Hock Teck See Temple, Singapore (27 July 2017)
Hock Teck See Temple 福德祠 (GPS: 1.27355, 103.8467) is a Chinese temple in downtown Singapore. It is located on Palmer Road off
Shenton Way. Also known in Mandarin as Fook Tet Soo Khek Temple, and as Wang Hai Da Bo Gong Miao, this is a temple erected for the veneration of the tutelary deity, Tua Pek Kong, by the local Hakka community. With a history stretching back to 1844, the Hock Teck See Temple is one of the oldest Chinese temples in Singapore. Within the premises is a bell dating from 1909.
1 Today it is still being managed by the Hakkas via their clan associations, the Ying Foo Fui Kun and the Fong Yun Thai Association.
The surroundings of Hock Teck See Temple today bears little resemblance to what it was when the temple was first built over a hundred and fifty years ago. When the site was acquired by the Singapore government in 1982, it looked like the fate of the temple was sealed. Had it not been for tenacious campaigning to save the temple from demolition, it would have been gone a long time ago. However, the two clan associations managed to get a TOL (Temporary Occupation License) for them to continue running the temple on that site. Unlike the
Fuk Tak Chi, which is also managed by the two associations, Hock Teck See continues to function as a temple. As it is, the temple now sits on a metaphorical island surrounded by the concrete jungle of downtown Singapore, accompanied by
Masjid Haji Muhammad Salleh nearby.
Exterior of Hock Teck See Temple, Singapore (27 July 2017)
Gateway of Hock Teck See Temple, Singapore (27 July 2017)
Interior of Hock Teck See Temple, Singapore (27 July 2017)
Hock Teck See Temple on Google Maps Street View
Side view of Hock Teck See Temple from Shenton Way (Oct 2011)
Taking the MRT to Hock Teck See Temple
On foot, Hock Teck See Temple is 500 meters on foot from
Tanjong Pagar MRT Station (EW15) of the
East-West Line.
References