Chinese Temples Committee
Kwun Yum Temple, Hung Hom
The Kwun Yum Temple is the most famous among the great number of them in the territory. It was built in 1873, was a centre of Hung Hom Community.
The Kwun Yum Temple is the most famous among the great number of them in the territory. It was built in 1873. In 1909, a road was constructed to connect Hung Hom with Tsim Sha Tsui and Kowloon City. When workers were digging in the hilly areas, red water spouted from the ground. It was rumoured that the vein of the dragon that inhabited in that area had been ruptured as a result of the work. The workers were frightened to continue with the road construction. Despite laboratory findings that the colour of the water was due to a mixture of underground deposits of sulphur and mercury, the workers were still worried and donated money to renovate the temple in the belief that Kwun Yum would be able to help them to avert any subsequent disaster.
During the second World War, it was said that Hung Hom district was under bombardments, aiming at destroying the Whampoa Dock. There were heavy casualties in the adjacent school but those people taking shelter in the temple were unharmed. The residents in the area believed that it was a miracle of Kwun Yum.
Kwun Yum or Kwun Sai Yum (觀世音) is known for centuries as a deity of sympathy, compassion and mercy, hearing the pleas of those who are suffering. She is worshipped by people of both the Taoist and Buddhist religions. Kwun Yum in the earlier times was a male divinity, but evolved to be a female deity in Tang Dynasty (唐朝). Arising from a saying that Kwun Yum studied Taoist teachings on lotus blossoms, some Kwun Yum Temples are also called Lin Fa Kung or Palace of Lotus Flower (蓮花宮). Temples dedicated to Kwun Yum are often alternatively known as Shui Yuet Kung or Palace of Water and Moon (水月宮), which stands for all that is quiet and peaceful and detached from the material world.
Architecturally, the temple is a traditional Chinese temple. The front hall is shaped like a Chinese pavilion. The middle hall looks like a covered-year and the rear part is the main hall where the images of the deities are placed.
The Chinese words "Kwun Yum Temple" and the couplet at the entrance are carved in 1889.
Apart from Kwun Yum, the temple also houses Tai Sui (Sixty Gods of Time),Doumu, Tai Sui (Sixty Lords of Time), Hung Shing( a God of the Sea), Choi Pak Sing Kwan (a God of Wealth), Mo Tai /Kwan Tai (also named as Guan Di, God of War), Pak Tai, Man Cheong, Shing Wong(also named as Cheng Huang, the City God) and All Saint
There are four festivals in the lunar year in honour of Kwun Yum. They fall on the 19th day of the second, sixth, ninth and eleventh lunar months and these days correspond respectively to her birth, ordination, deification and assumption as a sea-goddess. Apart from these festive days, the temple is particularly busy during the Kwun Yum Open Treasury on the 26th day of the first lunar month where tens of thousands of worshippers go to the temple to "borrow money" from the Goddess.
This temple had undergone major renovations in 1889 and 1910.
Station Lane, Hung Hom, Kowloon
- Take KMB bus no. 6C, 6F, 30X, 212 or Tunnel bus no. 106 or 115, get off at the junction of Wuhu Street and Kun Yam Street, walk for 5 minutes along Kun Yam Street to Station Lane.
- Ho Man Tin Station Exit B1 → take the footbridge to Wuhu Street → Kun Yam Street (about 10 mins.)
8:00am to 5:45pm daily
2363 4930
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