Tainan Travel

Zhengmen Temple (鎮門宮) is a small temple at Xikou in Luermen (鹿耳門溪口) with a Ming Dynasty style exterior, facing the Natural Defense of the Capital stone tablet (Fucheng Tianxian;府城天險石碑;). The temple serves as a shrine for the hero Koxinga. It is not as well-known as the Luermen Tianhou Temple (鹿耳門天后宮), but this temple has a unique feature: two "Barefoot Western Door Gods", the idea of painter Lin Zhong Hsin. Lin believed that since Koxinga defeated the Dutch, he should be served by the Dutch. In his imagination, when the Dutch were defeated and fled, they did not have time to wear shoes, so he didn't give them any. There is also a funny story about the Dutch Barefoot Door Gods' shoes: a believer was told in a dream that they would be cold without their shoes, and that it would be more difficult for them to catch thieves, so in 2003 the temple held an event which involved burning paper shoes for the Dutch Barefoot Door Gods to wear. This news created a stir all over Taiwan, and believers sent in all kinds of shoes for the Door Gods. The Door Gods were then asked using jiaobei blocks (a form of divination) to choose 3 pairs of shoes, which are displayed in the temple to this day. The temple's second floor is dedicated to Koxinga's mother Queen Dowager Weng, and is also attended by the two Dutch Door Gods, Er Shun and Lu Feng. They even possess certificates of honorary citizenship granted them by the mayor, another first for Taiwan.