Kian Tek Tong Tua Pek Kong Temple (Armenian Street), Penang槟城建德堂大伯公庙（本头公巷）
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Malaysia · Penang (state) · George Town · Armenian Street
- First built
- Mid-19th century · Kian Tek Tong was formed by an association of five Hakka sub-groups; accounts of the temple's founding date vary, and the exact year remains uncertain
- Heritage status
- Within the Core Zone of George Town, UNESCO World Heritage Site: Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca (2008)
Overview
The Kian Tek Tong Tua Pek Kong Temple stands on Armenian Street (Bun Tau Kong Lane) in George Town and functions both as an urban branch shrine of the Tua Pek Kong Temple at Batu Maung and as the actual hall of the Kian Tek Tong. Kian Tek Tong began as an association formed by five Hakka sub-groups, and by the mid-nineteenth century it wielded enormous influence in Penang's Chinese community; it was a principal party in the 1867 Penang Riots, after which the colonial government banned it under the Dangerous Societies Ordinance, and it survived thereafter in the legal form of a temple association. Armenian Street takes its Chinese name from this temple; the street also contains the former headquarters of the Tongmenghui's Nanyang branch, established by Sun Yat-sen in 1910 (now the Penang Sun Yat-sen Museum), so that a single street holds three layers of history — secret society, temple, and revolution — side by side. The temple's principal deity is Tua Pek Kong, and it belongs to the category of Chinese popular-religion temples. It lies within the core zone of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Highlights
- An urban branch shrine of the Tua Pek Kong Temple at Batu Maung and the hall of the Kian Tek Tong
- An association of five Hakka sub-groups, and a principal party in the 1867 Penang Riots
- Armenian Street takes its Chinese name from this temple
- Adjoins the former headquarters of the Tongmenghui's Nanyang branch, founded by Sun Yat-sen
- Located within the core zone of the George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site