Chung Gui Tian Bao Tang Introduction
Traveling along Provincial Highway 21 from the T'ou She Basin to Water Village, you can see a towering statue of Prince God on the right side of the road. This is the Tien Pao Temple in Wudeng Village. There are two theories regarding the origin of the name "Chong Gui" in the local area. The first states that during the Qing Dynasty, indigenous people often ambushed and killed near the Land God An Ling along the Water Shalun ancient path. As a result, the Qing government stationed military personnel to protect merchants traveling between the two areas, which led to the establishment of an armory, thus the area was named "Chong Gui." The second theory suggests that after Taiwan was ceded to Japan, residents in the Sun Moon Lake area, to prevent the Japanese army from entering, defended from a high ground near Land God An Ling, confronting the Japanese forces, hence it was called "Chong Gui." The Tien Pao Temple was built during the Japanese era, dedicated to the Three Benevolent Lords (Guan Yu, Lü Dongbin, and Kitchen God) as the main deities, and is magnificently constructed. In the autumn of the 74th year of the Republic, Marshal Prince was commanded to guard Tien Pao Temple. Due to the repeated demonstrations of divine power, the Benevolent Lord descended to instruct the faithful to build a statue of Marshal Prince, approximately 6.27 meters tall, behind the temple to celebrate the miracles of the Prince God in protecting the local villagers. The impressive height of the Prince God statue has made it a prominent landmark in Chong Gui.
