Lukang Chenghuang Temple

Lukang Chenghuang Temple

Lukang Chenghuang Temple is a cultural tourism attraction.

Lukang Chenghuang Temple is located in Lukang Town, Changhua County, Taiwan. It is a privately worshipped city god temple, formerly known as Aoting Palace. It is the only joint-port major temple on the “Skyless Street” and was designated as a county-level historic site on November 25, 1985. It is said that the deity enshrined in this temple was brought over from the worshipper’s hometown by a Fujian Yongning merchant surnamed Gao, who operated a business called “Rixing Hang” in Lukang during the early years of the Kangxi Emperor’s reign, to capture thieves after his goods were stolen. Not long after, the thief was caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the city god has remained in Lukang ever since.

Lukang Chenghuang Temple was severely damaged by a major earthquake in the 28th year of the Daoguang era (1848), but thanks to strong local support, it was quickly rebuilt. Since then, the temple has been renovated approximately every 30 to 40 years. During the Japanese colonial period, the front section of the temple was demolished in 1934 (the 9th year of the Showa era) as part of street alignment efforts and was rebuilt with an asbestos-roofed round gable street-front façade. It was not until the renovation project between 1993 and 1997 (the 82nd to 86th years of the Republic of China) that the temple gate was restored to its traditional form. The roof of the temple uses both tubular and flat tiles, and the unique feature of the temple is the row of tile ends and water plates installed on both the inner and outer sides of the vertical ridges (“lower road”) on the roof of the front hall. This design is also only found in the Dacheng Hall of the Changhua Confucius Temple in Taiwan.

Lugang City God Temple

Must-visit reason: One of the most distinctive Chenghuang Temples in Changhua County