GES1005 | Everyday Life of Chinese Singaporeans Semester II, AY2016/2017 | Professor Dean, Kenneth

National University of Singapore Temple Report on Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮)

Tutorial Group D10

Khoong Wei Hao | A0140425U

Lee Zhi Qiang Leonard | A0140371U

Tiong Teck Huan Alfred | A0140716M

Page Count (Excluding Cover Page, Appendix & References): 5

Word Count (Excluding Cover Page, Appendix & References): 1906

Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮)

Introduction

Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮) is one of three temples located along Yishun Avenue 31, and

is part of the Teong Siew Wei Ling Dong Shan Combined Temple. It sits between

two temples, the Dong Shan Temple (东山庙) on its right, and the Teong Siew Kuan

(長秀舘) on its left, when observed from the main entrance of the combined temple.

Wei Ling Keng was founded in 1938 in Singapore, and was originally located at 7th

Mile Upper Thomson Road, a place once known as Ban Kok Sua (Ban Kok Hill) in

Hokkien. The kampong road name was formally known as Lorong Kinchir, located

atop a hill near Lower Pierce Reservoir at present. In 1957, it was rebuilt in Hup

Choon Kek Village (Jalan Chempedak). Wei Ling Keng then began another move in

the late 1980s, as the management was told to relocate the temple by the

government, to to pave way for their urban redevelopment projects. The temple

finally moved to its present location in Yishun1 in 1990.

According to the Temple In-Charge - Mr Tok (See Figure in Appendix), the main

dialect spoken by the temple’s members is that of Hokkien, and the temple

originated from Anxi County in the Southern Fujian Province in China, where there

sits another (the original) Wei Ling Keng temple. Wei Ling Keng first originated from

a kampong in Anxi Xuan Bang Ting Chun. According to Mr Tok, during the Second

World War, people from the kampong in Anxi County with the surname Chen, or Tan

in English, fled to Singapore and Palembang in Indonesia to escape the invading

Japanese army. When they settled in Singapore and Indonesia, they also

constructed Wei Ling Keng temples - at Ban Kok Sua in Singapore, and in

Palembang, Indonesia.

The temple’s vision is to create peace and harmony in both the human and spirit

world. It also has a mission - to assist the 7 Kings (七王府大人) to save lives and

offer valuable advice to all followers, through weekly consultation services every

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Saturday, at 2000 hours. Wei Ling Keng also has a lease of 30 years, which spans

from 1987 to 2017. The 30 year lease costs $800,000 (in SGD), and the cost is

shared among the 3 temples. The temple currently has a management committee,

named The 27th Council2 (本宫第二十七届理事会), which comprises of 29 members.

According to Mr Tok, Wei Ling Keng has around 140 members in Singapore, and

over 200 in China. He is unsure about the number of members in the Indonesian

branch.

Findings Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮), like many other temples in Singapore, was forced to

relocate due to the land acquisition by the government. It then partnered up with the

Dong Shan Temple (东山庙) and the Teong Siew Kuan (長秀舘) to construct the

Teong Siew Wei Ling Dong Shan Combined Temple,which was completed in 1990.

Wei Ling Keng celebrates several festivals, of which the main festivals are the Seven

Kings Birthday Procession (七王府大人圣诞千秋), held on the 15th day of the 10th

lunar month, and the Goddess of Mercy Birthday (观音佛祖), held on the 19th day of

the 2nd lunar month. During these festivals, especially on the last day of the Lunar

New Year, the temple invites spirit mediums to the temple, sourced from their own

members. At Wei Ling Keng, most of these spirit mediums come from the Wei Ling

Keng in China (first temple), who travel to Singapore during the temple’s festive

periods to take part in the processions. These spirit mediums will then go into a

trance by being possessed by the temple god(s), and with the help of an interpreter,

he or she will listen to the message conveyed, and impart the message to the

devotee(s) in need of help and/or advice.

At Wei Ling Keng, the main deities of worship are the Seven Lords (七王), which are

part of the Seven Kings (七王府大人) altar (See Appendix). From left to right on the

altar, the Seven Kings are: Guo fu da ren (郭府大人), xiao fu da ren (萧府大人), li fu

da ren (李府大人), xing fu da ren (邢府大人), zhu fu da ren (朱府大人), zhou fu da

ren (周府大人), and chi fu da ren (池府大人). According to Mr Tok, these seven lords

(deities) were seven out of three hundred and sixty scholars, who were poisoned

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before a major exam. Among the 360 scholars that passed on due to the poisoning,

there were a total of 132 different surnames. The 360 scholars were then honoured

as Wang Ye (王爺), and seven of them with different surnames were chosen to be

the deities of worship of Wei Ling Keng, as these seven scholars had connections to

the kampong in Anxi County, where Wei Ling Keng originated from. There are also

secondary gods in the temple, residing in the two side altars, on the left and right of

the Seven Kings altar. The deities residing in the left side altar (see appendix) are:

Wu guan jiang jun (五营将军) which is of Taoist origin, and Ju Gang Hei Mian Chi Fu

Da Ren (巨港黑面池府大人). In the right side altar (see appendix), the deities are:

Zhen Wu Shang Di (真武上帝)，Guan Yin Fo Zu (观音佛祖)，Sun Wu Zhen Ren (孙

武真人)，Fu De Zheng Shen (福德正神). The deities residing in the left side altar

have a sole role - to act as guards for the seven lords. On the other hand, the deities

residing in the right altar are general gods which are commonly found in many

temples in Singapore, such as Guan Yin - the Goddess of Mercy.

