Moon Gate

Moon Gate, Penang (2 June 2013)


Moon Gate (GPS: 5.43567, 100.29278) is a heritage gateway along Jalan Kebun Bunga, on the way to the Penang Botanic Gardens. It is the gateway to the 19th Century country house of Cheah Chen Eok, the famous millionaire best remembered for building the Queen Victoria Memorial Clocktower at the Esplanade to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the monarch. The remains of his bungalow is just a few yards up the path.

Moon Gate, Penang Botanic Gardens (20 May 2006)


The 19th century mansion now lies in ruins some 15 metres from Moon Gate. The mansion or bungalow was one of 11 famous mansions of Penang as mentioned in the Penang Gazeteer by visiting Chinese scholar Li Jun who stayed in Penang for 3 months in 1891. The name of the mansion is "Yu Yi Yuan" (Yu Yi Garden). According to Bin Lang Yu Zhi Lue, it was located to the right of the water source, presumably the Waterfall reservoir.

There was a plaque at the Moon Gate which read "Yong Yi". "Yu Yi" and "Yong Yu" are derived from the Analects of Confucious (24th paragraph in the Xian Jin Chapter of the Lun Yu). Yi is the name of a river in Shan Don Province in northeast China. Yu Yi means to take a bath in the Yi river, and Yong Yi probably means singing praises of the river Yi.

The Moon Gate is the remnant of mansions built in the late 19th century, when there emerged a wealthy class within the Chinese community in Penang, when the Chinese towkays and mandarins started building country homes in imitation of those of the Europeans. So far, there is no full agreement to whom the Moon Gate belong. Some sources (Raymond Kwok; Star 14/8/05; Sunday Star 16/10/05 by Kasturi Dewi) attributed it to Cheah Chen Eok, who also owned the Combe Hill bungalow in Gelugor.

The area surrounding Moon Gate was originally settled by South Indians who left their mark with the many Hindu temples, many of which have grown substantially. According to the book The Chulia in Penang, there was a Tamil village here by the name of Narkalikarar Thandal Kampam inhabited mostly by the doolie carriers.¹

The Moon Gate of Penang inspired Singapore sculptor Chong Fah Cheong to create stylized sculpture of the same name. There are several pieces in Singapore, including the Moongate marking the spot of the SG50 Time Capsure, at Gardens by the Bay.

Moon Gate (3 January 2005)

Getting there

The bus stop along Jalan Kebun Bunga is served by Rapid Penang bus 10.

Moongate is on the Map of Jalan Kebun Bunga, Penang

References

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.