Chinatown Stories | Updated as of August 2019
Thian Hock Keng Temple This national monument is as important to ceremonial duties today as it was when it was built nearly two centuries ago.
Located at 158 Telok Ayer Street in Chinatown, Thian Hock Keng Temple (天福宫 or “Temple of Heavenly Happiness” in Hokkien) is Singapore’s oldest temple. It was gazetted as a national monument on 28 June 1973 by the National Heritage Board.
Early history The temple began as a joss house (a place of worship where joss sticks, a type of incense, are burned) between 1821 and 1822. Early Chinese immigrants erected it as a dedication to the deity Ma Zu Po (妈祖 or Mazu for short), the Goddess of the Seas. New Chinese immigrant arrivals, most of them from Fujian province, would go there to offer thanks for a safe passage across the turbulent South China Sea. Those returning home would also pray for a safe voyage.
At the time, the makeshift shrine was located along the shoreline of Telok Ayer Basin, as Telok Ayer Street faced the seafront. In the 1820s, the street served as the docking bay for the boats of early immigrants.
In 1839, under the leadership of prominent philanthropists Tan Tock Seng and Si Foo Kee, and with funds from other wealthy Hokkien merchants and community leaders, the Hokkien clan began building the temple.
The construction cost 30,000 Spanish dollars, a large amount at the time. Tan was the biggest contributor, donating 3,000 Spanish dollars (considered legal tender at the time). Upon completion, the temple served the community in the areas of housing arrangements, job placements, social welfare, marriage solemnisation and funeral services, among others.
In 1906, with the formation of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce to support the Chinese community, Thian Hock Keng devoted its efforts to promote charity and education. For example, the temple housed Singapore’s first Chinese school, Chong-Wen Ge (崇文阁, the Institute for the Veneration of Literature), at a pagoda in the compound. The school was set up in 1849.
In 1915, the first Hokkien girls’ school, Chong Hock Girls’ School, was set up in the same compound. The school began enrolling boys in 1949, and later came to be known as Chongfu School (（崇福学校). It subsequently moved out of the temple grounds and relocated to Yishun in 1985.
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Situated next to the temple is the former Keng Teck Whay Building. A private family benefit society, Keng Teck Whay (庆德会, Keng Teck Association), was established in 1831 by a group of 36 Hokkien Peranakan merchants from Malacca, many contributing to the construction of the temple. In 2010, ownership of the building was transferred to the Taoist Mission and, subsequently, it was converted into a Taoist temple. It was renamed Singapore Yu Huang Gong ( 玉皇宫, Temple of the Heavenly Jade Emperor) in honour of Yu Huang Shangdi (玉皇上帝, Jade Emperor), the highest divinity in Taoism.
Besides a place of worship, the new temple was also designed to house the clan’s office and serve as a meeting venue. The clan association was located at the temple’s left wing before it was moved to the premises next to the temple in 1919 and across the street in 1955.
While the temple is largely associated with the Hokkien community, the founding committee had desired it to be a temple for all tangren (唐人) – that is, Chinese from all dialect groups.
Architectural features The reconstruction of the temple was done using traditional techniques, and was supported entirely on iron and wooden posts, with no nails in any part of the main structure. The architectural style is considered traditional southern Chinese.
All materials used were imported from China. The statue of Mazu was brought in from China and enshrined as the chief deity following a grand procession in 1840. Other deities installed include Baosheng Dadi (保生大帝, invoked as the God of Medicine and Health), Guansheng Dijun (关圣帝君, worshipped for spiritual protection), Confucius (孔子, a favourite among students and parents) and Guan Yin (观音菩萨), the Goddess of Mercy. These deities were important to the early Chinese immigrants. The Chung Wen Pagoda and Chong Boon Gate, situated to the right of the main temple, were added in 1849.
The temple was made of stone, tiles and wood, and featured “swallow tail” roof ridges, ornate carvings of dragons, phoenixes and deities, intricate sculptures and columns. It had the standard three-hall layout, comprising an entrance hall, a main hall and a rear hall. In addition, it had additional rows of side halls on either side of the primary prayer halls.
On the roofs of the entrance hall and main hall, four dancing dragons symbolising justice and power flank a blazing pearl representing immortality and perfection. The decorative elements on the roofs were made using a special technique called jian nian (剪粘), which means “cut and paste”. Colourful ceramics were meticulously cut into smaller pieces and pasted to create mosaic figures. Inside the temple were intricate carvings finished with gold leaf and lacquer paint.
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As the temple was designed and built according to Chinese temple architectural traditions by skilled craftsmen from China, Thian Hock Keng Temple is considered to be one of the most traditional Chinese temples in Singapore.
In 1906, an upgrading programme was implemented, which saw the addition of Western-style features, such as the wrought-iron gate imported from Glasgow, the courtyard tiling, and the dado tiling.
