Phuc Kien Assembly Hall, Hoi An会安福建会馆（金山寺）

Type: Overseas Daoist Temples
Location: Vietnam · Da Nang City · Hoi An · 46 Trần Phú, Hội An
Coordinates: 15.8781, 108.331 Map ↗
First built: 1697 (Hokkien merchants purchased the site of an old nunnery to build an assembly hall); renamed the Fujian Assembly Hall after a major renovation and expansion in 1757 · An alternative account places the rebuilding in 1792, with all three accounts persisting alongside one another; listed as a national historical and cultural relic of Vietnam on 17 February 1990
Heritage status: Vietnamese National Historical and Cultural Relic (1990)UNESCO World Heritage Site: Hoi An Ancient Town (1999)

Overview

Phuc Kien Assembly Hall in Hoi An is the largest and earliest Chinese assembly hall in the city; its predecessor was a thatched-roof "Kim Son Tu" (Gold Mountain Temple), built by fishermen after they recovered a deity statue, and the ceramic sculpture on its gate still bears this old name. In 1697, Hokkien merchants purchased the site of the old shrine to build the assembly hall; after a major renovation and expansion in 1757 it was renamed the Phuc Kien (Fujian) Assembly Hall (an alternative account places the rebuilding in 1792, and all three accounts persist alongside one another). It is dedicated principally to the Empress of Heaven (Mazu), with subsidiary worship of Qianliyan (Thousand-Mile Eye) and Shunfeng'er (Fair-Wind Ear), the Six Lords, the Twelve Midwife Goddesses, and three forms of Zhusheng Niangniang — Mazu flanked by Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er, together with separate shrines to the Six Lords and to the Twelve Midwife Goddesses invoked for childbearing, forming a complete sample of the maritime beliefs of Hokkien merchants. The building follows a three-courtyard layout shaped like the character for "three" (三), predominantly in vermilion, and houses a bronze bell cast in 1790 along with extensive gilt woodcarving. It was listed as a national historical and cultural relic of Vietnam on 17 February 1990; the Hoi An Ancient Town in which it stands was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 4 December 1999. It is a Chinese native-place assembly hall that also serves as a site of popular religion, not a Daoist organization.

Highlights

Mazu flanked by Qianliyan and Shunfeng'er
Shrines to the Six Lords and the Twelve Midwife Goddesses
A bronze bell cast in 1790
Hoi An Ancient Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

References