Faith in the power of old trees is not confined to China. Even today in India great trees are revered as living deities, while tree worship is still known in Japan and Micronesia. The Tree Spirit Pagoda in Alishan is in fact a legacy of the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan.
對巨木的信仰並非中國人特有，即使在今天，印度人仍視巨木為生命之神，日本及南太平洋的密克羅尼西亞群島也都有神樹崇拜，阿里山上至今仍留有日據時代所建的「樹靈塔」。