iSee Tin Hau Temple

Original coastline

This Tin Hau Temple marks the original coastline of Yau Ma Tei. Devoted to the goddess of the sea, this is the largest of its kind in Kowloon. The temple was built in 1860 by the fishing community who lived on traditional junk boats at its original coastline. Due to immense land reclamation over subsequent years, the building’s location is now inland, along the appropriately-named Temple Street.

Goddess of the sea

Today, few livelihoods depend on local fishing, but neighbourhood residents still visit the temple to pay tribute to Tin Hau, the goddess of the sea. Tin Hau is a local legend named Lam Mak, who could predict the weather from a young age. With her special skills, she saved countless fishermen from shipwrecks. Villagers came to revere her as a guardian of the sea, and thus built temples to ask for her blessing during seafaring activities.

Tin Hau festivals

In front of the Tin Hau Temple, there is a pair of stone lions made in 1865. Inside the temple, there is a precious bronze bell cast in 1888. Every year, the local community organises festivals like “Guan Yin Treasury” festival symbolically distributes money to devotees and celebrates Tin Hau’s birthday, which involves a procession of devotees carrying an intricately-designed paper effigy running towards Tin Hau Temple.