Places of Worship & Devotion

Ex tracts from 成大宗教與文化學報 第十三期, 2009 年12 月 頁97-138... Investigation into the Belief of Fu De Zheng Shen ( Earth God ) in Malaysia — Especially on Da Bo Gong temple ( Earth God Temple ) in Sarawak Abstract As the largest state of Malaysia, Sarawak located at the northern part of Borneo Island. The belief of Fu De Zheng Shen 福德正神 ( Earth God 土地 神 ) plays an extremely important role among Chinese society of the state mentioned. As the statistics shown, there is over 70 temples mainly consecrate Fu De Zheng Shen and still some uncountable temples proceed with the this Chinese belief. The Belief and the temples not only able to trace back a hundred years long lasting histories, but also suffuse all over the country. This essay is going to discuss about the built up of the Da Bo Gong temple 大伯公 廟, which included the relationship of ship based migration, the origin and argument of the deity, combination of TANG 唐 ( Chinese ) and FAN 番 ( Non-Chinese ) Earth God belief, ...

The sacred places of worship & devotion here concentrate on religious places mostly of the Taoist & Buddhist origin; particularly of the local Chinese traditions. Some other interesting & holy places of worship of other faiths may also be included. More than two hundreds years ago, there was an influx of Chinese immigrants, seeking a better living environment, headed out to various parts of the world, including the South East Asia region, where many of them were from Southern China. They brought with them from their home land the culture, traditions and skills to the new settlement; and one of the first things they did when they settled down on the new land was to build a place of worship to thank for the long safe journey, and subsequently to continue the kind of devotion from home, and to provide spiritual supports and protection in the new challenging environment. The history of Chinese in Sarawak & in many parts of the world can be observed from the his...

Tua Pek Kong Temple is one of the oldest (or the earliest known) Chinese temple in Sarawak; it is also one of the most famous and mentioned tourist destination in Sarawak. The temple was believed to be built around the year 1800, more than two centuries; the earliest known official land title issued by Charles Brooke was 29 August 1871. Like many of the earlier Chinese temple in Sarawak, it was a small & simple hut; the first known renovation was done in the year 1856, and subsequently it was upgraded with ceramic roofing & partial brick walls in 1863. By the year 1880 when cement was introduced into Sarawak, major parts of the temple were then concreted as to existing look. The earlier management of the temple before the Japanese occupation was elected informally by yearly cast lots of getting one representative with two ‘taukey’ to assist the required periodic ceremonial & religious occasions. After the war, the temple was managed by five Chinese ...

The Kuching Tua Pek Kong Temple was once seated on the best Feng Shui location in Kuching; as according to the Feng Shui principle, a hill at the back, a small and smooth flowing river in front (the lost Sg Kuching), and the best front view of the highest peak in the area, Gunung Serapi. The temple was built more than two centuries ago, long before James Brooke, the first White Rajah of Sarawak, arrived in Kuching. Like most Chinese temples, the temple prosperity affected and associated highly to the businesses, emotion and activities of the local Chinese community in the early days where majority were followers of Taoist related faith. It was also one of the few buildings that survived the 1884 the Great Fire of Kuching, where most Chinese believed was due to good Feng Shui. It was said that after the 1857 Chinese Insurrection in Bau, a gold mine township nearby, the Brooke Administration was worried about the Tua Pek Kong dominance and its influence to the local Kuching...