Sam Sing Kung Temple ( zh, 三聖宮) (also known as the Three Saints Temple) is a

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 ''d ...

Sandakan Sandakan (, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast ...

Sabah Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. Built in 1887, the temple is the third oldest temple in Sandakan, after Goddess of Mercy Temple and Tam Kung Temple. It is part of the

Sandakan Heritage Trail Sandakan Heritage Trail ( ms, Jejak Warisan Sandakan) is a trail connecting several historical sites in Sandakan, a town in the east Malaysian state of Sabah. It is marked with white concrete tiles placed on the ground showing a red footprint t ...

History

The temple was built in 1887, and has undergone several recent renovations. The temple was originally established as a religious centre for Chinese migrants who had arrived from

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. It was built by Chinese communities of

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 a ...

, Teochew,

Hakkas 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 ...

and the

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. The temple are also called as "Three Saints Temple" with the three saints refers to: * Kwan Woon Cheung – Saint of righteousness. * Goddess of Tin Hou – Worshipped by fishermen and seamen for protection. * Min Cheong Emperor – Worshipped by hopeful students who seek success in examinations. The temple is known as a place for Chinese devotees to come for blessing and

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

Features

The temple has a collection of 100 pre-printed Taoist Divination Poems. Its bronze bell was donated by the first

Kapitan Cina Kapitan Cina, also spelled Kapitan China or Capitan China ( en, Captain of the Chinese; ; nl, Kapitein der Chinezen), was a high-ranking government position in the civil administration of colonial Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Borneo and the ...

of Sandakan, known as Fung Ming Shan. Ming Shan was appointed by the British rulers in 1887 to manage and oversee the Chinese community in the town.

References

External links

Picture
of Sam Sing Kung Temple * {{Buildings and structures in Sabah Religious buildings and structures completed in 1887 Chinese-Malaysian culture Taoist temples in Malaysia Buildings and structures in Sandakan Tourist attractions in Sabah Temples of Mazu