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

The base was approved by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. Zhang Zhijun, president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, attended the ceremony.

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 of which dates back to the Sui Dynasty (581-618), 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, said Wang Ruijun, a member of the standing committee of the Communist Party of China Guangdong Committee.

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.

The three-mountain kings temples across the Strait stand as a witness of compatriots on either side of the Strait sharing the same root and origin, Wang said.

The associated folk belief and culture reflect the wish of people on either side of the Strait for peace and prosperity of both the country and people, he said.
The establishment of the base in Jieyang signifies the recognition of and support for the three-mountain kings culture, said Liu Jui-Der, chairman of the China Jin Ming Du three-mountain kings association in Taiwan, adding that the base serves as an important bridge for the cross-Strait exchanges of compatriots across the Strait.

Wang Sheng, Party secretary of Jieyang, pledged to speed up the building of the base to better serve the cross-Strait cultural exchange. The city will better facilitate the investment by Taiwan businesspeople, he said.