Guandi Shrine and Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China, Lima利马唐人街关帝坛与中华通惠总局

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Peru · Lima · Lima · The Guandi altar is housed within the Lung Kong Ko So, at Jirón Paruro No. 756; the Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China is located in the Capón street area of Chinatown

First built

China Central Benevolent Association (founded 1886) · Established by imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor and founded by Zheng Zaoru, Qing minister to Peru; the cult of Guandi is attached to the clan-hall altar, and no independent Guandi temple building is known

Overview

The cult of Guandi among Peru's Chinese community exists in the form of an altar within a clan association hall: the Guandi (Kuan Kung) altar of Lima's Chinatown is housed within the Lung Kong Ko So, and the locality also has multicultural altars where Guandi is worshipped alongside the Virgin Mary, reflecting a deep fusion of Chinese and Peruvian belief. The Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China ('Ton Huy Chong Koc'), which oversees the affairs of Peru's Chinese community, was established in 1886 by imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor and founded by Zheng Zaoru, the Qing minister to Peru; it is the highest representative body of the Chinese in Peru, and is in nature a Chinese charitable federation rather than a Daoist temple. Most Chinese in Peru descend from indentured laborers ('coolies') of the mid-nineteenth century and their descendants, and their numbers are the largest in Latin America; their religious life has, however, long been carried by clan-hall altars and household worship rather than by independent temple architecture, in contrast to the temple-centered pattern of Chinese communities in North America and Southeast Asia.

Highlights

• Guandi altar housed within the Lung Kong Ko So
• Guandi worshipped alongside the Virgin Mary
• Sociedad Central de Beneficencia China (1886) established by imperial edict of the Guangxu Emperor
• A clan-hall altar rather than an independent temple