Thong Chai Medical Institution (Old Building), Singapore新加坡同济医院旧址
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Singapore · Singapore · Kreta Ayer (Chinatown) · 50 Eu Tong Sen Street (the old premises)
- Coordinates
- 1.2874, 103.8437 Map ↗
- First built
- 1867 · The Thong Chai Medical Society was founded in 1867; the surviving building on Wayang Street (today Eu Tong Sen Street) was completed in 1892
- Heritage status
- Singapore National Monument (6 November 1973)
Overview
The Thong Chai Medical Institution was founded in 1867 by seven Chinese merchants and is the earliest Chinese charitable institution of traditional medicine in Singapore; its association-hall-style building on Wayang Street (today Eu Tong Sen Street) was completed in 1892. The hall enshrines Shennong Dadi, the King of Medicine, and worshippers commonly burn incense and pray before and after consultation and the dispensing of medicine, an expression of the tradition in which Chinese medicine and the worship of the gods are interwoven. The building also long served as a place for deliberation, mediation and relief fundraising within the Chinese community. It must be stated clearly: the Thong Chai Medical Institution is by nature a charitable medical and community organization, its enshrinement of Shennong merely subsidiary, and it is in no sense a Daoist temple; it is included here in order to show the “charitable hall–temple–medical care” trinity characteristic of Chinese society in Nanyang. The building is in a mixed southern Cantonese and Hokkien style; it was gazetted a National Monument of Singapore on 6 November 1973, the old premises are now put to other uses, and the institution’s medical work continues at a new site.
Highlights
- Founded in 1867, the earliest Chinese charitable institution of traditional medicine in Singapore
- The association-hall-style building completed in 1892, gazetted a National Monument in 1973
- Enshrines Shennong Dadi, medicine and the worship of the gods interwoven
- By nature a charitable medical and community organization, not a Daoist temple