Temple sights in Hong Kong
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A
Hung Shing Temple
Nestled in a nook on the southern side of Queen’s Rd East, this narrow, dark and rather forbidding temple is built atop huge boulders. It was erected in honour of a deified Tang-dynasty official who was known for his virtue (important) and ability to make predictions of great value to traders (ultra-important).
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B
Tin Hau Temple
Southeast of Victoria Park, Hong Kong Island’s most famous Tin Hau temple is dwarfed by surrounding high-rises. This temple dedicated to the patroness of seafarers has been a place of worship for three centuries, though the current structure is only about 200 years old. The central shrine contains an effigy of Tin Hau with a blackened face.
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C
Tin Hau Temple
This large, incense-filled sanctuary built in the 19th century is one of Hong Kong’s most famous temples dedicated to the goddess of the sea. The public square before it is Yau Ma Tei’s communal heart where fishermen once laid out their hemp ropes to sun next to Chinese banyans that today shade chess players and elderly men. Yau Ma Tei Police Station is a listed blue and white structure one block to the east along Public Square St.
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D
Fung Ying Sin Temple
The main attraction in the area is this huge Taoist temple complex opposite the Fanling MTR East Rail station, and connected to it by an overhead walkway and subway. It has wonderful exterior murals of Taoist immortals and the Chinese zodiac, an orchard terrace, herbal clinic and a vegetarian restaurant (ground & 1st fl). Most important are the dozen ancestral halls behind the main temple, where the ashes of the departed are deposited in what might be described as miniature tombs, complete with photographs.
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E
Tai Miu Temple
Further south along Tai Au Mun Rd is this temple dedicated to Tin Hau. It is said to have been first built in the 13th century by two brothers from Fujian in gratitude to the goddess for having spared their lives during a storm at sea. It is particularly busy during the Tin Hau birthday festival.
Just behind the temple is a Song-dynasty rock carving dating from 1274 and recording both the visit of a superintendent of the Salt Administration and the history of two temples in Joss House Bay. It is the oldest inscription extant in Hong Kong.
From Tai Miu, hikers can follow the 6.6km-long High Junk Peak Country Trail up to Tin Ha Shan (273m) and then continue on to High Junk…
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F
Lam Tsuen Wishing Tree
Until a short time ago Tai Po was the springboard for this large banyan tree, laden with coloured streamers of paper tied to oranges, in the village of Fong Ma Po to the southwest. The idea was to write your wish on a piece of paper, tie it to the citrus fruit and then throw it as high as you could up into the tree. If your fruit lodged in the branches, you were in luck – and the higher it went, the more chance there was of your wish coming true. But things got, er, out of hand just once too often, and in 2005, a week after the end of Chinese New Year, a large branch of the tree came crashing to the ground, dashing most punters’ wishes once and for all.
Focus switched…
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