Xiyuan Road - Buddhist Supplies Street Introduction
Looking back to the early days of Taiwan, the Hokkien people from Fujian crossed the Taiwan Strait to cultivate this land, leaving their hometowns behind and facing an unknown, unfamiliar, and thorny new world. Their only spiritual reliance was on their ancestral homeland and the deities. Immigrants materialized their gods by purchasing Buddha statues in accordance with the rituals of their hometown beliefs, leading to the development of Buddha statue carving in Taiwan, starting from Section 1 of Xiyuan Road next to Longshan Temple. From the intersection of Guangzhou Street to Guilin Street, this short stretch of Section 1 of Xiyuan Road is the most famous street for Buddhist supplies in Taiwan, with a total of 20 Buddhist supply stores on both sides, including a century-old shop established in 1895, along with many others that have been passed down through generations. Longshan Temple plays a crucial role in the congregation of Buddha statue carving businesses along Xiyuan Road. As people's livelihoods gradually improved, their devotion to the deities increased, leading to the continuous rise of temples and making it more common to invite deities home for worship. These factors created a gathering effect for the Buddhist supply street. In addition to statues, other related items such as altars, incense burners, and lamps are also essential products in these shops, together writing a brilliant chapter for the Buddhist supply scene on Xiyuan Street.
