GES 1005 Everyday Life of Chinese Singaporeans : Past and Present - 七福宫 Chi Hock Keng Temple - Singapore ...

GES 1005 Everyday Life of Chinese
 Singaporeans : Past and Present

              七福宫
       Chi Hock Keng Temple
           Group Report

          Group Members:
           Howard Heng
            Lee Zu Xuan
             Md Matin

History of Temple
The Chi Hock Keng temple started out in the 1940s as a small wooden shed with an altar which
consisted of a flag and an incense burner. This wooden shed was originally located at a village

near Tanglin Halt Road, previously known as 丰兴山. At that point of time, the village had a

spirit medium. He was addressed by the villages as “阿味叔”. He was described as a sincere and
forthright individual, who willingly helped people with their problems. Together with some
helpers of the temples who were also villagers, they carried out the duties of the temple.
Previously, there weren’t many worshippers of the main god 七星大帝, but during the
Japanese occupation, the number of worshippers grew significantly. After the temple gained a
sufficient number of supporters and resources during the 1960s, it moved to its second location
in Choa Chu Kang. However, due to the land acquisition act by the Singapore government, the
temple was forced to move again in 1988 to its current location, 15 Fajar Road, where its 30-
year lease will end once again in 2018.

Main God 七星大帝 (“Lord of the seven stars”)
七星大帝 is a deity created by Chinese who were living in Singapore before world war II.
However, as mentioned above, it gained its worshippers mainly during the period of Japanese
occupation of Singapore. It was said that during the Japanese invasion, 七星大帝 “descended”
to the village and warned the villagers of an incoming shelling by the Japanese soldiers. The
villagers did not believe the warning at first but eventually took precaution by hiding in the
forest. The bombing of the village did occur in the end and many lives were saved thus resulting
in more people believing in this god.
During the japanese occupation, the Japanese army also happened to set up their camp near
this village. There were frequent disruptions to the life of the villages by the Japanese troops,
and the villages were constantly extorted of their possessions and goods like pigs, chickens, and
ducks. The villages made huge losses in their transactions with the Japanese. That greatly
angered the villagers, but they were unable to show their anger. One afternoon, there was a
vehicle that drove into the temple, with a blue flag attached to the head of the vehicle. This
vehicle was used by the Japanese soldiers to store and transport goods. A Japanese officer

stepped out of the vehicle with two other soldiers, and a few Chinese labourers. The officer
walked to the front of the temple of 七星大帝, gave some orders to his subordinates in
Japanese while signalling them with a military ruler he was holding. Suddenly, the incense
burner located in the temple hall caught fire. It seemingly knew that a spirit possession was
about to take place. In a few moments, the temple medium, “阿味叔” who was dressed in red,
sprinted toward the temple. (According to rumours, the spirit medium was able to sense that a
spirit possession was about to happen before it actually does). As soon as “阿味叔” entered the
temple, he was possessed by the god. His body began to tremble and shake uncontrollably,
gritted his teeth, eyes became wide open, his face turned into a colour of metallic green, and
his stature appeared bigger. He held a talisman with both of his hands. The temple helpers
carried drums, and followed the spirit medium. The Japanese official was curious, and decided
to investigate the situation. “阿味叔” went outside the temple, and stopped. He performed a
ritual with symbolic hand gestures, and began to speak. He pointed directly at the three
Japanese soldiers, and spoke to them with fluent Japanese. “阿味叔” was known to speak
mostly hokkien, and not much mandarin. Hence, the Japanese he spoke shocked the villages,
and the soldiers. The Japanese soldiers were serious as they listened to the words spoken, and
nodded constantly in agreement. The spirit medium squatted after a while, and used his fingers
to write some Japanese words on the ground. The Japanese soldiers became more convinced.
After writing these Japanese characters, the spirit medium stood up, clapped his fists together,
and led out an angry cry. He lost consciousness soon after.

After that incident, occurrences of Japanese harassment reduced in frequency. Whenever the
Japanese required supplies from the village, they traded reasonably with the villagers.

When the temple was officially built at Choa Chu Kang, the temple committee invited a
professional sculptor to sculpt a statue of 七星大帝 to be placed in the main altar of the temple
but he was unable to complete it immediately as there were no references to the image or
features that resemble the god. This was due to the fact that 七星大帝 did not originate from
China but from Singapore instead and this temple was the first temple to worship this god in

Singapore with no mother temple in China. The sculptor spent days thinking about how he can
sculpt the statue and how the god looked like but to no avail. He then decided to spend a night
at the newly built temple and that night, the god “appeared” in his dreams eventually allowing
him to carve out a statue the next day.

Today, most worshippers pray to 七星大帝 for peace, protection and guidance and the Chi
Hock Keng Temple is still the only temple in Singapore that worships 七星大帝 as their main
god with no links to other temples except the Taoist Federation Singapore.

