Taiwan: Gods, Spirits and Pagodas - Travel Video.

DVD. Cosmos Global Documentaries. 52 Minutes. Taiwan is an island of gods, ghosts and pagodas with an abundance of legendary treasures and a cultural inheritance that can still be seen in all its age-old splendour. Numerous of its sanctuaries reflect the traditional culture of China and in contrast to the People's Republic, here Chinese culture has been extremely well preserved. With around two and a half million inhabitants Taipei is the island's largest city and also the capital of Taiwan, a metropolis that reflects both old and new. Taipei's Bao-An Temple was dedicated to the deity of medicine, Baosheng Dadi, a god that was once mainly worshipped in the Chinese province of Fujian. In contrast to the island's many other sanctuaries the Chih Nan temple complex is inhabited by around fifty monks. The monastic community underlines the extraordinary importance of this sanctuary for both Taiwanese Taoistm and Buddhism. Dedicated to Taoism, the temple complex of Chih Nan is one of the most important seats of religious education in Taiwan. Due to its two hundred or more large temple complexes and numerous small shrines, Tainan, is also known as The City Of Temples and although the Tien Gon Temple is one of the city's most recently built sanctuaries it is very popular with the local population. On the western coast of Taiwan is the small harbour town of Lukang that was the first landing place for many of the immigrants who arrived from the Chinese region of Fujian. Lungshan's "Dragon Temple" dates back to the Qing Dynasty and was built to commemorate the Goddess Of Charity, Kuan-Yin, who had once transported immigrants safely to the island and was worshipped as the Patron Saint of seafarers. An almost totally lost part of historic China lives on in Taiwan, a legendary island of gods, spirits and pagodas because this island at the end of the rainbow has somehow managed to retain its thousands of years old traditions and beliefs.