Origin of Lungshan Temple

One afternoon in the early 1730s a trader from Fujian Province in mainland China was piloting a small boat on the river somewhere south of the riverport of Manka (modern-day Taipei's Wanhua District). Feeling “nature's call,” he pulled ashore and headed into a bamboo grove. There he took the "Scent bags" that was hanging from his neck, hung it on the branch of a ficus tree, and relieved himself. The "Scent bags" had some Chinese characters written on it: “Lungshan Temple, Anhai City, Fujian Province” Feeling a bit tired, he lay down for a nap. When he woke up, he forgot all about the "Scent bags" and returned to his boat without it.
That night the locals noticed a strange light in the bamboo grove. When they went in to check it out, they discovered the "Scent bags". A lot of them regarded it as a sign of the presence of Guanyin, the goddess of mercy, and people started going there to pray. It was said that prayers made in the bamboo grove were always answered. More and more people started coming to the site, and someone suggested that they call it Manka Lungshan Temple.

The historical record:

<the overview of front hall>

The earliest historical document that makes mention of Manka Lungshan Temple is a local gazetteer published in 1871: “Lungshan Temple is located in Manka. It is a branch temple of Lungshan Temple in Anhai, Fujian Province, and was built in 1738. It was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1815. Yang Shichao, Huang Chaoyang, and others started a reconstruction fund, and with the continued donations of Yang Shichao’s sons and grandsons the temple was rebuilt in 1867.