Tam Kung Temple, Victoria BC维多利亚谭公庙（人和会馆）
- Type
- Overseas Daoist Temples
- Location
- Canada · British Columbia · Victoria · 1713 Government Street, near the junction with Fisgard Street, in Victoria's Chinatown; on the top floor of the Yen Wo Society
- First built
- Funds were raised in 1875 to rent a building and establish a temple; it was consecrated on 21 January 1876 · The current brick building dates from a 1912 rebuilding; listed on the community heritage register in 1995, on the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 2009, and designated a National Historic Site by Parks Canada in March 2025
- Heritage status
- Canadian National Historic Site (2025)Canadian Register of Historic Places(2009)Community Heritage Register(1995)
Overview
The Tam Kung Temple, Victoria BC, is Canada's oldest Chinese temple, dedicated primarily to Tam Kung, a sea god venerated by Cantonese Hakka people. Its origins trace to the 1860s: a Hakka man from Guangdong brought a statue of Tam Kung to Victoria, and before setting off for the Fraser River goldfields placed the statue in a wooden shrine in a Johnson Street ravine for people to worship. In 1875 the Hakka community pooled funds to rent a building and set up a temple, consecrated on January 21, 1876; the original building was demolished during the Edwardian building boom, and the community rebuilt the temple hall in 1912 within the current brick building, on the top floor of the Yen Wo Society (a Hakka native-place association founded by Victoria's Hakka community in 1905); it remains active and open to the public today. Victoria's Chinatown is Canada's oldest and best-preserved Chinatown. The temple was listed on the community heritage register on January 19, 1995, on the Canadian Register of Historic Places on December 24, 2009, and was designated a National Historic Site by Parks Canada in March 2025.
Highlights
- Canada's oldest Chinese temple
- Worship of Tam Kung, a Hakka sea god
- Temple hall on the top floor of the Yen Wo Society
- National Historic Site (2025)