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The row
A row of five buildings stands beside the Temple Street night market
The complex in Yau Ma Tei is a row of five adjacent buildings: a Tin Hau Temple, a Shing Wong Temple, a Kwun Yum temple, Shea Tan and Hsu Yuen. A public square, Yung Shue Tau, lies in front, surrounded by the popular Temple Street night market. The nearby Temple Street is named after the temple.
The move
Boat people and villagers moved the temple to its present site
The Tin Hau Temple was probably erected here in 1864. It began as a small temple in the present Kwun Chung Market area, and boat people and villagers of Yau Ma Tei moved it to this site. It once faced the Yau Ma Tei waterfront; after land reclamation it now stands almost three kilometers from the shore.
The bay
Yau Ma Tei was a bay for Tanka fishermen before Kowloon was ceded
Before Kowloon was ceded to the British in 1860, Yau Ma Tei was a beach and a bay gathering many Tanka fishermen. Its water remains a harbour for fishermen. The typhoon shelter became known for restaurants on boats serving seafood, and those typhoon shelter dishes remain famous and are even offered on land.
The school
Two of the buildings housed a free school until 1955
Two of the five buildings had a second life as a school. The Kung Sor, an old communal hall, and the Hsu Yuen, a study hall built in 1897, were used until 1955 as a venue for a free school teaching the boat and land people. The Kwun Yum temple and Kwun Yam Lau She Tan were built in 1894, and the Shing Wong Temple in 1878.
Kept now
The whole row was declared a monument in May 2020
Before 1914 the temple was managed by a council set up by the merchants of Yau Ma Tei. Since 1914 it has been under the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. The Tin Hau Temple was listed as a Grade I historic building in June 2000, and it and the adjoining buildings were listed as declared monuments in May 2020.
Day 1, evening
It comes after Star Ferry.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Tin Hau Temple Complex, Yau Ma Tei and the Wikipedia article Yau Ma Tei, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.