Eighteen Lords Temple

Perched majestically on a promontory at the entrance to Kaohsiung Harbor, it offers wide and beautiful views. The temple architecture retains traditional Southern Min (Min-style) characteristics, and in front of the temple is a steep and treacherous staircase. Legend has it that this is intended to test the faithful, with the saying, "only the sincere should ascend." According to the stele inside the temple, during the Kangxi Emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty, 18 Chinese merchants crossed the sea to Taiwan, landing and pioneering near present-day Sizihwan. However, they were regarded as rebels and collectively executed. Local residents, moved by the spirit of these 18 ancestors, collected their remains and interred them in an ancestral shrine for worship. This marked the earliest origin of the Wang Gong Temple. During the Japanese colonial period, the Japanese, in order to develop Kaohsiung Harbor, excavated the present-day Sizihwan Tunnel. Unexpectedly, the project encountered difficulties and resulted in countless casualties. Following suggestions from local residents, the Japanese authorities offered incense and prayed to the 18 Wang Gongs for protection, after which the project was successfully completed. Local community members then raised funds from various sources to build the first Eighteen Wang Gong Temple on the site of what is now the National Sun Yat-sen University sports field. Later, to accommodate the establishment of National Sun Yat-sen University, the temple was relocated in 1984 to its current site on the promontory. As the number of people visiting Sizihwan at night to enjoy the sea view increased, the temple's incense offerings (and popularity) also flourished.