Victoria’s historic Chinese temple rises to national prominence

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Dubbed an early and rare example of a Chinese temple in Canada, Victoria’s Tam Kung Temple is now a national historic site.

The site that originated as a shrine in the 1860s was the only site listed alongside nine people and events announced as new federal historic subjects March 6.

The Tam Kung Temple has served as an important religious space for Chinese Canadians, and specifically the Hakka community, on Vancouver Island since the late 19th century. This temple has been in almost continuous use since the Yen Wo Society constructed this building to house the temple on its top floor in 1912, demonstrating the continuity of this religious tradition over time, reads the federal description of the newest national historic site.

Located on the top floor of the Yen Wo Society Building at 1713 Government St. in Victoria’s Chinatown, the origins of the Tam Kung Temple can be traced to the gold rush of the 1860s when a Hakka miner placed a statue of the deity Tam Kung in a wooden roadside shrine by the Johnson Street ravine that divided Chinatown from Victoria’s downtown core to the south.

In 1905, Hakka speakers in Victoria founded the Yen Wo Society and in 1911 bought the property where the brick temple was located.

When fire broke out in 1911, the statue was rescued unscathed along with a few other surviving items. In 1912, a four-storey building was constructed to replace the ruined temple. The new Tam Kung Temple was placed on the highest level.

In the 1980s, the temple endured another fire but this time the Yen Wo Society restored the building and the statue survived again.

Despite a movement away from traditional Chinese religion in the early 20th century, the temple remained open and visitors have come to the temple to make offerings and seek advice from Tam Kung on life decisions and curing ailments. In 2022, the Tam Kung Temple was the only Chinese temple still in use in Victoria.

Tam Kung Temple is open to the public and welcomes both local and international visitors. Believers visit the temple to consult Tam Kung for guidance on how to handle difficult life issues or how to recover from an illness. A believer will kneel and shake a bamboo tube with 103 bamboo sticks after making an offering of incense. Each stick has a number that correlates to a verse from an oracle that offers guidance from Tam Kung.

Following designation, creating a plaque takes an average of 18 to 24 months.

The temple is in Victoria’s Chinatown – the oldest and most intact Chinatown in Canada – designated a national historic site in 1995 with its own commemorative plaque in place at Fisgard Street near Fan Tan Alley.

“National historic designations recognize the significant people, places, and events that have shaped the Canada we know today. Today’s announcement, which commemorates stories from all corners of the country, reflects the full scope of our shared history – both the proud and the painful – honouring our nation’s past in all its richness and diversity,” Steven Guilbeault, the minister responsible for Parks Canada, said in a news release.

The designation process under Parks Canada’s National Program of Historical Commemoration is largely driven by public nominations with more than 2,270 designations to date.

Visit tamkungtemple.ca to learn more about the nation’s newest historical site.

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