Lugang Chenghuang Temple

　　Lugang Chenghuang Temple is located in Lukang Town, Changhua County, Taiwan. It is a folk temple dedicated to the City God, formerly known as Aoting Palace. It is the only major temple in Lukang’s “Sky-forbidden Street,” and was designated as a county-level historical monument on November 25, 1985. Legend has it that the deity enshrined in this temple was invited from the worshipper’s hometown by a Fujian Yongning businessman surnamed Gao, who operated a business called “Rixing Hang” in Lukang during the early Kangxi era. His goods had been stolen, so he brought the City God to help catch the thief. Before long, the thief was caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the City God has remained in Lukang ever since.

　　In 1848, during the 28th year of the Daoguang reign, the temple was severely damaged by a major earthquake but was quickly rebuilt with strong local support. Since then, the temple has undergone renovations roughly every 30 to 40 years. During the Japanese colonial period, in 1934 (the 9th year of the Showa era), part of the front section of the temple was demolished due to urban redevelopment, and it was rebuilt with an asbestos-roofed round gable street-front façade. It was not until the restoration project between 1993 and 1997 (the 82nd to 86th years of the Republic of China) that the temple’s front gate was restored to its traditional style. The temple's roof combines both tubular and flat tiles, and one of its distinctive features is the row of decorative ridge-end tiles and water spouts installed on both the inner and outer sides of the vertical ridges (“lower road”) on the roof of the main hall. This design is unique to this temple in Taiwan, with the exception of the Dacheng Hall of the Changhua Confucius Temple.

　　Lugang City God Temple Must-visit reason: One of the most distinctive Chenghuang Temples in Changhua County