Hong San See, Singapore新加坡凤山寺

Type

Overseas Daoist Temples

Location

Singapore · Singapore · River Valley · 31 Mohamed Sultan Road, on the slope of Institution Hill

Coordinates

1.2925, 103.8381 Map ↗

First built

1908 · First established in 1829 on Tras Street in Tanjong Pagar; the building on the present site was begun in 1908 and completed in 1913

Heritage status

Singapore National Monument (10 November 1978)UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award for Culture Heritage Conservation, Award of Excellence (2010)

Overview

Hong San See was founded by immigrants from Nan’an in Fujian and is dedicated principally to Guangze Zunwang (Guo Shengwang), a native-place protector deity, a branch (fenling) of the Hong San See in Nan’an. The temple was first established in 1829 on Tras Street in Tanjong Pagar; in 1907, when the government requisitioned the land, the Nan’an Hui Guan bought a hillside plot on Institution Hill for rebuilding, with work begun in 1908 and completed in 1913, all the building materials and the deity images being shipped from Fujian at a cost of about 56,000 Straits dollars. The building is typically Minnan in style, with swallowtail ridges, cut-porcelain work (jiannian), carved stone dragon pillars and fine woodwork; it is one of the few intact surviving examples of late-Qing Minnan craftsmanship in Singapore. It was gazetted a National Monument of Singapore on 10 November 1978. A major restoration was completed in 2009, and in 2010 it received the Award of Excellence in the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. As to its religious character, Guangze Zunwang is a native-place deity of southern Fujian, and this temple is a native-place popular-religion temple, not the temple of a Quanzhen or Zhengyi religious order.

Highlights

• A branch (fenling) of the ancestral temple, venerating Guangze Zunwang, founded by immigrants from Nan’an
• Built 1908–1913, with materials and images shipped from southern Fujian
• Gazetted a National Monument of Singapore in 1978
• Received the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Award of Excellence in 2010
• Intact late-Qing Minnan craftsmanship: swallowtail ridges, cut-porcelain work, carved stone dragon pillars