Wei Ling Keng has several affiliated3 temples. The temple also has overseas

branches in China and Palembang (Indonesia), which are named China Wei Ling

Keng and Yayasan Wibawa Sakti Wie Leng Keng4 respectively. However, in China

and in Pelambang, Indonesia, the Wei Ling Keng only has six main deities of

worship, out of the seven in Singapore’s Wei Ling Keng. The deity not worshipped by

China’s and Indonesia’s Wei Ling Keng is Guo fu da ren (郭府大人). An interesting

remark by Mr Tok is that China’s and Indonesia’s Wei Ling Keng only consists of the

six main deities, without any secondary deities like in Singapore’s Wei Ling Keng,

and that there is no particular reason as to why only these six deities are

worshipped.

The temple has a steele which has the names of the temple’s donors and the

amount donated inscribed onto the stone tablet. The largest sum donated is located

at the top-left of the steele, a sum of $35,000 donated in 1987, while the temple was

being constructed at its present site in Yishun. At present, donations come from the

members (and worshippers) of Wei Ling Keng, and also members of the public that

attend the festivals and the performances hosted by the temple. At the entrance of

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the temple’s main hall, there are two deities inscribed onto the doors. According to

Mr Tok, these deities have no name nor do they have any specific purpose. They are

just known as Men Shen (门神). Similarly, the chinese characters on the couplets

bear no specific meaning and purpose.

Wei Ling Keng also conducts a wide range of services for its followers. It provides

free consultation services to its worshippers, every saturday at 8pm. During the

consultation services, the temple deities will indirectly provide advice through the

temple’s spirit mediums, alongside a committed group of volunteers from the temple.

The aim of the consultation services is to aid the worshippers who are in need of

advice on problems associated with their health, careers, businesses, and families.

Wei Ling Keng also conducts an annual charity drive, held on the 19th day of the

second Lunar month. This charity drive is organized by the temple’s committee to

deliver donated food items and vouchers to the moral welfare homes. In particular,

the charity drive is open for participation to the general public, not just to members of

the temple. Lastly, the temple provides dragon and lion dance services through their

associate, the Yun Yang Dragon and Lion Dance Association. During temple

festivals conducted by Wei Ling Keng, troupes from the association will be hired by

the temple to perform during the festivals. People who attend these festivals will then

make donations to Wei Ling Keng, which are used to fund future festivals.

Stories

Mr Tok, Wei Ling Keng’s In-Charge, shared with us an interesting story that

happened in the 1990s, involving Wei Ling Keng’s Indonesian branch and that of

Singapore’s. During the Japanese Occupation, members of China’s Wei Ling Keng

fled to Singapore and Indonesia. During the Second World War, neither branch had

means of contacting each other, and did not know the exact location of Singapore's

and Indonesia’s Wei Ling Keng. In particular, these two branches did not have each

other’s contact details. After the war, a member of Indonesia’s Wei Ling Keng,

knowing the existence of the Singapore branch, decided to pay a visit, to perform a

ritual during one of the festivals - the Goddess of Mercy’s Birthday, or the Seven

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Kings’ Birthday. However, the member from the Indonesian branch did not know the

contact details of Singapore’s Wei Ling Keng, and so began the search for

Singapore’s Wei Ling Keng. The search was not successful for many years, until

1992, where a fateful encounter between a member of Singapore’s Wei Ling Keng

who reared fishes for a living was in Indonesia. At that time, she bumped into a man

holding a piece of paper from Wei Ling Keng, which contained a list of lucky

numbers for that period of time. She recognized Wei Ling Keng’s name at the top of

the slip of paper instantly, and asked the man if he was a member of Indonesia’s Wei

Ling Keng, which he was. After which, they exchanged contacts and both branches

were finally able to establish contact with each other. Ever since that fateful

encounter, during the temples’ festivals, every side will send representatives to each

branch to take part in the rituals and processions, and most of these representatives

are spirit mediums and committee members.

Conclusion

Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮), just like most of the chinese temples in Singapore, was

forcefully relocated by the government due to its urban redevelopment projects. The

30 - year lease amounting to $800,000, a cost borne by the the three temples of the

Teong Siew Wei Ling Dong Shan Combined Temple, was covered by the donations

of the temples’ members and also from the general public, whom took part in the

festivals hosted by the temples. It is a huge sum, and if not for the donations made

throughout the years before the first relocation and also during the 30 years after its

relocation in 1987, the Teong Siew Wei Ling Dong Shan Combined Temple may be

no more. Although the number of members in Wei Ling Keng still stands strong at

over 140, Mr Tok did make a remark that an increasing number of youths have little

interest on the temple’s affairs, especially the children of the members from his

generation. This may well spell the beginning of the end of Wei Ling Keng’s heritage

and its traditions, as although the methods of the practices will be passed down

through the generations, the diminishing level of interest (hence understanding) in

the reasons for such practices will result in the loss of purpose, and ultimately Wei

Ling Keng’s cultural heritage itself.

