Photo Entry: Zhi Nan Temple

Religion's presence in Taiwan is of an industry scale. What I mean is, not only does it provide spiritual relief or anchor, it also makes money. Any famous temple means crowd, and crowd means business opportunities. This is a particularly business driven temple, because worshipers don't come here to ask for health, happiness, marriage or children. They come here specifically for wealth. This temple is famous for making people's money dreams come true. They even offer free loans to people in need, hoping that people will return the money when they have become successful. Many came back to repay the temple's kindness, often with more than what they borrowed. So with a dollar sign stuck in every visitor's mind, the surrounding area becomes a business circle of all sorts from vendors to monks asking for donations to lottery ticket sellers. Oh and the temple even built the most expensive public rest room in the country! Actually it's not all that impressive, just that it could have been mistaken for some public office or something.