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Johor Bahru Johor Bahru (), colloquially referred to as JB, is the capital city of the state of Johor, Malaysia. It is located at the southern end of Peninsular Malaysia,along the north bank of the Straits of Johor, opposite of the city-state Singapore. T ...

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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 =

Johor Bahru District The Johor Bahru District is a district located in the southern part of Johor, Malaysia. The heavily suburban/suburbanizing district covers an area of and has a population of 1.71 million. The district capital is Johor Bahru City and the admi ...

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Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...

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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 ...

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Tan Hiok Nee Kapitan Cina, Major China Dato' Tan Hiok Nee (; 1827 – 21 May 1902), also known as Tan Yeok Nee (), was the leader of the Ngee Heng Kongsi of Johor, succeeding Tan Kee Soon in circa 1864, he transformed the Ngee Heng Kongsi of Johor from a q ...

, established = 1870s , architecture_type =

Chinese temple Chinese temple architecture refer to a type of structures used as place of worship of Chinese Buddhism, Taoism or Chinese folk religion, where people revere ethnic Chinese gods and ancestors. They can be classified as: * '' miào'' () or ''di� ...

Johor Bahru Old Chinese Temple () known as Old Temple () by the locals, is a Chinese temple located in

. Located at Jalan Trus, the temple is flanked by modern skyscrapers. This temple is one of the oldest structures in the city and become the symbol of unity among five Chinese ethnic groups of Teochew,

Hoklo The Hoklo people or Hokkien people () are a Han Chinese (also Han Taiwanese) subgroup who speak Hokkien, a Southern Min language, or trace their ancestry to Southeastern Fujian, China and known by various endonyms or other related terms such a ...

(Hokkien),

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding are ...

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

and

Hainanese Hainanese (Hainan Romanised: ', Hainanese Pinyin: ',), also known as Qióngwén, Heng2 vun2 () or Qióngyǔ, Heng2 yi2 (), is a group of Min Chinese varieties spoken in the southern Chinese island province of Hainan and Overseas Chinese su ...

people. In 2007, a documentary series called ''My Roots'' featured the temple in the episode "Grand March with the Deities".

History

The temple history dates back as early as between 1870 and 1880 in the 19th century. Since the relationship between the local

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

are very warm with the Johor monarchy, Sultan

Abu Bakar Abū Bakr ( ar, أبو بكر ) is an Arabic given name meaning "Father of a Young Camel" (Abu meaning 'Father of' and Bakr meaning 'Young Camel') that is widely used by Sunni Muslims. Other transliterations include Abu Bakar, Abu Bekr, Ebubekir, ...

encouraged the Chinese to build their

places of worship A place of worship is a specially designed structure or space where individuals or a group of people such as a congregation come to perform acts of devotion, veneration, or religious study. A building constructed or used for this purpose is somet ...

and for the burial by providing them land. The temple was then founded by then Head of Ngee Heng Company led by

. In 1981, the temple was proposed to undergoing renovation with the request was accepted in 1994 with total expenditure of RM1.5 million. The renovated temple was then completed in the following year in December 1995 with much of its cultural design are being preserved and important relics such as the century-old bronze bell,

incense burner A censer, incense burner, perfume burner or pastille burner is a vessel made for burning incense or perfume in some solid form. They vary greatly in size, form, and material of construction, and have been in use since ancient times throughout t ...

and wooden tablet remain.

Features

Two old artefacts located inside the temple which are the

plaque Plaque may refer to: Commemorations or awards * Commemorative plaque, a plate or tablet fixed to a wall to mark an event, person, etc. * Memorial Plaque (medallion), issued to next-of-kin of dead British military personnel after World War I * Pla ...

and bronze bell. The main alcove of the temple holds the image of the main

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 ...

, Yuan Tian Shang Di. There are five deities inside the temple with each of them are separately worshipped by Teochew,

(Hokkien),

and

people: * Yuan Tian Shang Di (元天上帝) (大老爷) * Hong Xian Da Di (洪仙大帝) (洪仙公) * Gan Tian Da Di (感天大帝) * Hua Guang Da Di (华光大帝) * Zhao Da Yuan Shuai (赵大元帅)

The annual Chingay parade

Every year in the first lunar month of 20-23rd, the temple organises its annual Chingay known as the "Parade of Deities" (). The parade lasts for four days with the final is on the night of the 3rd day when the deities parade around the Johor Bahru city centre. The annual parade attracted more than 300,000 people to march around the major roads of the city together with the five deities being worshipped in the old temple. In 2021, date changed to 1st-15th of the first lunar month.

References

External links

A brief introduction of the Old Chinese Temple (Chinese)
{{Iskandar Malaysia Religious buildings and structures completed in 1870 Buildings and structures in Johor Bahru Chinese-Malaysian culture Taoist temples in Malaysia Tourist attractions in Johor