The head of the temple, Cheng Ming-ching, points out that the temple has less than 50 paid staff, so it is very dependent on these volunteers, who work at all hours of the day and night. The toilet detail, for example, is divided into three different shifts, the first of which gets started at 3:00 a.m.
Some deities prefer women
Not all of China's religions, however, put men at the center of everything. Women are accorded differing degrees of status by different religions and sects. Women do especially well for themselves in Daoist religion.
Lin Fu-shih points out that Daoism frequently refers to the old adage that "the soft wears down the hard." Daoist religious training emphasizes the need to master both the yin and the yang, which is why there are so many references in Daoist legend to female deities, and to male deities bowing down in homage to them. In Taiwan, however, it is invariably men who take to the altar at Daoist ceremonies. The reason why most Taiwanese Daoist masters are male is that Taiwanese Daoism is an offshoot of the Zhengyi sect of Fujian Province, in which affairs are run by men who marry and practice the Daoist discipline at home.
Although almost all of the "martial" jitong, who flagellate themselves with nail-studded boards and "swords" fashioned from the snouts of saw sharks, are male, Cheng Chih-ming, director of the Institute of Religion and Cultural Studies at Nanhua Management College, estimates that some 80% of all jitong capable of communicating directly with the gods are female. From her own experience, Kuo Yeh-tzu, head of the Sungshan Tsu Huei Temple in Taipei, says, "Women are more sensitive and vulnerable than men. It's easier for them to empathize with the sufferings of others, so it's especially easy for gods to enter their bodies.
Much more than other religions in Taiwan, the Daoists accord equal treatment to men and women. Women can preside over religious ceremonies, and are allowed to interpret messages received from deities. Women enjoy particularly good status in the Tsu Huei sect. In fact, about half the Tsu Huei sect's temples are headed by women. Dedicated to the worship of the goddess Jinmu, this sect is one of the newer members of the Taoism Society of the Republic of China.
The female jitong who never rests
The Tsu Huei sect, which was founded in 1949 in Hualien County, now has more than 1000 temples throughout Taiwan. According to Ms. Kao Shih-chieh, who for the past 12 years has served as a jitong for communication with the goddess Jinmu, "Mother Jinmu once told us that it is better to have women serve as spirit mediums because female jitong don't feel as tempted as men to hoodwink the faithful to get money or sex. People find it easier to trust a female jitong."
The sect's temple in Taipei, Sungshan Tsu Huei Temple, is one of the ten largest temples in the city. As mentioned above, the head of the temple, Kuo Yeh-tzu, is a woman. In addition to her duties as temple head, Kuo also serves as leader of the Tsu Huei sect. She began acting as a spirit medium for female deities at the age of 28 to help believers ward off misfortune and recover from disease. 365 days a year, she works at the temple, serving as the medium for the goddess Jinmu to help people avoid calamity and cope with bad luck.
The "martial jitong" who punish their bodies with knives and swords are mostly men, but large numbers of women throughout history have acted as sorceresses and spirit mediums.