Hong Kong’s ‘lotus rock’ temple in Tai Hang, Lin Fa Kung, where villagers worship Goddess of Mercy Kwun Yum
- At Lin Fa Kung Temple in Tai Hang, built around a rock that was once near the seashore, worshippers have been asking goddess Kwun Yum for mercy for 161 years
It’s easy to think of Tai Hang as merely a “hip” Hong Kong Island neighbourhood with cute cafes and restaurants. But if you go there and all you’re getting is a cup of coffee and a few good photos for your social media, you’re missing out on its cultural and historical elements – although, admittedly, Tai Hang cafes do have really good coffee. Sourdough toast, too.
But the dance takes place only once a year, during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Even older than the 144-year-old dance and open to visitors every day is the Lin Fa Kung Temple, an architecturally unusual structure devoted to the worship of Kwun Yum, a Buddhist and Taoist deity of compassion, sympathy and mercy.
It was built in 1863, on top of a rock on a hill near the sea. One-hundred-and-sixty-one years have passed and the rock is still intact, dramatically revealing itself to temple visitors.
