Eng Ann Teng Tua Pek Kong Temple, Sibu诗巫永安亭大伯公庙
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Malaysia · Sarawak (state) · Sibu · Jalan Temple, on the bank of the Rajang River
- First built
- the 1850s · The temple's own history dates its founding to the 1850s; it was already recorded in the Sarawak Gazette of 1871, and was rebuilt in brick and timber in 1897
Overview
Eng Ann Teng, the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Sibu, stands on the bank of the Rajang River. According to the temple's own history it was first built in the 1850s, but the earliest verifiable record is a small timber-built Chinese temple mentioned in the Sarawak Gazette of 1871; it was rebuilt in brick and timber in 1897. Sibu was the site of the Fuzhou settlement scheme — in 1901 Wong Nai Siong led Fuzhou settlers from Minqing, Gutian, and other counties south to open up the land, forming what is today the largest Fuzhou community in Sarawak — but this temple predates the Fuzhou settlement, reflecting the presence of earlier Hokkien and Teochew immigrants. The temple survived the great Sibu fire of 8 March 1928. The rear hall was demolished in 1987, and a seven-story pagoda dedicated to Guanyin was completed in 1989; the pagoda is a landmark of Sibu, overlooking the Rajang River. The temple is dedicated primarily to Tua Pek Kong (Fude Zhengshen) and is a Chinese folk-religion temple; the Guanyin pagoda has a Buddhist character, and the two share the same site — a common arrangement of Buddhism and Daoism side by side found in Nanyang temples.
Highlights
- Already recorded in the Sarawak Gazette of 1871, the oldest Chinese temple in Sibu
- Rebuilt in brick and timber in 1897, and survived the great fire of 1928
- A seven-story pagoda dedicated to Guanyin was completed in 1989, now a landmark of Sibu
- Predates Wong Nai Siong's 1901 Fuzhou settlement scheme, reflecting earlier Hokkien and Teochew immigration
- Dedicated primarily to Tua Pek Kong, with Buddhism and Daoism side by side