Every spring around the third lunar month, highways and country lanes across central-western Taiwan witness an extraordinary human tide: hundreds of thousands of pilgrims carrying embroidered pennants on their backpacks walk day and night behind the carved wooden palanquin of Dajia Ma (大甲媽) across four cities and counties for nine days and eight nights. Along every kilometer of the route, local households set up roadside tables offering tens of thousands of free vegetarian meals, chilled watermelon slices, herbal tea and medical bandages to complete strangers, while elders, parents and children kneel quietly in single file down the center of the asphalt road so the sacred palanquin may pass gently over their backs in blessing. At the heart of this living spiritual marathon stands Dajia Jenn Lann Temple (大甲鎮瀾宮, also romanized Zhenlan Temple) on Shuntian Road in Dajia District, Taichung City.
Standing alongside Beigang Chaotian Temple in Yunlin and Lukang Mazu Temple in Changhua as one of Taiwan's supreme pillars of Taoist and Minnan maritime devotion, Jenn Lann Temple bears a name bestowed in the 52nd year of the Qianlong reign (1787). Literally meaning Palace That Pacifies the Billows, the title preserves the memory of eighteenth-century Fujian settlers who braved the treacherous Black Ditch currents of the Taiwan Strait to cultivate the coastal plains of Dajia nearly three centuries ago.
ITianshang Shengmu Who Calms the Strait and the Collective Devotion Cast into the Golden Mazu
Enshrined upon the central altar of Jenn Lann Temple is Tianshang Shengmu (天上聖母, Heavenly Holy Mother, born Lin Moniang from 960 to 987 on Meizhou Island in Putian, Fujian), affectionately known across central Taiwan as Dajia Ma. According to local gazetteers, in the 8th year of the Yongzheng reign (1730), a Putian settler named Lin Yongxing (林永興) crossed the Taiwan Strait carrying an incense pouch and wooden statue of Mazu directly from the Meizhou ancestral temple to settle in Dajia, then an agricultural plain inhabited alongside the indigenous Plains Taokas community of Dajia West Village. Word of Mazu's responsive protection over coastal fishing boats and rice harvests quickly drew both Han pioneers and local townsfolk to worship at the Lin family home, prompting residents in 1732 to build a public shrine in her honor.
What sets Dajia Jenn Lann Temple apart in Taiwanese religious culture is how tangibly the gratitude of ordinary worshippers has been transformed into sacred art inside the underground Mazu Cultural Museum beneath the temple. Over more than three decades in the late twentieth century, hundreds of thousands of devotees whose prayers for healing, safe childbirth or honest livelihood were answered returned to drape thin votive gold medallions around Mazu's neck. Rather than locking those offerings away in a vault, the temple board melted the community's donated gold medals together in 2005 and commissioned master goldsmiths to cast the breathtaking Golden Mazu (金媽祖): a solid gold image standing roughly 1.3 meters tall and weighing more than 276 kilograms of pure gold, allowing every pilgrim descending into the Golden Mazu Hall to behold the radiant sum of countless answered prayers.
True to Taiwan's harmonious religious landscape, the altars of Jenn Lann Temple unite Taoist ritual, Mahayana Buddhist compassion and Confucian filial remembrance. In the Main Sanctum, historic smoke-darkened statues of the Founding Mazu, First Mazu, Second Mazu, Third Mazu, Fourth Mazu (famed historically for dispensing healing herbal prescriptions) and the Meizhou Mazu statue welcomed in 1987 are flanked by Zhusheng Niangniang (Matron of Childbirth) and Qielan Zunwang. Behind the main courtyard rises the Guanyin Buddha Hall enshrining Guanyin Bodhisattva, accompanied by halls dedicated to Wenchang Dijun (Patron of Literature and Examinations), Shennong the Divine Farmer (blessing Dajia's renowned taro and rice fields), Doumu Yuanjun with the sixty Tai Sui Star Lords governing cyclical birth-year fortune, and the Hall of the Holy Parents honoring Lin Moniang's father and mother.
