Bukit Cina, Malacca

Bukit Cina, Malacca (9 August, 2017)


Bukit Cina (GPS: 2.19788, 102.25731), often written as Bukit China, is a hill in Malacca with the largest and oldest Chinese graveyard outside of mainland China. It is located on the northeast of Malacca town. By various accounts, there are between 5000 to 12500 graves in Bukit Cina, some dating to the late 17th century. Some has attributed the founding of this hill to the time of the Malacca Sultanate, but recent studies by contemporary historians suggests that the Chinese first used this hill much later than that.

The oldest tomb in Bukit Cina is said to be the double burial, of Mr & Mrs Huang Wei Hung, situated near the basketball court of Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan Pay Fong III. It was built during the second year of Tian Hee of the Ming Dynasty, which coincides with the year 1622. Most of the illustrious members of the Chinese community of Malacca has an afterlife home in Bukit Cina. This includes the Chinese Kapitans of Malacca. In 1685, 106 acres of the hill land was purchased by Kapitan China Lee Wei King from the Dutch colonial government and donated to the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple for its continual use as a burial place for the Chinese.

Over its long history, the Chinese cemetery at Bukit Cina had been threatened a number of times by development, going back as early as 1840, when the British East Indian Company, having obtained Malacca through the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, planned to acquire the land for development. The plans were put aside then the Chinese community, led by then Kapitan Cina Leong Mei Kiat, protested. Two decades later, the British once again wanted to acquire the land, and again, the Chinese community through the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple protested. This led to the government acquiring land at Bukit Baru instead.

Located on the grounds of Bukit Cina is the Poh San Teng, essentially a Tua Pek Kong funerary temple. It was built in 1795 by Kapitan Cina Chua Shi Chang and Hu Teck Siew.

Since the time of the British administration until recently, there have been several attempts to acquire Bukit Cina. The latest, most blatant, wanted to level the hill and use the earth for landfill. The government had not imposed any rental on the hill in all the years before, and now decided to bill the trustees RM2 billion in back arrears. Of course, the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple was not at all amused and refused to pay a single cent. They receive supported in the form of massive protest from the Chinese community, taking the local authorities by surprise. The plan was eventually dropped, and it was decided that the Malacca waterfront would be developed instead. Bukit Cina is not the typical Chinese cemetery, it is more a park within the city, a place where Malaccans go jogging in the evenings while others practise their martial arts movements while enjoying the view.

Although Bukit Cina is the place where early Chinese were buried, there is an erroneous belief that the used of the hill was the official settlement of the Chinese entourage that arrived with the so-called Princess Hang Li Poh when she was sent to Malacca to marry the Sultan. I said so-called princess because recent studies indicates that the Ming Dynasty Emperor of China (who are all surnamed Zhu) did not have a daughter by that name (surnamed Hang?), and no Chinese record to substantiate her existence. What is generally accepted, however, was that the hill was where early Chinese traders were buried, and that the temple at the foot of the hill, the Poh San Teng Temple.

I visited Bukit Cina on a rainy Sunday afternoon, on 10 July 2005, with local historian Josephine Chua and members of my AsiaExplorers team. We were taken around to view the graves. I am impressed with the general upkeep of the entire place - in comparison, the Chinese cemeteries in Penang are in a horror-inducing state.

A grand Chinese grave at Bukit Cina, Malacca (9 August, 2017)


Tombstone at Bukit Cina, Malacca (9 August, 2017)


View of graves on the slopes of Bukit Cina, Malacca (9 August, 2017)


Details of the graves at Bukit Cina, Malacca (9 August, 2017)


A grand tomb at Bukit Cina, Malacca (10 July, 2005)


View of the many graves on the slope of at Bukit Cina, Malacca (10 July, 2005)


Local historian Josephine Chua explaining about the graves at Bukit Cina, Malacca (10 July, 2005)

Bukit Cina is on the Map of Cemeteries in Malacca

Bukit Cina is on the Map of Malacca

Discover Malacca; list of Cemeteries in Malacca and Cemeteries in Malaysia

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