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References

Wei Ling Keng | 鹬. (2000, November 10). Retrieved from

http://www.weilingkeng.sg/index.htm

Yun Yang Dragon & Lion Dance Association (新加坡雲陽體育會). (n.d.). Retrieved

from http://yunyang-sg.com/

Appendix Difficulties and challenges faced by our team:

In total, our team went down to the site of the temple thrice, on three separate days.

Each of our members live at opposite ends of Singapore - Tampines(East), Redhill

(South), and near Bouna Vista (West), whereas our allocated temple is all the way

up north in Yishun. This resulted in a large amount of travel time to our allocated

temple, and due to our conflicting schedules due to our commitments, be it during

recess week or during the school term, we could only find enough time for three trips

down to the temple to conduct our research together as a team.

We made our first visit on the day after the last (15th) day of the Lunar New Year.

During our first visit, only the manager of the Dong Shan Temple (东山庙) was

present. He invited us into his office, where he shared with us the history of his

temple and the deities, and also tried his best to share with us as much as possible,

the history of our allocated temple - Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮), from his experiences

since he began the partnership with Wei Ling Keng and the Teong Siew Kuan (長秀

舘) in the construction of the Teong Siew Wei Ling Dong Shan Combined (United)

Temple. The manager’s wife showed us a video of the temple event the night before,

where in the video showed to us, we saw spirit mediums from the temple and its

affiliates enter a trance, and deities temporally possess their bodies at the altars.

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Dong Shan Temple Manager - Second from right

Temple Assistant - Middle During our second visit, to our dismay, all the temple managers were not present.

Fortunately for us, in our allocated temple, a temple assistant was present, along

with several members of the temple, who were playing mahjong in the private

quarters behind the altar. They answered our questions to the best of their ability,

and told us to contact the temple again at a later time to see if the manager is

present (i.e. phone interview), and also to check out their website and facebook page

for more information.

We ‘hit the jackpot’ on our third visit, as Wei Ling Keng’s In-Charge was present.

Unfortunately, Alfred was ill, but Leonard and Wei Hao proceeded on with the visit

that day as looking at our schedules, it was impossible for us to find another date

when all three of us can visit the temple together as a group. We managed to clear

up issues raised by Ms. Sze Sze during the presentation, found out more about the

temple and its deities, and also clarified with the In-Charge the information gathered

from the temple assistant and the manager from the other temple.

Wei Ling Keng’s In-Charge, Mr Tok (Centre)

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Endnotes:

1 Wei Ling Keng (威靈宮) is located at 360, Yishun Avenue 3, Singapore 769059. 2 The full list of the council members can be found in the Appendix. 3 The list of affiliated temples is given in the Appendix. 4 Wei Ling Keng’s Indonesian branch is located at Jl. Dukuh, 8 Ilir, Palembang, Sumatera Selatan, Indonesia. Wei Ling Keng Contact Information:

Address: 360, Yishun Avenue 3, Singapore 769059

Tel no.: 6754 2728

Email: 7king@weilingkeng.sg

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/weilingkeng.temple

Website: http://www.weilingkeng.sg/index.htm

Wei Ling Keng 27th Council:

本宫第二十七届理事会 (The 27th Council)

Front row : Zhang Tiancheng (Treasurer) , Choi Fu Cai (Vice-Chairman), Luo Wenlong (vice-chairman), Zhuoping An (legal attorney), Zhang Kunhui (Chairman), Zhang Deyu (vice-chairman) , Huang Yamin (Communications) Middle row : Huang Xi (Assistant Secretary) , Benny Chan (Secretary) , Zhang Choi (Assistant welfare manager), Zhuojun Yang (General manager), Zhuoya Cheng (committee) , Zhuotian Quan (Deputy Works), Su Jian-shan (member ), Zhuowan Zi(member), Chen Guocheng (Auditor) Back row : Liu Guohui (Deputy communication),Huang Xi in (Vice instruments) , Victor Chan (Deputy communication), Zhuo Shi Ming (Deputy welfare), Zhuo Tian Zu

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(Deputy secretary) , Zhuo Tim Fei (Deputy General Affairs ), Zhuo Guo Fa (Deputy communication), Zhuozai Qin (Assistant Treasurer) Absent: Zhuonan Chun (Deputy General Affairs) , Zhuo Qing Wan (Member) , Li Jia Zhang (Deputy welfare head), Zhuo De Wei (deputy auditor), Hu Tianci (welfare head) Affiliated Temples:

Seven Kings Altar (Main altar):

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Side Altar (Left):

Side Altar (Right):

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