Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple柔佛古庙

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Malaysia · Johor State · Johor Bahru · Jalan Trus, Johor Bahru

Coordinates

1.4606, 103.7631 Map ↗

First built

1870s · Founded by Tan Hiok Nee, leader of the Yixing Company; underwent a major renovation costing 1.5 million ringgit in 1995; today managed by the Johor Old Temple Board of Management

Overview

Johor Old Temple was built in the 1870s by Tan Hiok Nee, leader of the Yixing Company, and is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Johor Bahru. Within the temple, five dialect groups share worship of five deities: Yuantian Shangdi (Chaozhou), Hong Xian Dadi (Hokkien), Gantian Dadi (Hakka), Huaguang Dadi (Cantonese), and Marshal Zhao (Hainanese) — each group worshipping the principal deity of its own ancestral place within the same temple, symbolizing cross-group unity among the five major Chinese dialect communities. This is extremely unusual among Nanyang Chinese temples, where most temples are built independently by a single dialect group, and a temple shared by five groups is rare. Each year, from the twentieth to the twenty-third day of the first lunar month, the "Procession of the Gods" (Chingay) is held, in which the palanquins of the five deities are carried through the district in sequence, drawing over three hundred thousand participants — one of the largest Chinese folk festivals in Malaysia. The temple houses artifacts including a century-old bronze bell and wooden plaques, and underwent a major renovation costing 1.5 million ringgit in 1995. Yuantian Shangdi is Xuandi (Xuanwu), the name used within the Chaozhou community for the Perfected Warrior, Daoism's northern deity.

Highlights

• Five dialect groups sharing worship of five deities within one temple
• The "Procession of the Gods" (Chingay), drawing over 300,000 participants
• Tan Hiok Nee and the Yixing Company
• A century-old bronze bell and wooden plaques