions are a Taoist temple complex situated on Lotus Lake, the Tao goddess of mercy, riding a dragon.  According to legend, Guanyin appeared to her followers riding a dragon through the clouds.  She instructed them to build a representation of her between the two pavilions and in 1953 they did.  She is joined by two of her “assistants,” Dragon Girl and Sudhana.  In Chinese culture dragons symbolize favorable power and strength.  They have control over water, including rains and floods.  Only the emperor was allowed to wear the image of a dragon on his clothing.  If anyone else did, they would be beheaded – pretty good incentive for following the rules! 

You can walk through the body of the dragon Guanyin is sitting on.  Entering through the dragon’s mouth is supposed to bring one good luck.  Inside the body are carvings of the 32 manifestations of the Bodhisattva, individuals who are on the path to Buddhahood but have not yet reached it, or who are able to reach Nirvana but delay doing so out of compassion for others.

Near the Spring and Autumn pavilions is a tortoise pond.  People buy small tortoises and release them into the pond, believing doing so will gain them good “merits” with Buddha.

Across from the pavilion complex is the Chi Ming Palace, a temple built to worship Confucius and Guan, the god of war.  After a short visit there that included a very complex explanation of the ritual of praying to the gods, we made our way to the Confucius Temple, built during the Qing dynasty and designed to resemble The Forbidden City in Beijing.  At the front of the property is the 10,000 Foot Wall depicting all the activities Confucius mastered during his life – education, archery, music, teaching, travel, etc.  The wall is so named because of something one of his students once said about the amount of knowledge Confucius had, comparing it to the height of a 10,000-foot wall. 

Our last stop of the day was the Chizin Old Street market, located across the street from a shoreline park where individuals were riding motorized bicycles, walking with family and friends or enjoying the songs of street entertainers.  There were a number of food vendors along both sides of the street, and inside the covered market area there were lots and lots of fish vendors offering fresh fish, pickled fish, smoked fish, dried fish…. just about any kind of fish you can imagine!

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