Shantung Street Kwun Yam Temple [????- ]

Submitted by philk on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 14:00
Current condition
Unknown

I am pretty sure this temple still exists and is sandwiched between two high-rise buildings.

Comments

Hi there,

This is the one I reported last month.  It did not mark the location though.  It's original location was around the junction of Waterloo & Argyle, however I do not know which corner it was.  It was relocated to the existing location owing to road works and/or urban development.

T

The temple was re-erected in Shantung Street Kowloon in 1927 on a site provided by Government which also gave a grant of $6,000 towards the reconstruction. The rest of the money required for the new building was supplied by the Kwong Wah (Tung Wah group) Hospital, to whom the management of the temple was entrusted.  

On its previous location:

For example, Mong Kok, Ho Man Tin and adjoining smaller settlements patronised the Kwun Yam [Kuan Yin] Temple (Wi^klfc ) al Tai Shek Kwu near Ho Man Tin village. Their fore-bears had apparently built this temple soon after their arrival in the area. It was removed to make way for development in 1926,30 and as the preamble to the commemoration tablet in the new building has it:

 " The Shui Yuet Kung Temple was first built at Tai Shek Kwu over a hundred years ago. It was famed for the exact prophesy of its gods and had many worshippers ".

My informants confirm that it was a very popular temple and consequently well-supported. It was given a major repair about 1908 when all the local villagers and the Yau Ma Ti shop-keepers contributed money towards the project. The temple building stood on top of a rocky feature to which access and egress was by two flights of granite steps each with thirty steps. Local people referred to it as the Tai Shek Kwu Miu 

Source: Old British Kowloon J W Hayes RASHK Vol 6 (1966) p.135, 126