Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay

Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay

Tin Hau Temple, located at No. 10 Tin Hau Temple Road, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, was built by Dai Shifan in the early Qing Dynasty. At that time, it was called "red incense burner temple in Yanchuan bay". The title of Tin Hau Temple is still owned by the Dai clan (Dai Fu Tang Co., Ltd.). The Chinese temples Ordinance passed in 1928 stipulates that all temples in Hong Kong are managed by the Chinese Temples Committee, but the red incense burner Tin Hau Temple is still exempted The self-management of the Dai people is a very special example. Tianhou temple in Causeway Bay is dedicated to empress Tianhou, and other deities are Guanyin, Zhengcai and Baogong. The nearby subway station is also named "Tin Hau Station".

History of temple construction

Legend one

A red censer was washed to the present-day Causeway Bay by water. Local villagers and fishermen thought it was empress dowager. They built a small temple there and used the censer to offer incense. Because of its effectiveness, the appearance of the temple developed. Therefore, the location of the temple was renamed "red censer mountain", and the port where the censer came was renamed "red censer port". Later, "Hong Kong incense burner port" generally refers to the area around Hong Kong Island, which is also the name of "Hong Kong".

Legend 2

Tin Hau Temple in Causeway Bay was built by the Dai family in the early 18th century. Dai is a Hakka from Danshui, Guangdong Province. He first settled in a village called Pugang in Jiulongwan. He often went to the sea to mow grass along the coast of Hong Kong Island. It is said that his people found a statue on the bank and set up a temple for it. Since then, good faith gradually increased and incense gradually flourished, so funds were raised to build a formal Temple of Empress Dowager.

Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay, 1880

Temple architecture

Tin Hau Temple in Causeway Bay was originally built on a high platform by the sea, with its back on Paotai mountain and facing Victoria Harbor. Although it has been rebuilt many times, first in Daoguang Jiachen (1844), it still retains the appearance of the second large-scale reconstruction in 1868.

Tianhou temple is a traditional Chinese architecture with two entrances. It is three rooms wide and built of green bricks. The roof is covered with green glazed tiles. It is symmetrically arranged from left to right. The first entrance is the gate house, and the main entrance is designed as a front eaves gallery. The middle entrance is set behind the main entrance to block the evil spirit. The patio between the two entrances is covered with a roof to form a incense Pavilion. The back is the main hall for worshipping the God's bag statue, and there is a stone God in Guangxu's second year This is the first time. Each side has a side hall, the left is "daifutang" and the right is "Baijia Temple". In front of the side hall, there are patios and independent exits leading to the outside of the temple or entering the incense pavilion through the left and right moon gates of "Zhanyun" and "Longhua" and "jiuri" and "Hubian". The patio screen wall is decorated with grey plastic of dragon and tiger.

There are four big characters on the banner of the temple gate, the stone beam outside the temple gate bears the inscription of Tongzhi seventh year, the stone lion carved with the inscription of "Xingyi diaoyue" in 1845, and the copper Jubao stove and incense burner carved in 1902. Besides, there are vivid ceramic figures on the roof and exquisite murals. The main ridge of the gate house is divided into three layers. The upper layer is "two dragons fighting for pearls". The middle layer is the Shiwan flower ridge decorated with pottery figures of Chinese opera. The lower layer is painted, but most of them have fallen off. The two ends are decorated with Boao fish. The main hall ridge is similar to the main gate ridge, but there is no "two dragons competing for pearls". On the long ends of the gable, there are flower and bird figurines with the words "wealth" and "longevity test" written on them respectively.

Architectural pattern

The architectural pattern of the temple is quite special, which is similar to that of Wudi temple in Haitan street. On the middle door, there are a pair of Su embroidery like wooden screens. The main hall of the temple is in the back, and there are side halls on the left and right, which is quite large in the urban area.

Days after

Empress dowager, also known as Mazu, was originally from Fujian Province. Her name was Lin Mo Niang. It is said that she was born with a special talent. When she was 13 years old, she met a founder who taught her everything, knew the future, and helped her to get sick. It is said that she often traveled to and fro the sea on a reed mat to save some drowned people. People respected her as a God to protect the safety of the sea and built a temple to commemorate her

Historical relics?

The three characters of "Tian Hou Temple" at the main gate of the temple and the couplet "Bai Yue's Shengling road is the way to open the universe from Tianhong; the group of worshippers from all walks of life was born in Youlu, Huanbo, Haiqing and Anlan", which was engraved in the second year of the Republic of China (1913).

Other gods

Besides Tin Hau, the temple also worships Taisui, Guanyin and Baogong.

characteristic

Tin Hau Temple is the belief center of Tuen Mun fishermen, so every year on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, a temple fair will be held. During this period, a stage will be set up in the square in front of the temple for five consecutive days to perform magic arts and a series of activities, such as dragon and lion dance. Tin Hau Po's birthday is a great event for residents and fishermen in Tuen Mun. They will go to Tin Hau Temple to celebrate the birthday. For this reason, the police will also take road closure measures on Tin Hau Road to facilitate people's visit to Tin Hau Temple.

In addition, due to the construction of the West Rail Station in Tuen Mun, the land for the new year's Eve market in Tuen Mun has been lost. After years of site conversion, the site for the new year's Eve market in miaojian square has been chosen in recent years. Although the new year's Eve market is not as large as Weiyuan, it has a different flavor because it is held in front of the temple with Chinese characteristics.

traffic

Take bus 25 from central to Tin Hau Temple Road;

Take MTR Island Line to exit A1 of Tin Hau Station.

Address: 10 Tin Hau Temple Road, Causeway Bay, Eastern District, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Longitude: 114.197533

Latitude: 22.279421

Ticket information: no ticket required.