One of the stops I made during the 2010 Chinese New Year was a little town in Taichung County called Tachia (also spelt as Dajia).

Tachia is in central Taiwan and is home to the Chenlan temple (Chenlan is also spelt Zhen-lan). In Taiwan Chenlan temple is the place to go to if you’re interested in worshipping Mazu (Matsu).

In Chinese culture Mazu is the goddess charged with protecting fisherman and sailors. In modern times this is extended to any Asians who have a relationship with the sea be it travel, fishing, the weather or just for good luck.

From what I understand Mazu is more of a general goddess now but still has strong roots with the sea. Statues of Mazu are generally meant to face the nearest coastline.

Being the most well known Mazu temple in Taiwan, it goes without saying that during Chinese New Year Chenlan temple was flooded with people.

To give you an idea of the scope of people who visit Chenlan I was told that on Wednesday the 17th of February there was a report on Taiwanese news stating that 600,000+ people visited the temple and made over 10 billion Taiwan dollars (approx $34,000,000 AUD) in donations that day alone.

I’m not exactly sure how accurate those numbers are but having been there myself it’s not hard to imagine.

As I’ve mentioned previously the roof art of Taiwanese temples is simply amazingly detailed and Chenlan temple’s roof didn’t fail to impress me.

This particular temple seemed to centre around the eight gods (apparently there’s some famous Chinese story) presumably with particular attention paid to Mazu.

Outside the temple was a murial type display in dedication to the eight gods:

Being the year of the tiger on the otherside of the outside area was a mural setup depicting tigers.

Finally there was also a mural depicting followers of Mazu. These were described to me as being the western equivalent of angels. I’m not entirely sure why they’re all females but I presume it’s a Chinese goddess thing.

Lucky her.

I didn’t manage to take any photos inside the temple as there wasn’t really much point. Inside was more crowded then outside and instead of seeing the temple interior you’d just wind up with photos of a sea of people.

Inside there was lots of red, handfuls of insense and a definite sense of pedestrian traffic chaos as there didn’t seem to be any particular general direction of traffic flow.

If you’re not religious Chenlan temple is probably better visited during a quieter time but if you’re in the area as I was it does make for a good visit even during busier times.

One bonus of going during a busier time is that outside you’ve got the temple market rocking with all sorts of food to try.

Regardless of the weather (which wasn’t raining but close to) Chenlan temple made for a more indepth experience into Taiwanese/Chinese culture then you’d perhaps get in the cities.

Having said that, unless you’re religious it’s probably a ‘seen it once, don’t have to go again’ type place though.

1. Mengjia LongShan Temple during Chinese New Year
2. The strangest thing I’ve seen in a Taiwanese temple
3. The Matsu temple in Zhunan, Miaoli County Taiwan
4. Foreigners guide on how to survive Chinese New Year
5. CNY: Queuing up for Buddha’s blessing @ Ciyou Temple