NG KWANG ZHOU
E-PORTFOLIO
TUTORIAL-WEEKLY JOURNAL
17 NOV
REFINE I RESEARCH I FINALIZE
From the last tutorial section , Ms Normah has replaced as my tutor , she told me that she was pity me that I not understanding my topic well .She asked me to choose another religious place as the topic I choosen was religious places.Hence in last week holiday I went to Melaka to do photo shooting for my another religious place. I choosen Chen Hoon Teng temple as my second religious place because the temple consist full of chinese architecture and it is similar to the temple that choosen at first( Thean Hou temple ).Here is the research I did as shown below:
HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE
Cheng Hoon Teng was founded in the 1600s by the Chinese Kapitan Tay Kie Ki alias Tay Hong Yong. During the Portuguese and Dutch eras, Kapitans were appointed chiefs or headmen of the various ethnic communities.
In its early years, besides serving the community's religious needs, the temple also functioned as the official administrative centre and a court of justice for the Kapitans.
Besides Kapitan Tay, other prominent Kapitans included Li Wei King, Chan Lak Kua and Chua Su Cheong. Kapitan Chua was responsible for rebuilding the temple in 1801 while the Kapitans and Teng Choos after him contributed towards the aesthetic and structural additions of the building.
In 1824, the British abolished the Kapitan system and the leader of the Temple, now known as "Teng Choo", assumed some of the Kapitan's responsibilities.
Subsequently, a Board of Trustees was formed to look after the temple. The pioneers included included Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock, who also initiated the Temple’s unique incorporation under an act of Parliament {Cheng Hoon Teng Temple Incorporation Ordinance 1949}. To the locals, the temple is also known as Kebun Datok (Gods' Garden) and Kwan Yin Teng.
Retrived from : http://www.chenghoonteng.org.my
RELIGIOUS ACTIVITY
The temple continues to serve the spiritual needs of the Chinese community in Malacca. It is a centre for the propagation of San Chiao or the Three Doctrinal Systems of Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. The religious order of the temple carries out numerous traditional Chinese rites. It ministers to the spiritual needs of devotees, including divination and prayers for the souls of the deceased.
ARCHITECTURTE
When the Chinese migrated to the Malay Peninsular, they brought along their culture and heritage. Cheng Hoon Teng's architecture reflects the skills of migrant builders and craftsmen from China's southern provinces, mainly Fujian and Guandong.
The building conforms strictly to the principles of feng shui, incorporating the fundamental belief that every aspect of life is closely related to attaining perfect harmony with nature. According to granite tablets, the temple was carefully laid out to ensure a view of the river and high ground on either side.
While the Cheng Hoon Teng is representative of the more peasant Southern temple form there are features that depart from the usual Southern temples found in Malaysia.Its roof slope attemps to attain a steeper incline than the generally lower and flatter Fujian form. The flag masts are of dramatic height, beckoning attention.
FINALIZE 10 PHOTOS
This is the gateway of Thean Hou Temple. The roofs are slopping with upturned corners which also show as the feature of Chinese architecture .The building could have multi-eaved roofts and well supported by the columns which can be visible as shown above.
This is the building of the temple.The building is built in symmetry and there are consist total of 3 floor.The roof is fully engrave with dragon and phoenix which indicate the meaning of protection and bring peace to this building . The censer is directly proportional to the crystal ball right in the middle of the top roof which shows the message from the prayer will deliver right upward from the temple to the sky to deities
This picture shown the prayer are praying sincerely in the prayer hall . The prayer kneel down and place their hand together to pray for health and wealth. This deities is the guardian of this temple which we named as Tian Hou Sheng Mu. The tower surrounded the deities indicate her disciples in her whole life
This is the old design temple located beside the Thean Hou Temple which fully built from wood. The deities will placed in front of the entrance to show its capability to protect this temple. The roof are made from rosewood because Chinese belief that rosewood can more easily communicate with deities
This is the lotus flower like candle placed in front of the prayer hall table. Most of the will light up the candle to bless for peace , wealth and health to their whole family and also their ancestors who live in pardise.
The is the gateway entrance of Cheng Hoon Teng temple. There are feature roof slope attempt to attain a steeper incline than than the generally lower and flatter which follow the design in Fujian form. There are two circular window on the side of gateway which carved with dragon to protect the temple .
This is the entrance before the prayer hall. The temple structure and entire complexes are both build in symmetry form. The roofs design are sloping with upturned corners which started from the beginning of song dynasty. The primary support in a Chinese temple structure are not walls, but a series of columns, beams and bracket (called dou-gong) which place on the top of the columns. These are made from wood also can be decorating purpose.
(https://sinificationarchitecture.wordpress.com/chinese-temple-architecture/ )
This is a censer which will be placed in front of the prayer hall. The prayer will place their joysticks after praying in the censer. There are a pair of rhyming couplet placed beside the entrance and protected with fig.valiant soldier (a Chinese mythical animal that brings luck and wards off evil, having head of a dragon and lion’s body,often with hoofs,wings and tail)
This is the to consecrate the deities.The deities will be placed in the center and surrounded with offering.The temple has three bays rather than one found in most temples, whilst most of the columns are not circular and are in timber rising from stone bases. Here there is an extensive use of lacquer. All these elements indicate the uniqueness of this architectural masterpiece.
This is the Chinese wooden cylinder tube filled with 52 bamboo stick and each bamboo stick represent different meaning. Prayer will pray sincerity for what they want in front of deities and shaking it while praying until one of the bamboo stick dropped off from the cylinder tube.