After being shunned for decades because of a local superstition, the Great Buddha in Changhua County has begun attracting couples with the beautiful scenery atop the newly reinvigorated Baguashan (八卦山).
According to legend, couples who visit the massive Buddha sculpture are destined to separate, as the Taoist immortal and infamous playboy Lu Tung-pin (呂洞賓), who is known for dismantling romantic relationships, is also enshrined in the temple.
The superstition is strengthened by another legend that a couple died after hanging themselves from the statue, leading residents to either warn couples against visiting it or suggesting taking a partner there if they wish to break up.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
However, over the past few years, the Changhua County Government has worked to reinvigorate its most famous tourist destination.
In collaboration with the Changhua City Government, it has organized Valentine’s Day and singles events at the plaza in front of the Buddha and enlivened its often-ridiculed market.
At the forefront of its newfound popularity is the new Guashan Village (卦山), which houses 20 shops featuring local artists, and hosts a variety of arts and crafts activities.
Photo: Chang Tsung-chiu, Taipei Times
The city government’s efforts have paid off with rising visitor numbers, transforming the staid attraction into a hot spot for young travelers — especially couples.
On White Day on Sunday, the mountain was packed with visitors enjoying the nice weather.
Among them was a couple wearing traditional Indonesian wedding attire, accompanied by friends and a photographer.
The newlyweds made their way from the archway near the visitors’ center to Nine Dragon Pond, stopping to take photos and receive good wishes from passersby, the Great Buddha omnipresent behind them.
A friend of the couple said that the two would often come with friends both before and after getting married.
To them, the Great Buddha represents Changhua, so they decided it would be the perfect spot to take wedding photos, they added.
The newlyweds said they had never heard of the legend, but would not believe it even if they had, as superstitions have no place in a rapidly advancing society.
“So many people come to take wedding photos,” Baguashan Great Buddha Scenic Association chairman Chang Shih-liang (張世良) said.
People are conflating the Taoist immortal Lu with the legends about him that flourished during the Song Dynasty, he said.
Lu was just a pleasure seeker, not a relationship destroyer, Chang said, adding: “Legends are not facts.”
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
A road safety advocacy group yesterday called for reforms to the driver licensing and retraining system after a pedestrian was killed and 15 other people were injured in a two-bus collision in Taipei. “Taiwan’s driver’s licenses are among the easiest to obtain in the world, and there is no mandatory retraining system for drivers,” Taiwan Vision Zero Alliance, a group pushing to reduce pedestrian fatalities, said in a news release. Under the regulations, people who have held a standard car driver’s license for two years and have completed a driver training course are eligible to take a test
Taiwan’s passport ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, according to the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released today. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa out of 227, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Columbia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry
RSS