Tudigong—directly translated as The Lord of the Land—is the most prevalent folk deity in Taiwan. In the countryside, every village has multiple Tudigong temples. Their construction is funded with donations from the local residents, and they serve as each town’s spiritual sanctuary. There are over one hundred temples subjected to eminent domain by the development plans for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis, the majority of which are the Lord of the Land’s. In order to continue worship, the locals will temporarily—potentially permanently—rehome each Tudigong statue to a temple beyond the area of planned construction. They may even take the additional step of visiting their presiding Chenghuangye (or City God) to preserve the Tudigong’s jurisdictional authority. Once the Aerotropolis completes construction, a new joint temple will be built to house all the deities. After the statue is removed but before its demolition, the Tudigong’s temple reverts to its initial state as an ornamented building. Still, the traces of incense ash on the walls carry on its memory.

土地公是民間信仰中，最在地化的守護神。在鄉間，每個村里都會有多座土地公廟，由當地居民奉獻建造，是地方的心靈依託。桃園航空城徵收範圍內，有一百多座各式廟宇，土地公廟佔多數。當地居民會將土地公神像遷至徵收範圍外的宮廟暫俸或永久安俸。甚至會依習俗，向城隍爺報備，為土地公保留職務與管區，待航空城完工後，再選址新建聯合廟宇奉祀。神像遷出後，到拆除前這短暫的時間，土地公廟回歸到原本的建築和雕飾藝術。但牆上的香火痕跡，依然承載了一段記憶。