Taiwan is one of the most religiously diverse and active societies in East Asia, and this is perhaps most visible in the sheer density of its temples. There are estimated to be over 15,000 temples in Taiwan — more per capita than any comparable territory in the world — and the smoke of incense, the sound of drums and bells, and the bright red lanterns of temple entrances are part of the daily sensory texture of life here. Understanding the religious landscape, even at a basic level, will allow you to see and understand far more of what you encounter.

The majority of Taiwanese people practise some combination of Buddhism, Taoism, and Chinese folk religion — a syncretic blend that does not map neatly onto Western categories of “religion”. It is entirely common for the same person to pray at a Buddhist temple, consult a Taoist oracle, burn offerings for their ancestors, and celebrate Christmas as a commercial occasion, without experiencing any of this as contradictory. The question “what religion are you?” often produces a thoughtful pause, or an answer along the lines of “traditional religion”.

Christianity is practised by a minority of roughly four to five per cent of the population, including a disproportionate number of indigenous people, where missionary activity from the nineteenth century onwards was significant. Presbyterian Christianity in particular played an important role in the democratic opposition to KMT rule and in the preservation of the Taiwanese Hokkien language.