Xiyuan Road Buddha Handicraft Street

Bordering Manka Longshan Temple (艋舺龍山寺), Xiyuan Road Buddha Handicraft street (西園路佛具街) is filled with shops selling religious artifacts, and is best known for its abundance of Daoist and Buddhist statue dealers. Though Taiwanese rarely think of themselves as overtly religious, the centrality of religion is hard to overlook. Whether for a family's home, a shrine at an office, or decorating a temple, these sculptures are highly prized.

This sort of religious devotion doesn't come cheap, however. Some of the most intricately carved and painted sculptures reach into the hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese dollars (TWD 30 ≈ $1 USD). What's the costliest one we found? TWD 300,000 (≈ $10,000 USD). Can you find any that are more expensive than this? We dare you!

Nowadays, most of these statues are made in China as the younger generations in Taiwan lost interest in the sculpting business around 20 years ago. Nevertheless, statues are still made, albeit in small quantities, in southern Taiwan.