KUALA Terengganu town is just about to stir when my friend carefully brings his car to a halt in front of a Chinese temple at Jalan Balik Bukit. With an important meeting to attend on the other side of town, he suggests that I spend the morning exploring Kampung Cina (Chinatown) before meeting him for lunch at a restaurant near Pasar Payang.
“Start with this century-old temple and then trace the entire length of Jalan Bandar. There are lots of things to see and you’ll be spoilt for choice when it comes to food. But save space for lunch!” he hollers before driving off.
Tian Hou Gong Temple was built by Qing Dynasty craftsmen in 1896 with materials brought in from China. At that time, the temple served as a focal point for fishermen and their families who lived along the banks of the Terengganu River. The fisherfolk offered prayers and beseeched the temple guardian to grant them protection before making the perilous journey out to sea.
The back of the temple compound offers a commanding view of the Terengganu River. It takes little effort to imagine what this place must have looked like more than a hundred years ago. The temple and the homes within its vicinity must surely have been a hive of activity, especially during major festivals like Chinese New Year.
Fishing boats of every size and shape would have bobbed up and down by the water’s edge. Today, however, the traditional fishing boats have all but disappeared. In their place are the marble statues of the Goddess Tian Hou and the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.
PLACE OF WORSHIP
There are three altars in the temple’s main hall. The one on the left has two ancestral tablets dedicated to wandering souls and 108 brave villagers who lost their lives during a war that has since been lost to the annals of time. The right altar is devoted to Guan Yu and Fude Zheng Shen. The former is a deified general who fought many great battles during the Han Dynasty while the latter is worshipped as the God of Prosperity.
The goddess who lends her name to the temple occupies the central altar. Tian Hou was said to be a female shaman who hailed from the Chinese province of Fujian. Known also as Mazu, she was revered after death as a tutelary deity of seafarers, including fishermen and sailors. Her worship spread throughout the region, especially Southeast Asia, when Chinese immigrants left their country in search of greener pastures.
Traffic is noticeably heavier by the time I start making my way towards Kuala Terengganu’s main Chinese settlement in Jalan Bandar. Filled with stately ancestral homes, pre-war shophouses and temples, this cosy little street is said to be home to one of Southeast Asia’s earliest Chinese settlements.
The exact date of Kampung Cina’s founding is unknown but it’s believed that some of the people living here today are descendants of the first Chinese traders who arrived and settled here in the 16th century.
ANCIENT ENGLISH ACCOUNT
During his voyage to this region in the 18th century, English explorer Captain Alexander Hamilton visited Kuala Terengganu in 1719 and 1720. He reported that the town had about 1,000 houses and the economy centred on pepper and gold exports.
Hamilton also described a thriving Chinese community that had trade ties with countries as far away as Siam (now Thailand), Cambodia, Tongkin (now Vietnam) and the Indonesian islands of Sambas. The sight of numerous Chinese junks and Malay sampans moored at port convinced Hamilton that Kuala Terengganu was a major trading centre in the region.
Today, nearly all of the buildings in Kampung Cina that existed during Hamilton’s time have all but disappeared. In their place are brick and timber shophouses that date back to the late 19th century. Apart from that, nothing much has changed. Jalan Bandar, strategically located close to the Terengganu River, is still a thriving place of commerce and trade.
By just looking at the eye-catching building facades, one could be forgiven for thinking that they belong to just any other Chinatown in Malaysia. Known as a shutterbug’s paradise, the buildings’ Straits Chinese, Neoclassical and Art Deco architectural styles are a sight to behold.
Daunting as they may appear, it’s actually quite easy to differentiate between the styles. Neoclassical buildings, for example, are rather elaborate and ornate in their decorations, while much older buildings are generally plain looking and have very few embellishments.
After spending more than an hour soaking in the sights, I decide to pause for breakfast at a pre-war building located beside a small canal that empties directly into the river. Walking in, I’m overwhelmed by a sense of disappointment as the interior of Kafeteria Riverview has been completely renovated. With modern fitting and re-plastered walls, the place has completely lost its old world charm atmosphere.
Food-wise, the stalls do not seem to offer anything terribly exciting. The choices, however, start to improve by the time I reach the opposite end of the building which fronts the Terengganu River. Right beside the rear entrance is a stall serving a well-known east coast breakfast fare that I’ve been wanting to sample for ages.
NASI DAGANG EXPERIENCE
Despite its small stall space, there are plenty of dishes to choose from at Nasi Dagang Mok Nor. Price is fixed at RM4 per plate and that includes rice, vegetable pickle, a hardboiled egg and a choice of either chicken, prawn, squid or fish curry.
I opt for fish, which turns out to be a large piece of tuna flesh. While handing over the change, the friendly serve staff congratulates me on my choice, saying that I share the same preference with most of her local patrons.
Sitting at the table that offers that the best view of the river, I mentally prepare for my very first nasi dagang meal. The first thing that hits me is the curry. It’s delicious! The generous use of spices like lemongrass, galangal, chilli paste and turmeric make it fragrant and full of flavour. The pickled cucumber and carrots are crunchy and go very well with the rice that has been cooked to perfection in coconut milk and a modest sprinkling of fenugreek seeds.
