Taiwan’s land deity is unusually locked up behind bars at one temple in rural Nantou, to the confusion of onlookers.
Video script:
As a man is seen clasping his hands together and praying, something stands out about the temple he is at: It is surrounded by bars.
The stainless steel enclosure wraps around the entire temple, leaving just one entrance, and sparking spectators' curiosity as to why the unusual enclosure was added.
The head of Pipa Village in Nantou, Chen Hsuan-kuei (陳炫魁), mentioned that a large number of deity statues had been discarded at the temple by losing gamblers who thought that the spirits attached to them would guide them to select winning numbers.
The problems don’t stop there, however, as Chen says the tables and benches inside the temple have attracted people to drink inside, and even do drugs. On top of all of this, the temple was afraid their incense money would get stolen, so decided to build a stainless steel enclosure and install security cameras.
What is an added layer of safety for the rural temple, others say looks like a prison for the land deity – Tudigong (土地公).