The temple even attracted the attention of the Qing Emperor Guang Xu(光绪帝), who presented it with a silk scroll and wooden calligraphy plaque in 1907. The plaque is inscribed with the phrase bo jing nan ming (波靖南溟, “gentle waves over the South Seas”). The same four Chinese characters are also found on the scroll. The plaque and scroll also recognised the contributions made by Hokkien merchants in Singapore towards flood relief efforts in Fujian in 1905.
Both plaque and scroll had hung over the temple’s main altar signboard until 1999, when they were taken down before restoration work began. A replica of the original scroll and original wooden plaque were returned to the same spot upon the completion of restoration work. The scroll was subsequently donated to the Singapore History Museum, now the National Museum of Singapore, where it is on permanent exhibition.
Restoration works In 1981, the temple’s east and west wings were restored and ancestral halls were installed. The work cost $550,000.
In the 1990s, the temple was found to be infested with termites. The Hokkien Huay Kuan formed a committee to look into conserving and restoring the structure. Following guidelines by the Singapore Preservation of Monuments Board (now the Preservation of Sites and Monuments), the committee decided to preserve the temple’s façade and physical appearance. To restore it, maximum retention, sensitive restoration and careful repair were adopted.
Planning for the restoration began in 1995. It was a major project involving up to 70 Fujian craftsmen, such as wood carvers, stonemasons and artisans, who were brought in for their traditional skills to ensure that the end result was as richly detailed as the original. Architectural firm James Ferrie & Partners headed the project. The restoration began in 1998 and was completed in December 2000. It cost around $3.8 million.
Original materials that could not be restored were preserved for their historical significance. All damaged parts that were not salvageable were removed and replaced using scarfing techniques. The traditional configuration of interior spaces and courtyards were kept in accordance with the
Page 3 of 5 Chinatown Stories | Updated as of August 2019 original architecture. Any weathered and damaged spirals were restored and painted to their original colours using a lacquer paste made from ground minerals and glazes.
Between 2011 and 2012, the temple underwent another extensive restoration to enhance the monument structurally and aesthetically. The project cost $2.2 million.
The restored Thian Hock Keng Temple has since won many local and architectural awards. It received honourable mention in the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage 2001 Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. In 2014 it received the Architecture Heritage Award.
The significance of the temple today Today, Thian Hock Keng Temple remains an important place of worship among local Chinese Buddhists and Taoists. It is also a popular destination for tourists. In 2017, Tan Aik Hock, chairman of the temple management committee, said visitors and worshippers come from “all over the world and all walks of life”.
In an interview with The Straits Times in 2015, Low Yin Ching, an administrator, said that she visits the temple on the first day and 15th day of each lunar month. “Lots of other office workers come by as well. It is very convenient for us to be able to pay respects to the deities,” he added.
Lee Wan Fang was born near the temple, in Nankin Street. In 2016, the then-80-year-old retired traditional Chinese medicine practitioner said that the temple is significant in the lives of frequent worshippers like himself. In an interview, he said: “Many devotees have a lasting emotional and spiritual attachment to this temple. Parents continue to bring their children to pray there, where they pass on Chinese traditions and principles to younger members of the community.”
Devotees access the temple through the entrance hall. After crossing the front courtyard, they enter the main hall, which houses the enshrined main deity Mazu, flanked by Guan Di, the god of war, and Baosheng Dadi. Guan Yin is enshrined in the rear hall, while other statues, such as the one of Confucius, are housed in the temple’s side halls. As Mazu is a female deity, the central doors of the temple are guarded by eunuchs instead of door gods.
The temple also offers a place to install ancestral tablets in remembrance of those deceased. It has such tablets of about 3,900 unknown persons, whose remains are housed at the Choa Chu Kang Columbarium.
Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan presently manages the temple. It offers free guided tours for visitors such as those from non-profit organisations, community groups, schools, agencies and so on during events and celebrations like Chinese New Year, Mazu’s birthday celebration, and other major events, or for the general public during special events organised by the temple’s
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References:
thianhockkeng.com.sg/site/about/
www.visitsingapore.com/en_au/see-do-singapore/culture-heritage/places-of- worship/thian-hock-keng-temple/
eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_793_2005-01-10.html
www.chinatown.sg/index.php?fx=directory&&g1=precinct&g2=3&g3=2&m=list&tid=715 #tenantdetails
www.ura.gov.sg/Corporate/Get-Involved/Conserve-Built-Heritage/Architectural- Heritage-Season/-/media/A3CD97A296F042808A4EF7812F6CC9E0.ashx
www.shhk.com.sg/our-heritage/
www.straitstimes.com/singapore/havens-for-stressed-office-workers
www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/speeches/view-html?filename=2001071802.htm
www.straitstimes.com/singapore/where-seafarers-prayed-for-safe-passage
www.sg/en/Featured-Stories/Thian-Hock-Keng-Temple.aspx
chongfu.moe.edu.sg/heritage/history/
roots.sg/Content/Places/landmarks/heritage-schools-trail/chong-wen-ge-former-chong- hock-girls-school
roots.sg/Content/Places/national-monuments/former-keng-teck-whay-building
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