aeeble

Most notably, Zinan Temple will lend the public a “prosperity loan” of NT$600. Anyone in need may first cast divination blocks before Lord Earth, Lady Earth, and Stone Lord; if permission is granted, the temple will hand out the money. Once their businesses stabilize, borrowers customarily return a sum larger than the original loan as thanksgiving to the Earth God. To facilitate both borrowing and repayment, the temple runs the service in bank-counter style. In addition to the prosperity-loan tradition, Zinan Temple now issues “money mothers” every New-Year holiday. Each year’s design is inventive, and surprise hand-outs during the Lunar New Year often draw block-long queues. On the 16th day of the first lunar month the temple also hosts a free “Ding-jiu” (chicken-wine) feast. Legend says that in earlier times women who had borne sons would offer castrated roosters on the 15th to thank the Earth God for offspring. The temple pooled these offerings, stewed sesame-oil chicken, and shared it with the community, turning the meal into a festival of gratitude and neighborly warmth. To ease restroom congestion, the temple spent NT$40 million building a lavish bamboo-shoot-shaped facility named “Golden Shoots Greeting Guests,” which has itself become a new tourist attraction.