Author: Leslie Chong
Date: 04-08-08 15:14
The Poh San Teng temple was founded in 1795. On the founding stele :
"Bukit China is the place where early traders from China were buried.
It was stated on the stone steles that many of the Chinese traders came to this country with high expectations for success in trade. Sadly, some died before fulfilling their ambitions. Since their families did not travel with them, there was no one to pray for their souls. As such, prayers were initiated by the Chinese Kapitans for them. However, these were always hampered by strong winds and heavy rainfalls because there was no proper shelter.
In 1795, after Chua Su Cheong had been appointed as the Chinese Kapitan, he looked into this problem faced by the community and initiated the building of a temple at the foot of Bukit China, to ensure that the prayers for those buried in Bukit China would not be interrupted."
The main deity is “Fu De Zheng Shen” or “Tua Pek Kong” as is the tradition of the Chinese,be it in China or Malaysia for all graveyard temples."
Tua Pek Kong = 大伯公 who represents the tutelary god or local earth god. These temples are fairly common among the Chinese in SE Asia. Sometimes they are also associated with a Daoist god or a Daoist zhen ren (真人）。
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