Taiwan’s Chiayi County has a temple that is slanted to a dramatic degree and that is precisely why it is being called Taiwan’s Leaning Tower of Pisa.
In August of 2009, Taiwan was destructed by Typhoon Morakot. This was the most horrific typhoon to hit the island in its recorded history. It led to ample amounts of rainfall that resulted in massive mudflows and intense flooding throughout Taiwan.
The typhoon left after incurring huge damage and several human casualties, but it also produced one of Taiwan’s most unusual tourist attractions – The Taihe Zhenxing Palace (?????), a place of worship tilted at about 45 degrees.
Up until 2009, the colorful temple of Taihe Village was tall and straight, but the landslides that happened during the massive storm caused it to slide downhill by about 100 meters. It is a miracle how the building was able to tolerate the harshness of the typhoon and maintain a slanted existence.
The Taihe Zhenxing Palace is not placed in a very usual area, but it has been seeing an increase in tourists lately, due to social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok. It’s the perfect place to recreate Michael Jackson’s iconic gravity-defying lean without any effort. All you have to do is tilt the phone so it shows the temple straight and you lean forward.
Earlier this year, after photos and videos shot there went viral online, the Taihe Zhenxing Palace was featured on national television and labeled as Taiwan’s version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy.