Chinese Temple of Dili

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]

Chinese Temple of Dili
Cina Maromak
Entrance of the temple
Religion
AffiliationBuddhism
Location
MunicipalityDili
CountryEast Timor
Shown within Dili
Geographic coordinates8.5551347°S 125.5804497°E / -8.5551347; 125.5804497
Architecture
Completed1928

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] 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]

References
  1. "THE CHINESE TEMPLE". Archived from the original on November 25, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  2. "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.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. Real, Jose Fernando (16 September 2015). "Photo of Portuguese memorial plaque found in the temple".
  4. Real, Jose Fernando (16 September 2015). "Photo of Chinese memorial plaque".
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