The Hung Shing Temple in

Wan Chai Wan Chai is situated at the western part of the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, in Hong Kong. Its other boundaries are Canal Road, Hong Kong, Canal Road to the east, Arsenal Street to the west and Bowen Road to th ...

, Hong Kong is one of the forty-two temples dedicated to

Hung Shing Hung Shing wong (), also known as Hung Shing Ye () and Tai Wong () is a Chinese folk religion deity. The most popular tale states that in his lifetime he was a government official in the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907)

in the Hong Kong.

Location

The temple is located at Nos. 129–131

Queen's Road East Queen's Road East is a street in Wan Chai, in the north of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, connecting Admiralty, Hong Kong, Admiralty in the west to Happy Valley, Hong Kong, Happy Valley in the east. Queen's Road East is one of the four ...

, Wan Chai. Tai Wong Street West and Tai Wong Street East intersect with Queen's Road East across the street from the temple. The two streets derive their name from the temple, as "Tai Wong" is an alternate name for

.
The temple was originally built next to the shoreline, facing the sea, but as the consequence of successive land reclamations, it is now surrounded by clusters of residential and commercial buildings.

History

The temple was probably built in 1847 and may have existed previously as a shrine. Renovations were recorded to have been carried out in 1857, 1860, 1867, 1949 and 1992. An annexe Kwun Yum temple was constructed to its left in 1867.

Features

The temple was built with boulders from the hillside and its right portion and back are sitting on rocks. It is a simple one-hall building with a

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

platform right in front of its façade. The roof of the platform is supported by elaborate granite columns and accessing staircases are built on either ends rather than in the middle facing the temple entrance. The ceramic decorations of Shiwan kiln on the roof date from 1909. Together with Hung Shing, other deities worshiped there include Madame Kam Fa (), Pau Kung and

Shing Wong The Chenghuangshen (), is a tutelary deity or deities in Chinese folk religion who is believed to protect the people and the affairs of the particular village, town or city of great dimension, and the corresponding afterlife location. Beginning ...

Conservation

The management of the Temple has been delegated to the

Tung Wah Group of Hospitals The Tung Wah Group of Hospitals (), with a history dating back to 1870, is the oldest and largest charitable organisation in Hong Kong. It provides extensive education and community services through 194 service centres spread across Hong Kong. ...

by the

Chinese Temples Committee The Chinese Temples Committee () is a statutory body in Hong Kong established in 1928 under the Chinese Temples Ordinance () (Cap. 153). It is mainly responsible for the operation and management of twenty-four temples directly under its management ...

since pre-war times. It has been listed as a Grade I historic building since 1987 and it is part of the

Wan Chai Heritage Trail The Wan Chai Heritage Trail () is a walking trail in Hong Kong. It was launched on 27 September 2009 and is two hours in duration. It was formed by the Old Wan Chai Revitalisation Initiatives Special Committee (OWCRISC) established by the Develo ...

, established in 2009.

Festivals

Worshippers of Hung Shing go to pray in the temple on the 1st and the 15th day of every lunar calendar, lunar month and on the birthday of Kwun Yum, the Goddess of Mercy.

References

External links

* {{coord, 22.275431, 114.170831, type:landmark_region:HK, name=Hung Shing Temple, Wan Chai, display=title Grade I historic buildings in Hong Kong Queen's Road East Taoist temples in Hong Kong Wan Chai Religious buildings and structures completed in 1847