Places of Worship & Devotion

Shen Ong Kong or Kong Teck Choon Ong (in Hokkien dialect) or Guang Ze Zun Wan (广泽尊王) is the host deity of Hong San Si Kuching & many other similar temples in Sarawak. Unlike many other host deities, Shen Ong Kong has a childlike face with teenage energetic appearance, after all, he was only 16 years old when he (or his human transformation) died, or departed. Accordingly, he was born in 923 AD on 22nd day of 2nd Lunar Month in Ann Che District in Southern Fujian Province of China, in a farming family. Like many other legendary heavenly beings born into this physical world, the sky was adorned with colorful holy light, and fragrance permeated the whole room during his birth. Kuo Chung Fook was his name. As a child, he was intelligent & very filial to his parents. He had a very special squared facial feature with big round eyes. However, his parents passed away earlier in his childhood, and he had to work as a shepherd for a landlord called Yang, away from his home

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