Xinzhuang Temple Street | 新莊廟街

During the Lunar New Year, I took some time to visit the Xinzhuang Temple Street 新莊廟街, located in Xinzhuang, New Taipei City.

With more than 300 years of history, Xinzhuang 新莊 has always been a commercial center in northern Taiwan. For a time period, it was even more popular than the Wanhua 萬華 district in Taipei! 

Xinzhuang Temple Street is a relic from that bygone era. What's special about this area is that it is filled with temples. There are a number of temples that have more than 2-300 years of history! Some of them have been recognized as a historic sites by the government. Interestingly, there are more than 10 temples on (or around) Xinzhuang Temple Street alone!

I visited the Ciyou Temple 新莊慈祐宮 (also known as Xinzhuang Matsu Temple) which was filled with people offering their prayers to the Goddess Matsu. I made sure to take a closer look at the temple pillars and bricks, you can see the age of a temple just by observing these tiny details. When I was in the temple, a volunteer was kind enough to hand me a Matsu keychain! I made sure to store it safely. 

I also visited the Wusheng Temple 武聖廟, in which Guan Yu, the god of war is honored. Guan Yu was actually a military general in China during the third century.  He was deified after he passed away and people still admire him today for his bravery and honesty. 

Just outside these temples, there's an old street. It's like a typical Taiwanese night market scene, with vendors selling Taiwanese snacks such as run bing 潤餅 and even egg tarts. There were also various stores selling clothes, purses, shoes, and more...all of which are commonly found at a night market. 

I actually didn't expect that many people to be visiting the area, but apparently it's quite popular with locals! It's definitely worth visiting at least once. If you enjoy the Taiwanese temple culture, then you should definitely visit to learn more about Taiwanese temple history. 

It's also not difficult to get to. Just take the MRT and get off at Xinzhuang Station Exit 2 and walk for around 10-15 minutes to get to the Temple street.

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