Wong Tai Sin Temple, San Francisco旧金山黄大仙庙

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

United States · California · San Francisco · Sixth Avenue, Inner Richmond District

Coordinates

37.77752, -122.46389 Map ↗

First built

Founding date not established by reliable documentation; currently unavailable

Overview

The Wong Tai Sin Temple in San Francisco is located on Sixth Avenue in the Inner Richmond District, a secondary area of Chinese settlement, rather than in the core of Chinatown, and belongs to the new temples built as Cantonese and Hong Kong immigrants spread to the outer parts of the city in the late twentieth century. Worship of Wong Tai Sin (Huang Chuping of Chisong) originated in Xiqiao, Guangdong, and the Huabu district of Guangzhou; in 1921 the Daoist priest Leung Yan-am carried the spirit-writing altar south to Hong Kong, giving rise to the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple system, known for spirit-writing, medicinal fortune sticks, and narratives of efficacious response to prayer — a cult of an immortal figure within Chinese popular religion, with no direct institutional affiliation to the Quanzhen or Zhengyi orders. This San Francisco temple retains the name "Wong Tai Sin Temple" and worships Wong Tai Sin of Chisong, but no documentation has been found to show that it is a formal branch altar of Sik Sik Yuen in Hong Kong, and it should not be described as such. Geographic databases register its religious affiliation as Buddhist, reflecting the common gap between the registration categories of North American Chinese temples and their actual religious composition.

Highlights

• Located in the Richmond District, a newer temple on the periphery of Chinatown
• Dedicated to Wong Tai Sin of Chisong, a cult of an immortal figure in popular religion
• No documentary support for any affiliation with Sik Sik Yuen in Hong Kong