Taiwan is full of shrines to local gods, and a museum in Taoyuan showcases the deep and evolving belief in these deities of the land, or "tudigong." For the original report in Hakka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5sEu2kquRM
00:01If you visit Taiwan and see a statue of a bearded elderly gentleman with a cane and a golden ingot,
00:07chances are it's the local Thutigong.
00:09In much of Taiwan, you're never far away from a shrine to this earth god.
00:13Each manifestation watches over their local area,
00:16whether fields and streams or built-up urban areas, and the people who live there.
00:21The shrines and the statues they house come in different sizes,
00:24and for different people in different places, they can mean different things.
00:28At some shrines, students with a big exam coming up
00:32place their test registration forms within to receive the local god's blessing.
00:36Other shrines are linked to good harvests or having many children and grandchildren.
00:41Wherever the shrines are, and however different they might be,
00:44they are all woven into the fabric of local life.
00:48One part of Taiwan where you're really never far from one of these shrines is Taoyuan in Taiwan's north.
00:54There are around 2,800 shrines around the city,
00:58and in one especially packed district, you can find up to seven per square kilometer.
01:03So it's perhaps not surprising that Taoyuan is home to a museum devoted to Thutigong in their various forms,
01:09and in Taiwanese people's belief in them.
01:12One of the first things to note is that not every manifestation of the god is equal.
01:16They form a hierarchy of sorts, with the clothing and headgear placed on their statues marking their status.
01:22And so it goes on, all the way down to the lowliest, most local of these gods, perhaps at the end of a rice field.
01:48Though the rankings and the way they're portrayed in statue form differ,
01:52they share some features in common.
01:54Though the belief in Thutigong is old, brought over by centuries of migrants from China,
02:14it's a living, even evolving belief.
02:16While many local gods are known to be worshipped in only a small area, and their shrines are sometimes simple compared to Taiwan's more ornate and elaborate temples,
02:18people's connections to them run deep.
02:36With each village and district believing that in the cosmic order there is someone looking out for them.
02:52James Lin and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
02:56I'm going to be looking at the future of Hong Kong.
02:58I'm going to be looking at Western Ireland for the world now.
03:00I'm going to be referring to the first place of Hong Kong,
03:02which is my relationship between kind of the building.
03:04And when you see a student, those ornaments are getting a sense of that.
03:06And then, for the fact that I'm going to be referring to the following times,
03:08that's how I put it in to make people learn the direction of the nation.
03:10When you say a student, what will that be?
03:12And then, you see it in ė° me as a student.
03:14I'm going to be looking at the place because it's supposed to be a job.
03:16You see it in a great way to come look at the reality of the program.
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