Popular mythology depicts the City God, or Chenghuang, as a supernatural authority associated with a particular territory, who occupies a place of considerable importance in the heavenly bureaucracy. Also known as the god of walls and moats, the City God is a protective sovereign who keeps close watch over the souls of people after death and is responsible for the safety and prosperity of all those who reside within his jurisdiction.
Today, the City God temple still stands as a prominent religious establishment in Taiwan and a good number of people continue to worship the deity. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, for example, the temple typically receives incense and other offerings from numerous visitors, who pray for the god’s efficacious protection.
Another ritual commonly performed in the City God temple during the Lunar New Year includes passing various personal items such as jewelry or other precious articles in a circular motion through the billowing smoke of burning incense as a form of blessing. Moreover, as one of the few temples in Taipei where people can burn silver spirit money, many will come with huge red paper bags filled with an assortment of paper monies for ancestors and stack the packets in a pile in front of a special furnace.