Chinese Temple of Dili

8°33′18″S 125°34′50″E / 8.5551347°S 125.5804497°E / -8.5551347; 125.5804497ArchitectureCompleted1928

The Chinese Temple of Dili is a temple used by the Chinese diaspora of Dili, East Timor. The temple was built in 1928, during the Portuguese control of East Timor, and is still in use today.^[1]

The main shrine of the temple is dedicated to Lord Guan, a historical Chinese general from the 3rd century, who is popularly worshipped in Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, and Chinese Buddhism. Another room is dedicated to Guan Yin, a bodhisattva venerated in Chinese folk religion.^[2]

History

In 1926, the Chinese community who migrated from Macau set up a shrine in a garage where they worshipped a 30 cm high statue of Guan Gong that had been sent from China. In 1928, after getting funding from both the Portuguese government^[3] and the Chinese diaspora,^[4] they built the current temple and enshrined the statue inside the temple.^[1] The Guan Di temple was believed to have been built in 1936 or 1937. A shrine dedicated to Guan Yin was built in 1977.

The temple survived the Japanese occupation during World War II and the Indonesian occupation without being vandalized.^[2]

Chinese New Year 2018
Shrine for Guan Yu
Statue of a Deity
Plaque with tribute to three benefactors
Benefactors: Lieutenant Manuel M. Oliveira; Lieutenant Eurico Correa Lemos; Merchant Leong Heng Hia (1937)

References

^ ^a ^b "THE CHINESE TEMPLE". Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "东帝汶:帝力关帝庙 (in English "East Timor: Dili Guandi Temple")". Archived from the original on 2018-04-01. Retrieved 2018-04-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ Real, Jose Fernando (16 September 2015). "Photo of Portuguese memorial plaque found in the temple".
^ Real, Jose Fernando (16 September 2015). "Photo of Chinese memorial plaque".