If talking about Xinyi district or the new business district of western Taipei, most of the people would be thinking about the tall building like “Taipei 101”. Especially, during New Year that many visitors will go there for counting down.

However, tourists might overlook a nearby district where Taipei Zoo is situated and city scenes as well as Taipei 101 building can be viewed clearly. This place is none other than “Chihnan Temple”, a religious place located on “Houshan” (Monkey Mountain). It resides within the Maokong area that has a famous tourist attraction like Maokong cable car and scenic spot that is suitable for a cup of tea.

China Temple is situated right at the station, on the way to the summit. Also, it is one of the most important Taoist temples in Taipei that was established since 1882. The name of the temple means compass or a southern direction navigating device that gods used to search for those who need helps. However, if you are a mountain trekker, you might choose to walk up the 1200 steps of stone stairs to feel the true experience of “Temple of One Thousand Steps”. There is a belief that every step that a person took will extend their life for 20 minutes and so, one’s life will be extended for 6 hours once they completed the route.

In 2013, the temple was voted by the public to be 1 of the 100 important religious places in Taiwan and was approved by the Ministry of the Interior. With its renowned sacredness, people believe that it causes by the great Fengshui of this mountain where all great spirits gathered.

The god of this temple is “Lu Dongbin” or “Xiangong” (same as the former name of this temple), a scholar who loves poetry and books in a time of Tang period. Later on, he was promoted as one of 8 Deities (Ba Xian) in Chinese mythology and was widely respected. Apart from the long walking route up to the temple, there are stone lanterns decorated along the way up on both sides. These are tributes donated by followers when Taiwan was ruled by China during the 1895-1945.

After conquering 1000 steps, the iconic stairs of the “Chunyang Chapel” will appear. This chapel is the oldest part of the temple and was built since 1890 by Lu Dongbin, the temple deity. Gazing out from the chapel balcony, the top view of Taipei can be seen. The serenity and the mountains scenery are suitable for tourists to visit during the day or after the sunset.

For those who choose to transport by cable car, Lingxiao Chapel, with Jade Emperor statue, will be the first view in their eyes. Besides paying respect to the statues of deities, visitors can experience an exceptional view of Taipei scenery. It is especially breath-taking in the evening when the lights from houses make the scene of a pool of stars. If visiting during spring, visitors can also get a chance to watch the blooming Sakura flowers.

Despite the long history and beauty of this temple, there is a thing that visitors should be mindful of. The local myth believes that unmarried couples who visited this temple will break up. One of the reasons says that Lu Dongbin envied couples, so he lured women to change their hearts. Some books also said that any love wishes made will go unanswered compared to other wishes. Or some myth said that this deity did not grant wishes on love because he once fell in love with an immortal lady and they could not be together, so he did not wish to grant any love wishes to others.

For people who love mountain trekking, there are routes to other temples, which are popular among locals and have beautiful scenery, from the summit such as Zhangshan Temple. Zhangshan Temple is a religious place hidden in the mountain and is a suitable place to watch sunrise and sunset. The rim of Taipei still has many marvelous places to be discovered.

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