City God - Hong Kong City Gods

Hong Kong City Gods

During the Qing dynasty, the emperor appointed a city god (Shing Wong) for all major cities in mainland China to govern and look after their land. Hong Kong had no appointed magistrate and therefore no protection of a Shing Wong.

In 1877 Hong Kong built their first Shing Wong temple, which was originally named "Fook Tak Tsz". It remains there today, at the junction of Shau Kei Wan and Kam Wa Street, in Shau Kei Wan, on Hong Kong Island. It has undergone many updates and name changes. A new outer wall was built in 1974, giving the feeling of a temple within a temple. The temple is now officially called the Shing Wong Temple.

The deities Tu Di Gong (土地), Shing Wong, and Ng Tung (五通神) are enshrined in the temple. Tu Di is the "place god". The powers this god has are up to the residents of the city. This "place" could be anything – a jurisdiction, a block or an entire park. Tu Di was then under the command of the Shing Wong of that city. Ng Tung is in charge of wealth, time, good fortune, and has a festival named after him called "The Gods of Five Lucks Festival", on the fifth of the first month. The Tu Di festival is held on the second day of the new year in honor of the Earth deity. The Shing Wong festival is held bi-annually in Hong Kong on the eleventh day of the fifth lunar month, and the twenty-fourth day of the seventh lunar month (Shing Wong's personal anniversary) where people praise and give sacrifice to their city-guarding deity.

There is some evidence that, prior to the building of the Fook Tak Tsz temple in Shau Kei Wan, there was a Shing Wong temple built at the junction of Shing Wong Street and Hollywood Road, where Queen's College later stood. However, both buildings have been torn down.

There are other temples located in Hong Kong that house the deity Shing Wong, such as the Man Mo Temple.