Complementing the Golden Mazu in the subterranean Jade Sanctum stands a second modern treasure consecrated in 2011: the Jadeite Mazu (翡翠媽祖), carved over three painstaking years by master lapidary Chi Chao-feng from a rare boulder of lavender-and-emerald Burmese jadeite standing 1.3 meters high and weighing approximately 1.5 metric tons. Together, the warm luster of collective gold and the serene translucence of Burmese jadeite express both the royal majesty and maternal gentleness of Dajia Ma.
Scholars of Taiwanese religion highlight the year 1988 as a watershed moment that shaped the modern Dajia Mazu pilgrimage. For decades prior to 1988, Jenn Lann Temple walked southward each spring to Beigang Chaotian Temple in Yunlin for fire-renewal rites. In 1987, however, Jenn Lann Temple trustees traveled across the strait to Meizhou Island in Fujian to mark the millennium of Mazu's ascension and brought back an ancestral Meizhou Mazu statue and jade seal, establishing Dajia's direct Meizhou lineage rather than subordinate branch status. Beginning in spring 1988, the Dajia procession redirected its destination to Xingang Fengtian Temple in Chiayi County and reformulated its central rite from subordinate fire-cutting to a fraternal Circuit Procession and Grand Birthday Congratulatory Ceremony between sister temples.
International travelers visiting central Taiwan during the third lunar month often confuse two world-famous coastal Mazu foot pilgrimages that unfold around the same season: the Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage (departing Dajia Jenn Lann Temple in Taichung) and the Baishatun Mazu Pilgrimage (departing Gongtian Temple in Tongxiao, Miaoli County just north of the Da'an River). Their key distinction lies in ritual structure: the Dajia Jenn Lann Temple procession follows a fixed nine-day, eight-night schedule and pre-announced route visiting more than one hundred host temples en route to Xingang with ten grand classical ceremonies, whereas Baishatun's pink-canopied palanquin follows no preset route or timetable, choosing each turn spontaneously at intersections.
IINearly Three Centuries from Lin Yongxing's Incense Pouch to National Intangible Heritage
Positioned along the vital coastal thoroughfare linking northern and southern Taiwan amid fertile alluvial fields watered by the Da'an and Dajia rivers, Jenn Lann Temple grew step by step alongside the agrarian and commercial history of central Taiwan.
- 1730 to 1732Lin Yongxing brings Meizhou Mazu incense to Dajia and villagers erect an initial shrineIn 1730 (Yongzheng 8th year), pioneer Lin Yongxing carried a Mazu image and incense pouch from Meizhou Island to Dajia. In 1732 local elders joined him in building a modest public shrine.
- 1770 to 1787Expanded as Tianshang Shengmu Temple and renamed Jenn Lann Temple by General Chai DajiRebuilt on a larger scale in 1770 (Qianlong 35th year), the sanctuary was expanded again in 1787 (Qianlong 52nd year) by Qing garrison commander Chai Daji and local scholar-gentry led by Lien Kun-shan, receiving the enduring name Jenn Lann Temple ('Pacifying the Billows Palace').
- 1890 to 1936Guangxu imperial plaque and early twentieth-century master craftsmanshipHonored by the Qing court with the imperial calligraphy plaque Huguo Youmin ('Protecting the Realm and Sheltering the People'), the temple underwent major architectural enrichment between 1934 and 1936 featuring carved stone columns and gilded timberwork.
- 1980 to 1988Complete structural reconstruction on original footprint and launch of the Xingang routeTo replace aging timber beams while preserving Qing and Japanese-era carvings, the temple board reconstructed the complex between 1980 and 1988, adding the underground Cultural Museum and inaugurating the modern 9-day pilgrimage to Xingang Fengtian Temple.
