Qingshan King Festival: Keeping Tradition Alive in Taipei

REPORTER:  

Fireworks pave the way as a god sets out on patrol.  

The Qingshan King and his entourage are making sure that Taipei’s Wanhua District remains free of evil spirits.  

It’s a centuries-old tradition marking the god’s birthday.  

We’ve been holding this event for a long, long time.  

It happens every year during the tenth month of the lunisolar calendar.  

There are two nights of patrols and one ritual procession.  

REPORTER:  

For the anfang, or night patrol, eight generals march alongside buglers, announcing the king’s arrival upon a litter shouldered by faithful volunteers.  

(You grew up around the temple?)  

Yes, so we help carry the palanquin on the patrols.  

I participate every year.  

It’s not really a decision it’s just something I’ve been doing since I was little.  

For Wanhua, this event is a celebration similar to our Lunar New Year.  

A sort of mini new year.  

REPORTER:  

The Eight Generals — their faces painted red or green — march to capture, torture, and scare off any evil spirits haunting the neighborhood. They wield weapons like ones from ancient China.

REPORTER:  

The festival still looks much like it did in the 1850s, when immigrants from Fujian brought the Qingshan King to the area. But the streets the god patrols look very different now.

REPORTER:  

Known variously as Wanhua, Mongka, or Bangka — the neighborhood used to be a small settlement in northern Taiwan. It later joined with neighboring Dadaocheng to become part of Taipeh Prefecture – what eventually became the modern capital city.  

REPORTER:  

For almost two centuries, the festival has seen the city grow around it, sprawling far beyond its original borders and filling the surrounding basin.

REPORTER:  

The tradition has survived pandemics, two world wars, and multiple governments.  

This event has been around for a long time.  

This temple fair was already here 170 years ago.  

Back in the 1960s everyone would participate in the grand worship ceremony then they’d be invited to eat together.  

That’s the local custom.  

REPORTER:  

Today, the crowds are bigger than ever. The festival has gone from a neighborhood ritual to a national spectacle — and you wouldn’t know it, but that actually means fewer fireworks.  

Now, only adults come out.  

When we were young, we used to set off firecrackers including sky-rockets and fireworks.  

This caused some houses to catch fire.  

So now, we limit it to just one string of firecrackers not setting them off freely.  

REPORTER:  

Backed by more volunteers joining each year, the Qingshan King Festival looks set to remain a defining part of Wanhua — even as Taipei continues to transform and evolve.