KUALA TERENGANU: Tens of thousands of Taoist and Buddhist devotees, including foreign tourists, thronged the Kuan Thee Than Temple in Kampung Tiong over six days to celebrate its 67th birthday anniversary.
Event organising committee operations chairman Chee Kiang Leong, 54, said that the celebrations from Sunday began with chanting of prayers and hymns, led by high priests, followed by cultural shows and songs.
Chee explained that Kuan Thee Than is a revered warrior in Chinese history and the local folk celebrate his birthday annually to thank him for offering them protection against harm.
Temple Supporters Association president Tan Eng Seng, who is also Chinese Assembly Hall Terengganu vice-president, and publicity committee secretary Desmond Lim, who is Deris Dimensi managing director, had their hands full in ensuring the daily programmes went on smoothly.
“We had devotees not only from Terengganu but southern Thailand, Kelantan, Pahang, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Penang and other parts of the country.
“Even European tourists joined in to experience something different for them,” said Chee, who has served in the committee for 26 years.
Chee said they managed to auction off over 1,000 gifts to raise funds to purchase land for a temple extension as it was becoming a major tourist and religious attraction in the state.
“We also treated some 600 senior citizens from old folks homes, apart from providing daily dinner buffet for the thousands who thronged to the temple for prayers,” said Chee.
The Kuan Thee Than Temple is located close to the city’s bustling chinatown of Kampung Cina, which is better known as Teng Lang Po among the Chinese community.
There are two other prominent chinese temples nearby, namely the Ho Ann Kiong and Tien Hou Kong temples which were built in 1801 and 1896, respectively.