Being ruled by the Britain for over 100 years, HK is now an international city with the fusion of the Chinese and Western culture. But HK is still a city developed from traditional Chinese culture. Today we can still find a lot of traditional Chinese customs and buildings in Hong Kong. One of them is temple.
In China, we have many gods, which we may call it polytheism. Every object has a related god. We have the god of kitchen, god of mountain, god of door and even god of toilet. In HK, the most popular god is the Mazu, also known as Tin Hau. There are around 100 Tin Hau Temples in HK. So who is Mazu and how is it related to the original coastal line of HK?
受到英國曾經一百多年的統治，香港今天雖貴為國際大都會，中西文化交融，但他畢竟是由傳統的中國社會演化而成的，在香港，我們仍能見到很多的中國傳統習俗和事物，其中一種是廟宇。
中國傳統社會是多神主義，我們有數之不盡的神，幾乎每一樣事物都有相應的神，不過在香港，我們擁有最多的廟宇卻是天后廟，約有一百座天后廟，到底天后廟拜的是何許人物？又與題目的海岸線有何關係？
In 943 AD, Mazu was born is Fujian in China. Her name was called Lin Moniang. Lin was believed to have the magic power of healing and predicting good or bad. Her strongest magic power was lifesaving and countless fishermen were saved by her. In legend, Lin went to the heaven at the age of 28. Villagers later worshipped her as the goddess of sea and spread the religion to the coastal area of China and even to Japan and Southeast Asia. Mazu was recognized as an official goddess by the China Government in the Song Dynasty (around 1100 – 1170 AD). In the Qing Dynasty (1684), Mazu was renamed as Tin Hau. At the time, there were already countless Tin Hau Temple.
天后又稱媽祖，歷史真有其人，她出生於五代十國的末期（約公元943年）的福建莆田湄洲島東螺村，本名為林默娘。相傳林默娘生有異能，長大後替村民驅邪治病，預知吉兇，更有拯溺的奇能，曾救下無數漁民的姓名。相傳默娘28歲仙遊上神界，被村民崇拜為海神，並慢慢傳至全國沿海地方，以至周邊的日本及東南亞等地。媽祖在宋朝被朝廷承認為神衹，後於清康熙年間被改封為「天后」，那個時候，天后廟早已遍佈東亞沿海等地。
HK was a fishing village, and so many villagers worshipped Tin Hau. There were many Tin Hau all around the coast of HK few hundred years ago. Later HK underwent a number of reclamations and almost all Tin Hau Temples are now located inland. From the location of Tin Hau Temples, we can predict the original coastal line of HK and you will be surprised by the large area of HK from reclamation!
香港本是漁村，自然信奉天后，早在數百年前已在海岸修建了很多天后廟，遍佈全港。後香港經歷數次填海工程，各天后廟的位置慢慢由海邊變成內陸，從香港的天后廟位置，我們可很清楚了解到哪塊土地是填海所得，你會驚訝原來香港有那麼多陸地是填海而來！
The grey and red area are from reclamation 灰紅地區都是填海得來
(photo from Wikipedia)
This time I went to the Tin Hau Temple, Causeway Bay. It is one of the most famous Tin Hau Temple in HK and is now one of the Declared Monuments in HK. The time of the temple built cannot be found now but we are sure that it’s before 1747 AD. In legend, a man from the Tai family found a floating incense burner on the sea. The family believed it’s a gift from Tin Hau and they built a Tin Hau temple and placed the insanse burner to worship Tin Hau. The place where the temple was built was then called the Hung Heung Lo (meaning Red Incense-burner in chinese). HK island was even called the Hung Heung Lo at the time. Now, the street where the Tin Hau Temple located is called the Tin Hau Temple Road. The MTR station beside is called the Tin Hau Station.
這次我帶大家來到了銅鑼灣天后廟，銅鑼灣天后廟顧名思義位於香港島的銅鑼灣，它是香港比較著名的天后廟，今天已被列作香港法定古蹟。銅鑼灣天后廟何時落成已不可考究，但肯定的是1747年前已落成，相傳當年一名戴姓村民在銅鑼灣海邊拾獲一個紅香爐，被村民認為是天后娘娘顯靈，便在該處建一小廟，用這個香爐來上香。這個地方後來更被稱為「紅香爐港」，古時香港島更曾被統稱為紅香爐港，而天后廟的街道則被命名為天后廟道，附近的地鐵站則命名為「天后」（就是Twins歌曲《下一站天后》那個天后了）。
Map of HK in 1822, we can see “Hung Heung Lo” in the red circle
1822年的香港地圖，紅圈內就寫了紅香爐
(Photo from Tsuen Wan Public Library)
The Tin Hau Temple in 1870, 1870年的銅鑼灣天后廟
The Temple is in the Tin Hai Temple Garden 天后廟花園裡就是天后廟
It is a toilet 這是廁所
The Tin Hau Temple we can see now was renovated in 1868. We can see the words “erected in the seventh year of the reign of Tongzhi” which means 1868 from the name plaque above the main entrance. The temple is famous for the fine Shek Wan figurines on its roof and eaves and for the quality of its stone carvings around the entrance. When I was going into the temple, I found the unfriendly eyes of the temple keeper….Although I didn’t heard that taking photos is not allowed, I didn’t want to watched when I took photos. I left.
現時我們看到的天后廟於1868年重建而成，在廟外石樑我們會見到同治七年的字樣。廟的屋脊和屋簷飾有精巧的石灣陶瓷雕塑，入口石樑上亦有一隻手工細緻的獅子石雕，充滿欣賞的價值。當我想進內拍照時，感覺到看守人員不善的眼神，雖然我沒有聽過廟宇不能拍照的守則，但在她的目光下，我都是不入裡拍照了……
There are now around 100 Tin Hau Temple in HK. They have unique features. If you passed by a Tin Hau Temple when you visit HK, come take a look!
現時全港約有一百座天后廟，遍佈香港本來的海岸，各具不同特色，大家如在香港碰到天后廟，不妨入內參觀一下。
Tin Hau Temple from Lei Yue Mun 鯉魚門天后廟
The statue of Tin Hau at Repulse Bay 淺水灣的天后像
(photo from Wikipedia)
The red boat is also a Tin Hau Temple! 這隻船也是天后廟！
(photo from Wikipedia)
!steemitworldmap 22.282164 lat 114.1927537 long d3scr
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://aaronli.vornix.blog/2018/07/08/hong-kong-snapshot-99-locate-the-original-coastal-line-of-hk-from-tin-hau-temple-%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e9%9a%a8%e6%8b%8d99-%e5%be%9e%e5%a4%a9%e5%90%8e%e5%bb%9f%e5%b0%8b%e6%89%be%e9%a6%99/