Giving out free money may not sound like the most profitable business tactic, and yet somehow this Taiwanese temple has turned a profit of over 70% doing so in 2024.
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Hon Hai Technology Group’s (Foxconn) Huang Chiu-lian (黃秋蓮) and company visit the Zhushan Zinan Temple, praying for business success with a golden rooster. Foxconn founder Terry Gou is allegedly a devout believer, having been seen returning to the temple each new year to pray to the land deity—Tudigong (土地公)—with a golden rooster.
Zinan Temple attracts people to line up for their money handouts each year. Once the believers have turned a profit, they often return, offering larger sums of money to the temple to show gratitude.
Zinan Temple says it lent out NT$400 million (US$12.2 million) in 2024, and gained NT$700 million (US$21.4 million) in return. The temple’s chair Chuang Chiu-an (莊秋安) highlights a real estate and construction businessman who repaid NT$3.2 million (about US$98,000) last year, which he notes was likely the most they received from a single offering in 2024.
Since the beginning of the calendar year, over 10,000 people have visited Zinan Temple, but more are expected as the Lunar New Year approaches.
People note feeling more confident in their work after receiving the temple’s money, and see it as a blessing from the land deity.