Thian Hock Keng. & ( or the Tianfu Temple, literally "Palace of Heavenly Happiness"), is a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

built for the worship of

Mazu Mazu or Matsu is a sea goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. She is also known by several other names and titles. Mazu is the deified form of Lin Moniang (), a shamaness from Fujian who is said to ...

, a

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

sea goddess A water deity is a deity in mythology associated with water or various bodies of water. Water deities are common in mythology and were usually more important among civilizations in which the sea or ocean, or a great river was more important. Anoth ...

, located in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. It is the oldest and most important temple of the

Hokkien Hokkien ( , ) is a Varieties of Chinese, variety of the Southern Min group of Chinese language, Chinese languages. Native to and originating from the Minnan region in the southeastern part of Fujian in southeastern China, it is also referred ...

(

Hoklo The Hoklo people () are a Han Chinese subgroup who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to southeastern Fujian in China, and known by various related terms such as Banlam people (), Minnan people, Fujianese people or ...

) people in the country. Another shrine at the back is

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

dedicated to

Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

, the

Mahayana Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

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 ...

of mercy. Thian Hock Keng was

gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

d as a

national monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a sp ...

on 6 July 1973.

History

The temple originated as a small

Joss house Joss house refers to a type of Chinese temple architecture, and it may refer to: Buildings * Auburn Joss House in Auburn, California, U.S.; NRHP-listed * Mendocino Joss House in Mendocino, California, U.S.; CHL-listed * Weaverville Joss Hous ...

first built around 1821–1822 at the waterfront serving the local Hokkien community, where seafarers and immigrants gave thanks to the sea goddess

for a safe sea passage on their arrival to Singapore. The temple is located on

Telok Ayer Street Telok Ayer Street (Singapore English pronunciation: or , ) is a street located in Singapore's Chinatown within the Outram district, linking Church Street to Cecil Street. Telok Ayer MRT station is located at the junction of Cross 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 community, the largest of which was from

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 m ...

, a Hokkien businessman. The building materials of the temple and a statue of Mazu was brought over from China, and the statue enshrined in the main hall of the temple in 1840. Some of the building materials, such as stone for the columns, timber as well as tiles were recycled from ballasts in ships. The local Indian community of Chulia Street also helped build the temple, and a statue of a man who appears to be an Indian holding a beam up at the ceiling was placed in the right wing as a reminder and gesture for their contribution. The temple was completed in 1842 at a cost of 30,000

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 wa ...

. In 1840, the clan association Hokkien Huay Kuan serving the Hokkien community was formed within the temple ground of Thian Hock Keng. In 1849, the Chung Wen Pagoda and Chong Boon Gate were added to the right of the main temple. The building was renovated in 1906, and some 'western-style' features were added, such as a wrought-iron gate from

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 dado tiling. A scroll and plaque were presented to the temple by

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 ...

to the temple in 1907. The Chong Hock Pavilion was built in 1913, and was once used by the Chong Hock Girls' School established in the temple. The temple was gazetted as a National Monument in 1973. A major renovation of the temple was initiated in 1998 and completed in 2000 at a cost of US$2.2 million. The renovation received an honourable mention from the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation in 2001.

Architecture

Thian Hock Keng, built on a square site, is of traditional Chinese design whereby a group of buildings or pavilions cluster around the main courtyard. It has the standard layout of three halls commonly found in such temples – an entrance hall, a main hall, and a rear hall. The temple is constructed in the temple architecture style commonly found in

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 prefe ...

. The main halls are of single-storey beam-frame structures with

brackets A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. They come in four main pairs of shapes, as given in the box to the right, which also gives their n ...

supporting curving roofs with wide eaves. Dragons and other decorative motifs are placed on the roofs of the entrance hall as well as the main hall. Thian Hock Keng Temple 22

The entrance hall has one main door and two side doors, with a high step in front. The side entrances are decorated with coloured tiles with peacocks, roses, and the Buddhist

swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few Indigenous peoples of Africa, African and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely rec ...

motif that symbolises good luck, eternity and immortality. Guarding the doors are the traditional sentinels of Taoist temple – stone

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

s and

Door Gods ''Menshen'', or door gods, are divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese folk religions, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones. They began as the divine pair Shenshu () and Yulü () under ...

. The temple is richly decorated with coloured tiles, red, black and gold lacquered wood, as well as figures of dragons and phoenix, with embellished and gilded beams, brackets, and ceilings. The entrance leads directly into main courtyard. Overlooking the courtyard is the temple proper where the shrine of Mazu is located. On either side of the temple are

pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

s with octagonal base – the one on the left is a shrine of

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

while the one on the right houses the

ancestral An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

tablets of Hokkien immigrants who founded the temple. Behind the main shrine is another courtyard where a smaller altar dedicated to

Kuan Yin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

may be found. Down either side of the temple are aisles leading to the monks quarters.

Worship

The main deity worshiped in the temple is

(媽祖婆, "Ma Cho Po" in the local dialect), a 10th-century

ese shamaness

deified Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

as a

Sea Goddess. Early immigrants to Singapore offered incense to the Goddess to give thanks for a safe passage across the sea from China. Today's worshippers come to the temple to pray for peace, protection and good health. A smaller shrine dedicated to

, the Goddess of Mercy, is located at the back. Other deities worshiped in the temple include the God of Medicine and Health (保生大帝, ''Baosheng Dadi''), Holy Emperor Lord Guan (關聖帝君, ''Guansheng Dijun'', worshipped for spiritual protection), the Sacred Duke Kai Zhang (伽藍菩薩, ''Qie Lan Pu Sa'') and the

City God A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

(城隍爺, ''Cheng Huang Ye'').

is also venerated in the temple.

References

News articles

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External links

Uniquely Singapore website360° image of the Thian Hock Keng's EntranceSingapore Photo Gallery by ziploc at pbase.com
{{Authority control National monuments of Singapore Mazu temples Taoist temples in Singapore Buddhist temples in Singapore Religious buildings and structures completed in 1842 Chinatown, Singapore Outram, Singapore 19th-century architecture in Singapore