Tin Hau Temple, Joss House Bay [????- ]

Notes from the AMO:

Tin Hau Temple, Joss House Bay, Sai Kung

The Tin Hau Temple located at the northern shore of Joss House Bay, commonly known as Tai Miu (literally, “great temple”), is one of the oldest and largest Tin Hau temples in Hong Kong. The inscriptions on the rock at the back of the temple suggests that the temple is linked to the Southern Song dynasty.

The temple is composed of five buildings in a row. The main building at the centre is a two-hall-three-bay structure, and, on each side, it is flanked by two subsidiary buildings. Though the temple has undergone several restorations over the years, its overall setting and the spatial layout remain intact as in its early days. The temple retains a lot of historic building and decorative elements, such as the granite columns, the murals at the incense pavilion, the screen doors, the timber cornice boards and the floor tiles. The unchanged environs of the temple also make it a prominent example of the very few Tin Hau temples in Hong Kong which are still close to the seashore.

Over the past few decades, the temple has attracted thousands of worshippers from all over Hong Kong to pay homage to Tin Hau on her birthday. The temple is of significant historical and social value to the territory, as it represents the traditional religious practices of fishermen and other members of the seafarer community and exemplifies the significance of Tin Hau belief in Hong Kong.

Tin Hau Temple, Joss House Bay was declared a monument in 2023.