zh, 鳳山寺 , image = Hong San Si Temple 04.jpg , caption = , location =

Kuching Kuching (), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River ...

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Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

, district =

Kuching District The Kuching District is an administrative district within Kuching Division, Sarawak, Malaysia. It is subdivided into two subdistricts which is Kuching Proper and Padawan. The population of the entire District was 617,887 at the 2010 Census. ...

, state =

Sarawak Sarawak (; ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. The largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is located in northwest Borneo Island, and is bordered by the M ...

, country =

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, established = 1848 , architecture_type = Chinese temple Hong San Si Temple ( zh, 鳳山寺) is a Chinese temple situated in Carpenter Street of

. It is part of the Kuching Heritage Trail.

History

The temple has existed since 1848, and is dedicated to

Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages in ...

child

deity A deity or god is a supernatural being who is considered divine or sacred. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines deity as a god or goddess, or anything revered as divine. C. Scott Littleton defines a deity as "a being with powers greate ...

Kong Teck Choon Ong. According to its early history, the first Rajah of Sarawak, James Brooke saw a little boy playing with water next to the temple grand stage when he passed the area and began asking the temple worshippers who had just moved to the area from mainland

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

about the boy, only to be told that there is no children playing in the area. The temple worshippers then said the boy is a manifestation of Kong Teck Choon Ong, which is a boy deity and adding that the emperors of many Chinese dynasties in China had honoured the deity with the name. Amused by the story, the Rajah then instructed the temple worshippers to build a

water hydrant A fire hydrant, waterplug, or firecock (archaic) is a connection point by which firefighters can tap into a water supply. It is a component of active fire protection. Underground fire hydrants have been used in Europe and Asia since at least t ...

to give respect to the deity and wishing that the town of Kuching will be prospered in the future as well requesting his subjects to completing the temple building and seek his assistance if they faced any problems. During the Great Fire of Kuching in 1884, the locals saw the child deity appeared on buildings rooftops in Ewe Hai Street to give warning to nearby people and summoning rain to put out the fire. In 1993, the temple was declared as one of the historical building under the Sarawak Cultural Heritage Ordinance. The water hydrant however was torn down in the 2000s to make way for development before being replaced with a water fountain and garden by the state government in 2005. Earlier in 2004, the temple had undergoing renovation works with parts of the temple building is made from new structure.

References

External links

* {{Malaysian historical architectures and sites Religious buildings and structures completed in 1848 Chinese-Malaysian culture Taoist temples in Malaysia Buildings and structures in Kuching Tourist attractions in Sarawak