Taiwanese woman creates panic after secretly taking temple statue home for DIY makeover
Woman keeps 3 deity statues at home, often takes others from temples to expand her collection
A 61-year-old woman in Taiwan took a statue of the deity Guiguzi from a temple and swapped it for an ancient Chinese scholar Lv Dongbin.
The incident unfolded on September 11, when staff at Chenghuang Temple in Yilan, Taiwan, were stunned to discover that the statue of the deity had been replaced with the legendary scholar and poet.
While the two statues were similar in size and had almost identical hats and long beards, they were different colours and held different objects, according to United Daily News.
When police began investigating, the thief returned the Guiguzi statue, claiming it had been taken because it needed cleaning and repainting.
In Taoism, Guiguzi means “Sage of Ghost Valley” and is celebrated for its extraordinary foresight and fortunetelling capabilities, while Lv Dongbin, known as one of the “Eight Immortals”, is revered for bestowing academic success and top exam rankings.
Temple staff noted that the two statues serve very different spiritual purposes and were confused about why someone would swap them.