- 2005 to 2011Casting of the Golden Mazu, National Folk Custom designation (2010) and Jadeite MazuAfter unveiling the 276-kilogram Golden Mazu in 2005, Jenn Lann Temple saw its Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage registered at county level on 4 July 2008 and officially designated a National Important Folk Custom on 18 June 2010, followed in 2011 by the consecration of the 1.5-ton Burmese Jadeite Mazu.
Cultural records of old Dajia also preserve an enduring craft tie between indigenous Taokas weavers of Dajia West Village and worshippers around Jenn Lann Temple. For more than two centuries, Dajia became famous across East Asia for fragrant handwoven Dajia rush mats and hats (Dajia lincao), a wetland craft pioneered by Taokas women harvesting triangular rush reeds from the brackish marshes between the Da'an and Dajia rivers and later adopted by Han households around Shuntian Road to weave fine kneeling mats and summer bedding offered before Mazu's altar.
IIIGilded Minnan Palace Craftsmanship Above Ground and the Subterranean Treasury of Gold and Jade
Rebuilt between 1980 and 1988 along its historic Qing dynasty courtyard axis, Dajia Jenn Lann Temple marries earthquake-resistant engineering with densely layered Minnan wood carving, openwork granite dragon columns, cut-porcelain roof crests and a subterranean museum of sacred art.
Fronting bustling Shuntian Road, the Sanchuan facade gleams with granite columns carved in deep relief with coiling dragons and sweeping swallowtail ridges crowned by colorful Jiannian cut-porcelain and Cochin ceramic warriors from classical Chinese epics.
Overhead inside the front hall and worship pavilion rises a dazzling gilded octagonal caisson ceiling (zaojing) composed of concentric camphorwood brackets carved with a hundred birds courting the phoenix, the Eight Immortals and celestial guardians.
Veiled in fragrant sandalwood smoke, the central sanctum houses the revered incense-burnished statues of Dajia Ma beneath historic gilded plaques including Emperor Guangxu's Huguo Youmin ('Protecting the Realm and Sheltering the People').
Beneath the temple courtyard extends a spacious museum displaying antique palanquins and ritual regalia alongside two purpose-built shrines: the Golden Mazu Hall housing the 276-kilogram solid-gold statue and the Jade Sanctum housing the 1.5-ton Burmese Jadeite Mazu.
Jenn Lann Temple maintains celebrated ceremonial troupes including towering three-meter effigies of Qianliyan (Thousand-Mile Eye) and Shunfeng'er (With-the-Wind Ear), the Bronze-Club Vanguard and the Thirty-Six Honor Guards bearing brass halberds ahead of Mazu's palanquin.
| Sanctuary hall or treasure | Material and scale | Location in complex | Religious and artistic significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Mazu Statue (金媽祖) | Over 276 kg of solid gold, approx. 1.3 meters tall | Golden Mazu Hall (underground museum) | Cast in 2005 from hundreds of thousands of votive gold medallions offered by devotees |
| Jadeite Mazu Statue (翡翠媽祖) | 1.5-ton Burmese lavender-green jadeite, 1.3 meters tall | Jade Sanctum (underground museum) | Carved over three years by master Chi Chao-feng and consecrated in 2011 |
| Main Sanctum and Gilded Caisson Pavilion | Granite dragon pillars and gilded camphorwood joinery | Ground-level central courtyard on Shuntian Road | Reconstructed 1980 to 1988 preserving the 1787 Qianlong axis and imperial plaques |
| Guanyin Hall, Wenchang Hall and Tai Sui Hall | Multi-deity rear sanctuary blending Buddhist and Taoist rites | Rear northeastern courtyard | Enshrines Guanyin Bodhisattva, Wenchang Dijun, Holy Parents and 60 Tai Sui Star Lords |
| Eight-Bearer Sacred Palanquin and Command Pennants | Gilded openwork timber palanquin and vermilion-stamped flags | Main Sanctum and 340-km pilgrimage route | Sacred vessels leading hundreds of thousands of walkers across central Taiwan |
IVLandform Reading: Iron Anvil Mountain Backing and Twin Rivers Embracing the Coastal Plain
Guarding central Taiwan's coastal corridor within the Taoist and Minnan geomantic tradition, Dajia Jenn Lann Temple occupies a textbook maritime plain site defined by a solitary anvil-shaped backing mountain and twin bounding rivers.
