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| Tou Mu Kung Temple | |
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 Tou Mu Kung Temple in 2006 | |
| Location | 779A Upper Serangoon Road |
| Coordinates | 1°21′18″N103°52′44″E / 1.3551°N 103.8788°E /1.3551; 103.8788 |
| Built | 1881 |
| Governing body | National Heritage Board |
| Designated | 14 January 2005; 21 years ago (14 January 2005) |
| Reference no. | 54 |
.svg)  Location of Tou Mu Kung Temple in Singapore | |
TheTou Mu Kung Temple (斗母宮) is aTaoisttemple situated onUpper Serangoon Road,Singapore. Worshipping the Empress Registrar of Birth orDoumu (斗母) andNine Emperor Gods (九皇大帝), the temple has both Taoist andBuddhist influences.
There are other temples dedicated to Tou Mu (Dou Mu) in many parts ofChina (e.g. onMount Tai).
The temple started as a home shrine by Ong Choo Kee, a Chinese merchant.[1] Ong had vowed tovenerate the Nine Emperor Gods in exchange for successful business deals. He became successful and his home shrine became popular with an increase of worshippers. A Hokkien pineapple tycoon, Ong Chwee Tow (王水斗), donated a land parcel inHougang to build a proper temple for worshippers.
The temple started construction in 1919 and completed in 1921. It caters to theTeochew community, and was one of two remaining temples in Singapore with a permanentChinese opera stage until 1998. For eight decades, Chinese opera was performed there during religious and other festivals.
The temple wasgazetted as anational monument, which was deemed to be of special historic and traditional value, on 14 January 2005.[2]
The temple has a symmetrical floor plan with a central air-well. Behind the main hall is a two-storypagoda. Single-storey quarters for the keepers of the temple are located at the rear of the temple.
The roof of the temple is decorated with dancingdragons. There is also a ridge decoration in the main temple hall. The centre of the ridge has a blazingpearl. Dragons anddragon fish are used to terminate the ridges.Hips are terminated by spirals. The rooftrusses are typicallyChinese, decorated withcarvings and simplebrackets. The main doors are painted with pictures of theDoor Gods. Its colour scheme of light blue and brown is rather subdued when compared to other temples.
The mainaltar is dedicated to the main deity (Nine Emperor). To the left of the main altar is an altar toDou Mu (Tou Mu), and to the right,Guan Yin. Aninscription on a wallplaque above the main entrance shows the names of benefactors and the date of construction of the temple.
(Legend:† demolished) | |||||||||||||||
| Gazetted in 1970s |
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| Gazetted in 1980s |
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| Gazetted in 1990s |
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| Gazetted in 2000s |
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| Gazetted in 2010s |
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| Gazetted in 2020s |
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| International | |
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| Other | |
