Pagode Guan Di, Saint-Pierre, La Réunion留尼汪圣皮埃尔关帝庙
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- France (Réunion) · Réunion (Department) · Saint-Pierre · 46 rue Marius et Ary Leblond, 97410 Saint-Pierre
- First built
- 1920 · Originated from a clubhouse of Hakka immigrants from Meixian in the 1920s; progressively expanded from the 1950s onward.
Overview
The Pagode Guan Di in Saint-Pierre was completed in 1920; its predecessor was a meeting hall established by Hakka immigrants from Meixian in the 1920s — these Hakka immigrants had settled in southern Réunion from the 1880s onward, initially running small shops before gradually gaining a hold on the retail and import trade. The pagoda's principal deity is Guandi, venerated as god of war, of letters, and of commerce; it also houses altars to Bao Gong (god of justice), the God of Wealth, and Patriarch Lü, as well as an ancestral altar. From the 1950s onward, the compound was progressively expanded with the addition of an assembly hall, a Chinese community clubhouse, a kitchen, a banquet hall and meeting rooms, forming a complex that combines religious and community functions and can seat more than 900 people for communal meals. With its red walls and painted gates and altars arranged on all four sides, it is the most complete in scale and function of the four Chinese temples of Réunion. The Chinese presence in Réunion dates from around 1844: workers were initially recruited from Malaya to replace plantation labor after the abolition of slavery; the colonial authorities halted recruitment in 1846 owing to labor unrest, and subsequent immigrants turned to commerce, their descendants today holding a significant share of the island's retail and import trades.
Highlights
- Completed in 1920, originating from a Hakka clubhouse from Meixian
- Principal deity Guandi, with Bao Gong, the God of Wealth and Patriarch Lü also worshipped
- Houses an ancestral altar for ancestor worship
- Expanded from the 1950s onward into a religious and community complex
- Can seat more than 900 people for communal meals