The Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple is an architectural complex in Loyang, Singapore known for housing the idols of both Taoist and Hindu deities as well as a Malay shrine. The temple had its roots in a small hut by the beach that was destroyed by a fire in 1996. It reopened further inland in 2000 before moving again seven years later.
The temple was first illegally[1] established near the coastline of Loyang, Singapore in the 1980s. According to tradition, a few local fishermen elected to house the idols of Tua Pek Kong and other Taoist and Hindu deities that they had discovered at the beach in a makeshift zinc-plated shrine for public worship.[2][3]
Soon after, a Malay shrine was added to the temple after the villagers at Loyang "received a sign" to do so.[4] The initial structure and all of the original idols—bar that of Tua Pek Kong—were destroyed by a fire in 1996. A considerably larger temple was built near the original site in 2000 and christened the Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple.[3] It relocated to 20 Loyang Way—approximately 3 kilometres (1.9mi) from the sea—in August 2007.[5]
In December 2019, the temple was included as part of the 5.6 kilometres (3.5mi) "architectural highlights walk" in the National Heritage Board's Pasir Ris Heritage Trail.[6]
Architecture
The main prayer hall of the temple
The main prayer hall of the temple houses the effigies of several Taoist deities, including Tua Pek Kong, the Jade Emperor,[7] and the Tai Sui.[8] It also contains a statue of Kṣitigarbha.[8] A Hindu sanctum besides the prayer hall houses some sixteen statues of Mahaganapati.[9] Wedged between the Taoist and Hindu sections of the temple is a gravesite-shaped Datuk Gong shrine[2] that is only accessible to individuals who have not consumed pork on the day of their visitation.[10] The temple complex can accommodate more than 100,000 visitors.[5]
Overview of the temple, showing the main prayer hall (left) and Datuk Kong/ Hindu shrines (right)
de Jong, Ria (2024). Lonely Planet Singapore. Lonely Planet. ISBN9781837585458.
deBernadi, Jean (2016). "On Daoism and Religious Networks in a Digital Age". In Joanne Punzo Waghorne (ed.). Place/No-Place in Urban Asian Religiosity. Springer. pp.91–108. ISBN9789811003844.
Li, Xiaohua; Lu, Yawen (2024). "Documentary images and religious communication: the ritual transmission and functional imagination of Tua Pek Kong worship of Hakka people in Southeast Asia". International Communication of Chinese Culture. 11 (3): 309–323. doi:10.1007/s40636-024-00302-1.
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