Today (5/26) we started our day by heading to a printing press. I found this visit to be very interesting first for furthering the development of my own knowledge about this but secondly focusing in on the business and religion aspect. I found it interesting and different that the Earth/Real Estate God was in the office for good luck, in the other businesses. It was also interesting to me that these Gods were prayed to on different days when compared to other Gods that the locals would pray to. I think this is particularly interesting to me because I did not grow up with a background in religion, so seeing how so many people’s lives revolve around it is insightful. The amount of faith and respect everyone gives these Gods is inspiring, as they believe they guide the way.
The printing press was also interesting to me due to what they produced. Particularly the spirit money that was interesting because the paper was different than traditionally used paper. I was also wondering how this was produced when we were in temples, so it was cool to see how a business created this to give to the temple.
We then headed to Dihua street which contained shopping but also another temple. This temple housed the match making God and while observing I noticed a lot of younger people and very few older people. This temple was a lot smaller than the other one’s we have been to previously and it seemed like there were a lot more offering tables packed into the smaller room. I wonder if this is because it is the match making God and the older generation has already settled down while the younger generation is still looking for “the one”.
We finished the day by taking the train to the end of the green line and getting some food before preparing for our early morning.
