A Chinese Temple in Kuala Lumpur

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Chinese temples are houses of worship. They actually symbolize the long history and rich culture of China, and over there in China, they are even regarded as valuable art treasures. The temples in China are called Si, Ta or Shiku if they are Buddhist temples, Gong, Guan or Miao if they are Taoist temples and Kong Miao if they are Confucian temples. Buddhist temples can be easily identified since besides a temple, they include a pagoda and a grotto. When my nephew dropped Terence and I at a temple near Makhota Cheras in Kuala Lumpur for us to explore while he went on an errand therefore, it must be a non Buddhist temple since there was no pagoda and definitely no grotto there. It was more a Taoist temple and Taoist temples incidentally could be found all over Malaysia where there is a sizable Chinese population. These temples normally functions as houses of worship and not as centers of dissemination of the Chinese Language or Culture as I think it should be. The temple which we visited even had a restaurant!
 Gateway to a Chinese temple...



Dragon spiraling up a pillar...



Inside the temple...



An Urn for Burning Paper Money...


A Stage for Performances during festive seasons...




A Shrine For A Deity...



A Restaurant!

Comments

Liudmila said…
You have great reportages, Footiam, so interesting to see all this! I say, why is this architecture of roofs developed? Do you know? And then is interesting this explosion of colours.
24 December 2007 at 09:08
footiam said…
Thanks Liudmila . I am glad to hear that you find this interesting. To tell you the truth, there are other more beautiful Chinese temples. I do find this explosion of colors interesting too and often wonder why the middle East and Europe too devoid of colors. The buildings in Paris are beautiful but mostly, they are white and pale. Asia is really more colorful! As for the roof, I don't really think why they are like that. I thought it was for aesthetic reason. I do find Chinese very good with their hands, creating beautiful handicrafts etc.
26 December 2007 at 00:24
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