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Thian Hock Keng Temple
Thian Hock Keng. & ( or the Tianfu Temple, literally "Palace of Heavenly Happiness"), is a temple built for the worship of Mazu, a Chinese sea goddess, located in Singapore. It is the oldest and most important temple of the Hokkien (Hoklo) people in the country. Another shrine at the back is Buddhist dedicated to Guanyin, the Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattva of mercy. Thian Hock Keng was gazetted as a national monument on 6 July 1973. History The temple originated as a small Joss house first built around 1821–1822 at the waterfront serving the local Hokkien community, where seafarers and immigrants gave thanks to the sea goddess Mazu for a safe sea passage on their arrival to Singapore. The temple is located on Telok Ayer Street and originally faced the sea; the Telok Ayer Street used to be situated along the coastline before land reclamation work began in the 1880s. Starting in 1839, the temple was rebuilt with funds collected over the years and donations from the commun ...
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Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in order to compassionately help other individuals reach Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools, as well as modern Theravāda Buddhism, bodhisattva (or bodhisatta) refers to someone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that this will come to pass. In Theravāda Buddhism, the bodhisattva is mainly seen as an exceptional and rare individual. Only a few select individuals are ultimately able to become bodhisattvas, such as Maitreya. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva refers to anyone who has generated '' bodhicitta'', a spontaneous wish and compassionate mind to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Mahayana bodhisattvas are spiritua ...
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Fujian
Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefecture city by population is Quanzhou, with other notable cities including the port city of Xiamen and Zhangzhou. Fujian is located on the west coast of the Taiwan Strait as the closest province geographically and culturally to Taiwan; as a result of the Chinese Civil War, a small portion of historical Fujian is administered by Taiwan, romanized as Fuchien Province, Republic of China, Fuchien. While the population predominantly identifies as Han Chinese, Han, it is one of China's most culturally and linguistically diverse provinces. The dialects of the language group Min Chinese are most commonly spoken within the province, including the Fuzhou dialect and Eastern Min of Northeastern Fujian province and various Southern Min and Hokkien dial ...
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Guangxu Emperor
The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), also known by his temple name Emperor Dezong of Qing, personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1875 to 1908. His succession was endorsed by dowager empresses Empress Dowager Ci'an, Ci'an and Empress Dowager Cixi, Cixi for political reasons after Emperor Tongzhi died without an heir. Cixi held political power for much of Guangxu's reign as regent, except for the period between his assumption of ruling powers in 1889 and the Hundred Days' Reform in 1898. The Qing Empire's prestige and sovereignty continued to erode during Guangxu's reign with defeats in the Sino-French War, the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Boxer Rebellion. Guangxu engaged intellectuals like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao to develop the Hundred Days' Reform program of 1898 to reverse the decline. Among the goals was removing Cixi from power. The program ...
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Dado (architecture)
In architecture, the dado is the lower part of a wall, below the dado rail and above the skirting board. The word is borrowed from Italian meaning "dice" or "cube", and refers to " die", an architectural term for the middle section of a pedestal or plinth. Decorative treatment This area is given a decorative treatment different from that for the upper part of the wall; for example panelling, wainscoting or lincrusta. The purpose of the dado treatment to a wall is both aesthetic and functional. Historically, the panelling below the dado rail was installed to cover the lower part of the wall which was subject to stains associated with rising damp; additionally it provided protection from furniture and passing traffic. The dado rail itself is sometimes referred to as a chair rail, though this can be misleading since its function is principally aesthetic and not to protect the wall from chair backs. Derivation The name was first used in English as an architectural term for the ...
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Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom and the 27th-most-populous city in Europe, and comprises Wards of Glasgow, 23 wards which represent the areas of the city within Glasgow City Council. Glasgow is a leading city in Scotland for finance, shopping, industry, culture and fashion, and was commonly referred to as the "second city of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian eras. In , it had an estimated population as a defined locality of . More than 1,000,000 people live in the Greater Glasgow contiguous urban area, while the wider Glasgow City Region is home to more than 1,800,000 people (its defined functional urban area total was almost the same in 2020), around a third of Scotland's population. The city has a population density of 3,562 p ...
