The Kheng Hock Temple, also known as the Kheng Hock Keong (慶福宮), is the largest and oldest

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

to the

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 ...

sea-goddess Mazu in

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. It is located on the corner of Sintodan Street and Strand Road in

Latha Township Latha Township ( my, လသာ မြို့နယ်, ) is located in the western part of downtown Yangon, and shares borders with Lanmadaw township in the west, Pabedan township in the east, Seikkan township and Yangon river The Yangon Ri ...

. Kheng Hock Keong is maintained by a

Hokkien Chinese 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 ...

clan association. The temple attracts mostly

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 ...

and

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 ...

worshipers, while the other temple in Latha Township, called the

Guanyin Gumiao Temple Guanyin Gumiao Temple (, also known as the Guangdong Guanyin Temple) is one of two major Chinese temples located within Latha Township in Yangon's Chinatown. It was founded by the Cantonese community of Yangon in 1823, but was destroyed by a fir ...

, attracts

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 ar ...

worshipers.

Establishment

It was originally built as a wooden temple in 1861 and completed in 1863, built in the Fujian style, on a tax-exempt plot of land granted by the British authorities. The founding Kheng Hock Keong Trust Committee was composed of Rangoon's largest Hokkien clans, representing the Chan- Khoo, Lim,

Tan Tan or TAN may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...

Yeo Yeo is a Chinese, English, and Korean surname. Origins As an English surname, Yeo is a toponymic surname meaning "river", either for people who lived near one of the Rivers Yeo, or any river in general. The word comes from Old English , via sou ...

, Lee, and Su clans. At the temple's founding, the primary deity was

Guanyin Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She ...

. A new brick building was completed in 1903, costing over 153,000 rupees.

Establishment

Gallery

References

See also