After the meal, I head off the beaten track for a change and explore several interesting small side lanes that branch from Jalan Bandar. A community project, initiated in 2004, separated these little enclaves into themes to help visitors set them apart.
The Payang Memory Lane showcases the contributions of former leaders who made their mark in Kampung Cina. Like the Malay nasi dagang stall in the Chinese-owned food court that I patronised earlier, this place highlights the shared harmony between the two main races in Kuala Terengganu by way of numerous colourful suspended umbrellas and ketupat decorations.
Interestingly, there’s even a lane that plays host to murals depicting the Seven Wonders of the World as well as that of our local icon, the Petronas Twin Towers. Aptly named World Heritage Lane, this alley featuring paintings of monuments like India’s Taj Mahal, Petra in Jordan and the Great Wall of China received recognition from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) on July 7, 2007.
RACIAL COHESION
Another proof of racial cohesion can be seen a little further away at Tou Keh Wee Hin See Lane. This narrow street is home to many interesting artefacts that tell the story of Kampung Cina’s interesting past, including the reconstructed Syed Abek’s Well.
Syed Abek was a Muslim scholar who came to Terengganu around the mid-19th century and lived in a house near Kampung Cina. He was a notable orator and, with the help of Arab merchants, he played a prominent role spreading Islam in the state. During those early days, Kuala Terengganu not only attracted the attention of Chinese merchants, but was also a focal point for Middle Eastern and Indian traders.
Apart from allowing Muslim travellers and haj pilgrims to use his house as a transit point, Syed Abek also financed the construction of a surau near his residence for the convenience of the Muslim community living in and around Kampung Cina. After his death, Syed Abek’s descendants continued his charitable work well into the late 20th century before the house was finally abandoned.
During demolition in 2013, part of Syed Abek’s well was salvaged and rebuilt at the lane which is named after Wee Sin Hee, a prominent 19th century merchant who was born in Kuala Terengganu in 1848. Wee rose to prominence when he made a fortune trading in areca nut, tobacco and salt. He owned a row of 10 shophouses in Kampung Cina and was said to be close to the ruling monarch of Terengganu at that time, Sultan Omar Riayat Shah. Wee also issued coins bearing his name to facilitate trade. Unfortunately, the British declared the coins and other monetary tokens produced by other Terengganu merchants as illegal in 1869.
Wee passed away sometime during the turn of the last century and was buried on a hill overlooking the Terengganu River estuary. His burial plot was said to be a gift from the Terengganu Sultan in recognition of their friendship and Wee’s innumerable contributions to the state.
OLDEST CHINESE TEMPLE
Before heading off to Pasar Payang to meet my friend, I make one last stop at the oldest place of worship for the Chinese community in Terengganu. Luck is on my side as I arrive just as the workers are putting up decorations in preparation for the coming Chinese New Year celebrations.
A plaque on the temple wall tells of a tale related to the temple’s history. During the late 18th century, a group of villagers from Fujian province decided to leave China and head for Southeast Asia. They settled in Kuala Terengganu and prospered. Over time, their family members and friends also made the dangerous sea voyage to join them.
In 1801, the immigrants banded together and built Ho Ann Kiong Temple to fulfil their religious obligations. The Chinese community in Kampung Cina gathered at the temple during major festivals and paid homage to the deities.
About century later, the popularity of Ho Ann Kiong Temple as a place of worship waned with the establishment of the newer Tian Hou Gong Temple. With fewer devotees and smaller alms collection, the older temple fell into disrepair.
Two decades later, in 1915, Kuala Terengganu was hit by a terrible epidemic that wiped out a large portion of its population. Medicine was scarce and beyond the reach of many. As such, the general population was left to the mercy of the deadly disease. At their wits’ end, the villagers returned to the derelict Ho Ann Kiong Temple and prayed for deliverance.
The deities responded by setting a condition. In return for their salvation, the people of Kampung Cina was asked to return Ho Ann Kiong Temple to its former glory. Skill craftsmen immediately got down to work and as soon as the last splash of paint was applied, the scourge miraculously dissipated.
Almost a century after the major uplift, more than half of the temple was ravaged by a fire that broke out on Feb 22, 2010, just eight days after Chinese New Year. According to the State Fire and Rescue Department, the blaze started in the middle of the temple when billows of smoke were first sighted at about 9.30pm by people living nearby.
Having learnt their lesson from history, the people embarked on a series of fund raising events to restore the temple. Today, the protective presence of Ho Ann Kiong Temple gives the presence of mind to Kampung Cina folks as they go about their daily lives.
While tracing the last remaining metres of Jalan Bandar, I’m filled with a sense of admiration for this place that has gone through so much since its humble beginnings as a small fishing settlement. The places I’ve visited today lends weight to the fact that people have the uncanny ability of overcoming all odds as long as they persevere and remain united in the face of adversity.
Like in the past, Kampung Cina today remains a cultural melting pot of the different races who strive to work hand in hand in their quest to bring the place they call home to even greater heights.