THE Three-Mountain Kings Ancestral Temple in Jieyang, Guangdong Province, was declared a base for cross-Strait exchange Wednesday.

The base was approved by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. Worship of the kings originated in Jiexi County, where the temple is located, and spread to Taiwan. It is also practiced in Southeast Asia.

Originally known as the gods of the three mountains of Jin, Ming and Du, the worship dated back to the Sui Dynasty (581-618), and the gods were named kings by an emperor during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).

In Taiwan, there are over 460 three-mountain kings temples with more than 6 million worshippers.

Taiwan people started to visit the temple in Jiexi in 1988. Between 1998 and 2021, 15,000 people in 405 groups from Taiwan visited the temple. Groups from Jieyang also visited Taiwan.

(China Daily)