Viewed across northwestern Taichung's coastal geography at 24.34522 degrees north latitude and 120.62358 degrees east longitude, historic Dajia town rests on a fertile alluvial fan tightly bracketed on the north and south by two mighty torrents rushing westward from the Central Mountain Range into the Taiwan Strait: the Da'an River (大安溪) to the north and the Dajia River (大甲溪) to the south. In classical Form School Feng Shui, a plain enclosed between two parallel rivers converging toward the sea exemplifies the auspicious pattern of Twin Rivers Embracing the Dragon Vein (liangshui jia long), preventing vital mountain qi from dispersing laterally while concentrating agricultural abundance in the central fields.
Directly anchoring Dajia's northeastern horizon barely 2.5 kilometers behind the temple rises flat-topped Tiezhenshan (鐵砧山, Iron Anvil Mountain, elevation 236 meters, famed in history for Koxinga's Sword Well). Jenn Lann Temple is aligned precisely along a Sitting Northeast Facing Southwest axis (sitting Gen facing Kun): its rear halls lean securely against the broad plateau of Iron Anvil Mountain as a steadfast Black Tortoise backing screen blocking harsh winter monsoons, while its Sanchuan portals open southwestward down Shuntian Road (順天路) toward the coastal plain and the open expanse of the Taiwan Strait serving as the outer Bright Hall. In Eight Trigrams cosmology, the Southwest corresponds to the Kun trigram of Receptive Earth and Maternal Devotion, resonating seamlessly with Heavenly Mother Mazu watching compassionately over mariners on the strait while drawing benevolent sea breezes inland to nourish old Dajia town.
VThe Nine-Day, Eight-Night Pilgrimage Marathon and Vietnamese Communities Along Taichung's Coast
Every spring during the third lunar month, Dajia Jenn Lann Temple conducts its world-famous Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage Procession (大甲媽祖遶境進香) strictly structured around Ten Grand Classical Ceremonies governed by the traditional Lunar calendar, from divination-block casting on Lantern Festival night to the solemn enthronement upon return.
| Time of year | Calendar observed | Major ceremony or stage | Distinctive ritual practice at Dajia Jenn Lann Temple |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15th day of 1st Lunar month (Lantern Festival) | Lunar calendar | Divination-Block Date Selection (擲筊擇日) and Flag Presentation | At 6 p.m. on Lantern Festival night, the temple chairman casts wooden divination blocks before Mazu to determine the exact spring departure date and hour. |
| Late 2nd to 3rd Lunar month (9 days, 8 nights) | Lunar calendar | Dajia Mazu 340-Kilometer Foot Pilgrimage Across Four Counties | A National Important Folk Custom traversing Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi to Xingang Fengtian Temple and back, with tens of thousands kneeling to crawl beneath the palanquin (zuan jiaojiao). |
| 4th and 5th days of the pilgrimage | Lunar calendar | Grand Birthday Congratulatory Rite (祝壽大典) and End of Vegetarian Fast | Over a hundred thousand white-clad devotees kneel simultaneously in Xingang for a two-hour dawn birthday liturgy, and pilgrims strictly observe a pure vegetarian diet throughout the outbound march until this ceremony concludes. |
| 23rd day of 3rd Lunar month | Lunar calendar | Heavenly Holy Mother Mazu's Birthday Liturgy in Dajia | Traditional lion-dance, martial-arts and Nanguan music troupes from the historic fifty-three villages around Dajia, Da'an, Waipu and Houli gather at Jenn Lann Temple. |
| 7th Lunar month and 9th day of 9th Lunar month | Lunar calendar | Zhongyuan Universal Salvation Rite and Mazu Ascension Commemoration | Compassionate Seventh-Month salvation altars for coastal pioneers followed in autumn by ninth-month thanksgiving offerings. |
