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Welcome to Tainan Unveiled – where every alley tells a story, every temple holds a secret, and every flavor carries the soul of centuries past.
By Lin Hsien-Yun / Tainan
AUG 2025
Wandering through Tainan on a rainy day? Don’t be too quick to run for cover. Look up—you might just witness one of the most charming and culturally rich spectacles hidden in plain sight.
At the City God Temple (府城隍廟) and the nearby Wind God Temple (風神廟), heavy rain triggers an ancient, artistic engineering marvel: mythical creatures "spitting" out rainwater.
Instead of unsightly plastic pipes, these temples use traditional water spouts carved into the shape of dragons, lions, and ao fish (鰲魚). Rain pours from their mouths like water flowing from celestial beasts, turning a simple drainage function into a moment of unexpected magic.
This design isn’t just beautiful—it’s historical. The earliest examples of such decorative drainage date back to Beijing’s Forbidden City, which famously houses over a thousand dragon-headed spouts. Tainan’s artisans borrowed from this imperial tradition, ensuring even something as mundane as rainwater runoff retains a sense of elegance and folklore.
📍 City God Temple features twin lion heads at its rear hall that gush water like roaring beasts during storms, drawing crowds of photographers.
📍 Wind God Temple showcases a pair of ao fish on its rooftop, restored after damage from past ceremonies. When the rain is heavy, water pours like a waterfall; when light, it drips like drool—amusing, strange, and perfectly poetic.
These temple creatures remind us that in Tainan, every detail, even a drainpipe, has a story to tell.
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