The City Pillar Shrine | Songkhla, Thailand

The Songkhla City Shrine was built in 1842, during the lifetime of the founder of Songkhla's hereditary ruling family, Phraya Vichian Siri (Tianseng Na Songkhla). Inside, there once was a city pillar made from Javanese cassia wood. Unlike most Thai city pillars, which are large stone or brick and plaster monuments, this city pillar, though no longer wooden, is still small and kept indoors. The first city pillar was given by the Thai King Nangklao in 1842, along with offerings given as alms to Phraya Songkhla (Tianseng) to establish the shrine. 

At that time, the king also selected Phra Udom Pidok as the leader of Buddhist ceremony and Phra Kru Assasachan Phram as the leader of Hindu ceremony, and each was accompanied by eight worshippers in their faith. Phraya Songkhla (Tianseng) built four ceremony halls facing each cardinal direction, and arranged a large parade of Thai and Chinese Buddhists to carry the pillar and the candle to the new shrine. 

At the sacred time (as determined by astrologers), the 10th day of waxing moon in the 4th month, in the year of tiger, 1204th year of Thai minor era at 7.10 a.m. (or 10 March 1842), the Buddhist procession met the awaiting Phraya Songkhla (Tianseng), along with Phra Khru Assadachan and the Hindu priests, who placed the pillar at the center of Songkhla town. After the pillar was erected, a party was held for 5 days and 5 nights. Phraya Songkhla (Tianseng) endowed the temple with 22 monks he personally supported.

At the time, the temple complex included a Khon performing hall, a puppet performing hall, a Chinese opera performing hall, and 4 Norah performing halls.  Later, Phraya Songkhla also built 3 Chinese-style buildings to cover the pillar and a shrine of Chao Sua Muang. 

In 1917, in the era of King Vajiravudh, Prince Yugala Dighambara, the viceroy of southern region, published an announcement that the pillar was rotten by termites. Local people and merchants in Songkhla raised funds to rebuild the pillar out of cement, and consecrated it on 1 March 1917, the 7th day of the waning moon in the 4th month, 22 minutes and 36 seconds before noon. Four astrologers stood at each cardinal direction began by placing soil from the far reaches of the province into the foundation, and workers were done erecting the pillar by 8.41.36 that evening.

Today, the Chinese opera hall is still in use but the others have been turned into school buildings. The temple is at the north end of the main Chinatown strip, so not a bad place to start exploring old town Songkhla (which should only take a day or two max).

Pagoda Hopping in Cholon: Part 2, HCMC | Vietnam

Fifty years later, the Qing officially permitted the emigration of Chinese as per the first Treaty of Peking; additional tens of thousands moved to Cholon without giving up their Chinese nationality. Privileged over the native Vietnamese in the new French colonial system, these immigrants were typically single men who married local women, building the existing Sino-Vietnamese merchant class into an economic elite that dominated the finances of the South until reunification in 1975.

That’s one of the reasons the names for these places can be so confusing; they not only have a Chinese name and Vietnamese name, but are interchangeably called a guildhall, temple, assembly hall, pavillion, or pagoda. In China, these would be separate institutions within a community; in Cholon, the assembly halls are one stop shops, with most not more than a five minute walk from the next.

4. Ong Bon Pagoda - Nhi Phu Temple, 1765

(also known as Er Fu temple, Chauzhou Guild Hall and Sheng Mu temple)

Ni Phu (two cities) assembly hall was built by Hokkien immigrants from Xuanzhou and Zhangzhou. This is the only temple in Cholon where Ong Ban, the god of the soil, is worshipped. The best days to visit are the last day of the lunar year, and the second day of the new lunar year. On these days, traditional Nanyin music is performed on vintage instruments.

Next door is a high school built in the French colonial era that still teaches Chinese language classes; various Chinese dialects and standard Mandarin are still commonly spoken in Cholon, and the Chinese minority population here is still considered somewhat privileged and unassimilated. That said, the Hokkien worshippers at this pagoda are minorities even among the ethnic Chinese of Cholon, most of whom are Cantonese or Teochew.

5. Ming Dynasty Ancestors Village Hall, 1789

This temple is only open between 8:00 and 12:00 on weekdays, because there’s an elderly caretaker/tour guide (Mme. Vuong) who speaks English well, and this is when she prefers to volunteer. A lifelong worshipper here, she explains the history of the temple and its renovations. The temple was damaged in 1962 and the rear house was largely rebuilt at this time.

6. Sanshan Hokkien Temple, 1796

(also known as Hội Quán Tam Sơn, San Hui Temple, Fuzhou Guild Hall and 三山會館)

Built by immigrants from Fuzhou to worship the Lords of the 3 Mountains, this temple also holds a shrine to the goddess of fertility, Me Sanh, and is known locally as the right place to pray for a baby. When I was there, a couple of the tiniest puppies were cuddling in front of an altar.

Pagoda Hopping in Cholon: Part 1, HCMC | Vietnam

As early as 1698, as many as 40,000 Chinese immigrants were recorded as living in Cholon (roughly equivalent to present day districts 5,6, and 11), then the largest Chinatown in the world. Known as the Ming-Heung, they were political refugees from the fall of the Ming dynasty, and formed the first intermarried Sino-Vietnamese community in the South. Chinese immigration continued at low, stable levels through the 18th century, despite the massacres of ethnic Chinese that occurred after every intercession of the Qing dynasty into the wars between the various kingdoms and duchies that make up modern day Vietnam, including those of the Trịnh lords, Nguyễn lords, Lê dynasty, and Tây Sơn brothers.

The Tây Sơn army in particular alternately massacred and recruited Chinese, with sanctioned pogroms in 1776, 1783 and 1792. The Chinese community didn’t emigrate; they simply changed their allegiance to the Nguyễn lords. So did the Qianlong emperor, whose troops helped enthrone them as the Nguyễn dynasty in 1802. Under their rule, ethnic Chinese enjoyed equal status under the law.

Currently only 5% of the population of Cholon identifies as Hoa; whoever stayed after the purges during the Sino-Viet war is now completely assimilated. Even so, the halls are still very active. So let’s take a look! For ease of use, I’ve titled them as their name appears on google maps. I’ve also sorted from oldest to newest.

1. Teochew Guan Yu Temple, 1684

(also known as Nghia An Hoi Quan Pagoda, Guan Di Temple, Yian Clan Hall, Ong Pagoda)

Originally built in 1684 by Teochew immigrants, Guan Di/Yu (the god of war and literature) is worshipped here. The temple is famous for its traditional woodwork. The best night to visit is the 15th day of the lunar new year, when an annual full scale traditional opera is performed.

2. Quan Am pagoda, 1740

(also known as the Ôn Lăng temple)

Built in 1740 by Hokkien immigrants from Quanzhou prefecture, the Quan Am pagoda is the biggest and flashiest of Cholon’s Chinese halls. Three gods are primarily worshipped here: Guanyin (the goddess of mercy), Mazu (the Fujianese sea goddess and queen of heaven), and Amitabha Buddha (the Buddha of immeasurable light and life).

3. Ba Thien Hau Temple, 1760

(also known as Guangzhou Guild Hall, Matsu Temple, and Cholon Po temple)

Supposedly the oldest surviving Taoist temple in the district, Mazu (the goddess of seafarers) is worshipped here. Mazu is one of the most commonly worshipped goddesses in the Chinese diaspora because it was customary for immigrants to set up a temple in her honor once they arrived at their new destinations safely. The temple is famed for its ceramic sculpted finishes.