4,500-year-old Yan Emperor links modern neighbors

[Photo by Sun Ruisheng/China Daily]

It is estimated that there are 146 Yan Emperor temples in Taiwan.

Some delegates of the temples took part in the ceremony and will take back incense ashes as a symbol of the two sides' sharing the same root.

Residents offered ritual sacrifices before a statue of the Yan Emperor, and some students from Taiwan who attend a school in Dongguan performed for the ceremony.

Song Heping, spokesman for the Gaoping government, said there are hundreds of ancient temples, stone tablets and historical sites, as well as a strong folk culture surrounding the Yan Emperor in Gaoping, dating to at least 2,000 years ago. The county - specifically the region around Yangtou Mountain - was believed to be the emperor's birthplace, main region of activity and burial site.