Secondary Gods
Today, other than the main altar dedicated to 七星大帝, the temple has other altars which
worship other secondary gods as well. These include Xuan Tian Shang Di 玄帝, the goddess of

mercy 观音, Tua Pek Gong 大伯公, Tai Shang Lao Jun 太上老君, Zhang Gong Sheng Jun 张公圣

君, the Five Directional Camp Generals 五營將軍 and Guan Gong 关二爷.

Rites and Rituals
Today, the temple committee, which consists of about 300 members in total, organizes many
religious activities for worshippers to participate in and they cater to worshippers of all races
and religions as the temple did not originate from members of a single dialect group alone.

The main rituals performed annually include, the celebration of the birthday of 七星大帝,

which occurs on the 27th day of the 11th lunar month, the birthday of the goddess of mercy 观

音, which occurs on the 19th day of the 2nd lunar month, and the birthday of the Jade emperor

拜天公 which occurs on the 9th day of the 1st lunar month . During these rituals, worshippers
will bring many offerings to the gods and burn joss sticks and incense papers. A hokkien opera
troupe is also invited to perform traditional operas for 3 days during the celebration of the
birthday of 七星大帝. Huge feasts are usually provided for all worshippers as well. Other

rituals include the paying of respects to the tiger general 拜虎爷, and the celebration of the

hungry ghost festival which occurs on the 7th lunar month. Many stage opera performances are
organised as well in conjunction with the 7th month festivities. In addition to these rites, a spirit
medium carries out a possession ritual twice a month on every alternate sunday to offer
guidance and answers to any of the questions that worshippers may have.

Through these activities, the temple is able to collect some voluntary donations in addition to
the daily sale of joss sticks and incense papers. All these funds raised are entirely used for
maintenance of the temple and also to extend the lease of the temple for another 30 years
which, according to the temple staff, costs $100, 000.

Other interesting stories
In the past, an area in central Alexandria is called the “雙口鼎”. In this area, there were
approximately two or three shops that sells groceries, one hair salon, one coffee shop, one
bicycle shop, and one school. This place was near a British army camp. When evening came, the
British soldiers can be frequently spotted walking down the narrow road in central Alexandra.
Some of them may be drunk, and sang at their top of their voices. At times, they held a
cigarette, sharing their pack of cigarettes with everyone they met on their way, while speaking
in incomprehensible speech.

Behind this small town, further north and past a green patch of vegetation, there is a hilly area,
known as “十公司”. This area has less residents compared to the previous place, had a path
that is populated with durian trees and monkeys alike. According to the stories, there was a
ghost called the “迷神仔”, or the “阻壁鬼” that resides in the hills. This ghost makes misleads
people walking in that area, and misleads your sense of direction. After the ghost is satisfied
with its pranks its victims, they would cease their actions. It was said that the ghost is harmless.

In the 1930s, the 60 year old father-in-law of the writer of this article had encountered the “阻
壁鬼”, and got lost in that area. His father-in-law spent the whole night finding his way out of

that area, triggering searches that lasted throughout the night. On the morning the next day,
his father-in-law was found in deep sleep in front of the temple of the “七星大帝”. When he
woke up, he was unable to recall the events that led to him walk towards the temple.

Reflection and Conclusion
It was a refreshing experience personally, as I had never been inside a Chinese temple before,
being a Malay. As first impressions go, it certainly was a modest one, compared to some of the
temples in Chinatown. As an avid appreciator, I was most humbled by the temple caretaker’s
enthusiasm in answering all our queries. You could sense the significant history this little
temple has seen throughout the past 60 years through the caretaker’s stories. But what was
more humbling was when the caretaker lamented on how majority of its membership were
middle-aged people, the younger generation were not inclined to coming to this temple and
they needed to crowdfund donations for its lease renewal. It seemed like the temple was
fighting tooth and nail for its survival in the 21st century. This definitely opened my eyes as to
the plight of other temples who might have to combine with other temples, or worse, be forced
to close down. It made me more appreciative of such landmarks as well because the very fact
that they are still standing means it is a monument of sentimental value to other people, such
that they are willing to ensure that their future descendants would be able to visit such places
as they have.
Finally, I was impressed with how proactive the temple was in getting involved in Racial
Harmony events, by hosting visits by people of other faiths in the community. Volunteers were
on hand to teach young children about the temple’s history, and they even packed goodie bags
for visitors. Moreover, they even went the extra mile preparing halal food for potential Muslim
visitors. I am very impressed by this as it shows that despite being primarily a Chinese temple,
there is a sense of open-mindedness and camaraderie amongst the temple people and the
people of Fajar, which is always endearing to hear about.

To conclude, we visited a modest temple in Fajar with a rich and unique history of its own,
which opened our eyes to the plight of other small temples struggling to stay open in

Singapore.

Sources
Anonymous (n.d.). Article taken from the notice board of the temple.
Temple Disciple
Xie, Y. (2005). Xinjiapo di 1 ben min su dao lan: miao yu wen hua. Singapore: Focus Pub.