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 present building began construction in 1908 and was 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, Fujian, and chiefly venerates Guangze Zunwang (Guo Shengwang), a local protector deity whose cult was transplanted from the Hong San See temple in Nan'an. It was first established as a temple in 1829 in the Telok Ayer area of Tanjong Pagar; in 1907, when the government requisitioned the land, the Nan'an Hui Guan purchased a hillside site on Institution Hill for reconstruction, with work beginning in 1908 and completed in 1913; the building materials and the deity images were all shipped from Fujian, at a cost of about 56,000 Straits dollars. The building is a typical example of Southern Fujian (Minnan) architecture, with swallowtail ridges, cut-porcelain mosaic decoration, carved stone dragon pillars and fine woodwork, making it one of the few surviving intact 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 Culture Heritage Conservation. In terms of its religious nature, Guangze Zunwang is a local deity of Southern Fujian, and this temple is a native-place popular-religion temple, not a temple of a Quanzhen or Zhengyi Daoist order.

Highlights

• A branch temple venerating Guangze Zunwang, founded by Nan'an immigrants
• 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 mosaics, carved stone dragon pillars