Baosheng Dadi (Imperial Physician God)

Baosheng Dadi was born Wu Tao in Baijiao Village, Tong’an County, Quanzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province, in the fourth year of the Taiping Xingguo era of the Northern Song dynasty. From childhood he displayed extraordinary intelligence and mastered medical arts comprehensively. He treated patients regardless of social status, saving countless lives; legends recount his healing of the Dragon’s Eye and cure of the Tiger’s Throat. He died in the Jingyou era after falling from a cliff while gathering medicinal herbs on a mountain. Grateful villagers erected a temple in his honour, and the Southern Song court posthumously conferred upon him the title ‘Great Dao Immortal Master’; during the Ming dynasty he was elevated to the rank of ‘Baosheng Dadi’. As Hokkien migrants crossed the Taiwan Strait, they brought his cult with them, and today over hundreds of temples across Taiwan enshrine him. Each year on the 15th day of the 3rd lunar month—the anniversary of his birth—pilgrims journey from Qingjiao and Baijiao temples for grand incense-offering ceremonies, a vibrant and deeply rooted tradition.