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Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan
Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan (SHHK) (), or the Singapore Hokkien Association in English language, English, is a cultural and educational foundation. It was established in 1840 to promote education, social welfare and the preservation of the Chinese language and Chinese culture, culture among Chinese Singaporean and other Overseas Chinese groups in Southeast Asia. As of 2014, the SHHK, which has 5000 members, is the largest clan association in Singapore. History In the early 19th century, many immigrants from Fujian Province of China came to settle in Southeast Asia, including Singapore. These immigrants established several clan associations to address the social needs of this immigrant community. The Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan was the first such organization to be established in 1840 on the grounds of the Thian Hock Keng Temple. However, the SHHK also served other members of the Chinese community who came from other parts of China. In 1929, the philanthropist Tan Kah Kee became th ...
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Spanish Dollars
The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content fine silver. It was widely used as the first international currency because of its uniformity in standard and milling characteristics. Some countries countermarked the Spanish dollar so it could be used as their local currency. Because the Spanish dollar was widely used in Europe, the Americas, and the Far East, it became the first world currency by the 16th century. The Spanish dollar was the coin upon which the original United States dollar was based (at ), and it remained legal tender in the United States until the Coinage Act of 1857. Many other currencies around the world, such as the Japanese yen and the Chinese yuan, were initially based on the Spanish dollar and other 8-real coins. Most theories trace the origin of the "$" symbol, which originall ...
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Indian Singaporeans
Indian Singaporeans are Singaporeans of Indian people, Indian or of general South Asian diaspora, South Asian ancestor, ancestry. They constitute approximately 9.0% of the country's residents, making them the third largest ancestry and ethnic group in Singapore. While Greater India, contact with ancient India left a deep impact on Singapore's indigenous Malay Singaporeans, Malay culture, the mass settlement of Indians on the island began with the Founding years of modern Singapore, founding of modern Singapore by the British Empire in 1819. Initially, the Indian population was transient, mainly comprising young men who came as workers and soldiers. By the mid-20th century, a settled community had emerged, with a more balanced sex ratio, gender ratio and a better demographic profile, spread of age groups. Indian Singaporeans are linguistically and religiously diverse, with ethnic Tamils forming a plurality – although there are significant amounts of Singaporeans of South Asia ...
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Tan Tock Seng
Tan Tock Seng (; 1798 – 24 February 1850) was a Malacca-born merchant and philanthropist from Singapore. Early life and business Tan Tock Seng was born in Malacca in 1798 to a Chinese Fujian, Fujianese immigrant father and local Peranakan mother. He left for Singapore in 1819 at the age of 21, shortly after Stamford Raffles established a trading port on the island under the British East India Company. Tan made a living by selling vegetables, fruits, fish and other produce in the newly-built city center and eventually earned enough to open a store at Boat Quay in 1827. The store was situated at the mouth of the Singapore River. He then invested in the J. H. Whitehead of Shaw, Whitehead & Company and engaged in property speculation, becoming wealthy in the process and acquiring large tracts of prime land. Tan owned 50 acres (200,000 m²) near the Tanjong Pagar railway station, disjointed land parcels from the Padang, Singapore, Padang leading up to High Street and Tank Ro ...
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Chinese Temple Architecture
Chinese temple architecture refer to a type of structures used as place of worship of Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, or Chinese folk religion, where people revere ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors. They can be classified as: * '' miào'' () or ''diàn'' (), simply means "temple" and mostly enshrines gods of the Chinese pantheon, such as the Dragon King, Tudigong or Matsu; or mythical or historical figures, such as Guandi or Shennong. * '' cí'' (), ''cítáng'' (), ''zōngcí'' () or ''zǔmiào'' (), referring to ancestral temples, mostly enshrining the ancestral gods of a family or clan. * Taoist temples and monasteries: ''guàn'' or '' dàoguàn''; and * Chinese Buddhist temples and monasteries: ''sì'' or ''sìyuàn'' * Temple of Confucius which usually functions as both temple and town school: '' wénmiào'' or '' kŏngmiào''. * Temples of City God (), which worships the patron God of a village, town or a city. * Smaller household shrines or votive nic ...
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