Origin of Seak Kam Dong Hang Toi Temple

Back in the old days, the site of San Kio district was a piece of low-lying cultivated land where a population of impoverished farmers made a living on. But from time to time, the neighboring outsiders would bully these poor people. Out of self-protection, they pooled the necessary resources to build a communal hall as a symbol of unity and enshrined Seak Kam Dong (a tablet allegedly carved out of the stone from Taishan Mountain and is believed to have the divine power to ward off evil spirits) for veneration. The construction of the communal hall, which has nowadays become the Seak Kam Dong Hang Toi Temple, had taken 18 years to complete. Though the preparations began in 1885, but owning to insufficient funding, its actual construction only started in 1894 and ended by 1902.

In the past, a matshed for staging Cantonese opera at night would be erected at the intersection of Rua de João de Araújo and Rua da Barca during the feast of Seak Kam Dong, which falls on the 7th day of the first lunar month. But celebrative activities usually spanned from the 6th day to the 9th day. A temple fair was held on the very feast day, with a procession of the effigy of Seak Kam Dong in the San Kio district to invoke blessings for the surrounding residents.

Nowadays, the Temple still houses a handful of its historical relics, like an inscribed plaque about the construction of the communal hall, an age-old incense burner and an altar for placement of small incense burners.