Xiyuan Road, Buddhist Supplies Street Introduction
Reflecting on Taiwan's early days, the Fujian Minnan people crossed the Taiwan Strait to settle here, leaving their hometowns behind and facing an unfamiliar and thorny new world. Their only spiritual reliance was on their ancestral hometown and various deities. Immigrants materialized the deities in their hearts by purchasing Buddha statues through hometown rituals, which opened the development history of Buddha statue carving along Section 1 of Xiyuan Road next to Longshan Temple. This short stretch of Section 1 of Xiyuan Road, from the entrance of Guangzhou Street to the entrance of Guilin Street, is the most famous Buddhist supplies street in Taiwan, with a total of 20 Buddhist supply stores on both sides, including a century-old establishment that has been around since 1895 and many other long-standing shops passed down through generations. Longshan Temple serves as an important driving force for the concentration of the Buddha statue carving industry on Xiyuan Road. As people's livelihoods gradually improved, their devotion to deities increased, and more temples emerged, making it more common to invite deities into homes for worship. These factors contributed to the gathering effect of the Buddhist supplies street. In addition to statues, other related items such as altars, incense burners, and lamps are also essential items in Buddhist supply stores, together writing the most glorious chapter of Buddhist supplies on Xiyuan Street.