Northwestern Taichung's coastal industrial belt, encompassing Dajia Youth Industrial Park (a global hub for bicycle manufacturing, precision metalwork and machinery) alongside neighboring Qingshui, Wuqi (Port of Taichung), Shalu and Houli, is home to tens of thousands of Vietnamese factory workers and Vietnamese marriage immigrants. Each spring when cannon salutes and bronze gongs signal Dajia Ma's departure down Shuntian Road, many Vietnamese workers and Taiwanese-Vietnamese families join segments of the march on weekends, receive free vegetarian boxed meals offered warmly by local volunteers, and kneel respectfully along the roadway to let Mazu's palanquin pass overhead while praying for the health and peace of loved ones back in Vietnam.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- No. 158, Shuntian Road, Dajia District, Taichung City 437, Taiwan (臺中市大甲區大甲里順天路158號)
- Getting there
- Dajia Jenn Lann Temple enjoys effortless rail access: from Taichung TRA Station or Xinwuri TRA Station (connected directly to THSR Taichung Station), ride a Taiwan Railways (TRA) Coast Line train directly to Dajia Station. Step out of Dajia Station's main exit and walk straight ahead along Jianggong Road for just 350 meters (under five minutes) to reach Shuntian Road and the temple gate. Taichung City Bus routes 92, 154 and 305 also run directly from central Taichung to Dajia.
- Coordinates
- 24.34522, 120.62358
When visiting Dajia Jenn Lann Temple, be sure to take the stairs beside the side corridor down into the subterranean Mazu Cultural Museum to view both the 276-kilogram Golden Mazu and the 1.5-ton Jadeite Mazu. If you join the spring foot pilgrimage or line up to kneel for zuan jiaojiao (letting the sacred palanquin pass over your back), remove hats, wear your backpack on your chest rather than your back, remain bowed until the entire palanquin has cleared, and honor the cherished pilgrim custom of eating strictly vegetarian food during the outbound journey prior to the Birthday Ceremony.
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?Quick Questions
How was the 276-kilogram Golden Mazu statue at Dajia Jenn Lann Temple created?
Unveiled in 2005 inside the temple's underground museum, the 1.3-meter Golden Mazu was cast from more than 276 kilograms of pure gold melted down from hundreds of thousands of votive gold medallions donated by grateful worshippers over more than thirty years.
How far does the annual Dajia Mazu Pilgrimage travel and how long does it last?
Held over nine days and eight nights in the third lunar month (with the exact departure hour chosen by divination blocks on Lantern Festival night), the foot procession covers roughly 340 kilometers round-trip through Taichung, Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi to Xingang Fengtian Temple and back.
What is the meaning of kneeling under the palanquin (zuan jiaojiao) along the route?
Devotees kneel in a quiet single line down the roadway with heads bowed and backpacks held in front while bearers lift Mazu's sacred palanquin high overhead, seeking the goddess's protective blessing, healing and peace for their families.
What does the temple name Jenn Lann (Zhenlan) mean and when was it adopted?
Bestowed during the 1787 expansion led by Qing commander Chai Daji and local gentry, Jenn Lann means 'Pacifying the Billows', expressing coastal settlers' prayers that Mazu calm the stormy waves of the Taiwan Strait.
How close is Dajia Jenn Lann Temple to Dajia Railway Station?
TRA Dajia Station on the Coast Line sits only about 350 meters east of the temple: walking straight down Jianggong Road from the station exit brings visitors to the front courtyard in less than five minutes.