Zhunan Wugu Temple
Main Deities
About
Ride the train through Zhunan, look out the window, and a 156-Taiwanese-foot statue of Shennong appears out of nowhere. That is Wugu Temple. Finished in 1993 and standing behind the main hall, the giant figure has become the most recognizable landmark in Zhunan — you do not need the timetable; when you see him, you have arrived. Formally the Zhunan-Toufen-Zaoqiao Wugu Temple, it enshrines Shennong, the Divine Farmer, and is worshipped jointly by the Hoklo and Hakka communities of Zhunan, Sanwan, Toufen, and Zaoqiao — a shared arrangement that was rare in an era of sharp ethnic lines. Shennong governs farming and medicine, and for two centuries every harvest here has been reported to him first.
History
In 1739, Lin Er-shun of Quanzhou led some thirty settlers of both Fujianese and Cantonese origin to sign an agreement with local indigenous people and open land along the Zhonggang River; that same year they began worshipping Shennong — cultivation first, faith alongside it. In 1797 landholders including Zhang Zheng-yang, Zhang San, and Wang Xian proposed a temple, and Wugu Temple had a permanent hall at last. An incense division went to the Sanwan Wugu Temple in 1851, and in 1874 the building was rebuilt with a donors' stele that still records who paid and who labored. In 1993 the giant Shennong behind the main hall was completed, turning a two-century-old farming faith into the most conspicuous marker beside the railway.
Visitor Info
Address
No. 16, Wugu St, Zhunan Township, Miaoli County
Region
Zhunan Township, Miaoli County