Temple's, Melaka

This temple is located at the foot of Bukit China and next to Hang Li Po's Well, was founded in 1795 by Kapitan China Chua Su Cheong as a graveyard temple. The main deity is Fu-te Zhen Shen. the temple was built to allow the descendants of those buried on Bukit China to conduct prayers to their ancestors away from the heavy rain and strong winds.

Bukit China [China Hill] is one of the biggest Chinese graveyard outside China. Step down from the hill is Sam Po Kong temple, which built at 1795 and dedicated to Admiral Cheng Ho, the first ambassador of China who visiting Malacca. The name of 'Sam Po Kong' taken from a fish's name that saved his ship from sinking.
Then Hang Li Poh's well is a poisonous well which used by local towards Portuguese during the war in Malacca. This well made for Princess Hang Li Poh who married to one of the prince from Malacca Sultanate.

Come and visit the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia. Built in 1646, the Cheng Hoon Teng temple was crafted with excellent workmanship. So ornate are the decorations that you will certainly marvel at the skills of the craftsmen of yesteryear.

In this photo, you can see a wood carving of a dragon on the wall of this temple. The worksmanship was fine and elaborate, and the dragon is painted with many colours. According to Chinese legends, dragons are creatures that will bring rain (which is especially important to the cultivation of crops, and China used to be an agriculture society) and therefore prosperity to the people.

This temple is believed to be the oldest in the country, built in the 1600s. It is a Taoist temple, and the Goddess of Mercy is being worshipped here. Although it is quite small, this temple has got some beautiful and intricate carvings. The main colour scheme is brownish red (as with most Chinese temples), plus gold painting on the carved walls.

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As so often happens to me in Asia, I tend to get 'templed out.' I know this doesn't happen to everyone, but temples all begin to become a blur. It's not an insult to the religion, more my failure to distinguish among sublties of styles, I think.

However, the Cheng Hoon Teng temple was different. Don't ask me why, because I'm not exactly sure, but it probably had something to do with how old it was, how nice the carvings were, the the general feeling of well-being I had there.

It's a great place to stop when touring the multicultural city of Melaka.

Built around 1646 with authentic building materials from China, the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple is the oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia. It houses the statue of the Goddess of Mercy or "Kuan Yin", thus being named Abode of The Green (Merciful) Cloud.

The temple is a beautiful example of Chinese architecture with intricate carvings and designs of mythical figures, animals, birds and flowers. Endless streams of local and foreign devotees come to respect and pray to the Goddess of Mercy here.

This temple sometimes also known as Kuan Yin Temple. Devotees come here to pray, make offerings and also for fortune-telling. There's a foundation who runs this temple, restores and preserves its architecture and woodwork carvings.

RM2 for a single set of offerings which consists of joss sticks, candles and some papers for burning.

After your prayers, you can take a quick tour at the side / back of the temple. Here it houses altars for many ancestors.

Cheng Hoon Teng temple is the oldest Chinese (buddhist) temple in the country. At one oint, the temple served as a city hall and a courthouse. While we were there, there were people praying and worshipping to the Goddess of Mercy (Kwan Yin.) She's the one in the centre (you can't miss it.) The temple itself is very small. You don't need to take your shoes off.
The tour guide just went inside despite the little ceremony. She also kept on talking and no one seemed to mind. I found it quite disrespectful but due to the fact that none of the locals seemed annoyed, I guess what she did was ok or tolerated. We were the only tour group in that temple.
In fact, I think we were the only tour group I saw the whole entire day we were there (from 12PM-4PM).
On the surrounding temple grounds are other altars dedicated to other gods. In addition, there was a section where dead people put their little wooden tombstone. The guide said some of the wooden tombstones (really small) were really old (from the 1700s!)