One of the things that I tell people who have just arrived in Taiwan is that the temples here are pretty much like living museums for the culture, art and history of this country. You can learn so much more about Taiwan by visiting temples than you ever could from a museum.

I've written a lot about temples over the past few years on my blog and even though it might seem like overkill at times, I really do love taking photos of these wonderful buildings while at the same time telling a bit of their story so that people around the world can understand them better.

This time I'm not going to be introducing a three hundred year old temple nor one that really comes across as the 'living museum' type. The temple I'm introducing today is a relatively new one yet despite its lack of history it has become a very important one for the people of Taipei and also attracts its fair share of tourists.

Xingtian Temple (行天宮), constructed in 1967 is a relatively young temple by Taiwan's standards - Yet if you compare its popularity to other temples around the country it would seem that age isn't always the deciding factor in whether a temple is considered important or not. It is estimated that over 10,000 people visit the temple each day and while it has become a major tourist destination for the city, it is also an extremely important place of worship for the Taoists of Taipei.

While most of the older temples in Taiwan are steeped in hundreds of years of tradition, it often seems that those traditions have a habit of preventing them from adapting to modern times and attitudes towards certain practices and beliefs. A young temple like Xingtian Temple on the other hand is a bit freer to be more progressive with its policies and is one of the reasons why this temple has received so much positive publicity over the past few years and why it has become so loved.