Sam Sung Temple

INTRODUCTION

The Sam Seng Temple, nestled in Macau’s historic Hakka settlement of Ká Hó, stands as a unique testament to the intersection of maritime culture and terrestrial faith. Rebuilt in 1883, this temple venerates three deities: Hung Shing (sea god), Guan Di (guardian of commerce), and Tam Kung (fishermen’s protector), mirroring the Hakka community’s transition from fishing to agrarian livelihoods. Its Lingnan-style architecture, decorated with plaster moudlings and a distinctive “one hall, three deities, two steles” layout, reflects the craftsmanship and Feng Shui principles of Hakka people. Annual rituals, such as deity birthday celebrations and dragon boat blessings, serve as spiritual anchors for communal cohesion while embodying cultural resilience amid urbanization. From its coastal origins to its modern industrial surroundings, the temple’s evolution embodies Macau’s struggle to preserve heritage in a rapidly changing world.

Historical Background and Development

Origins and Reconstruction

The stele inscription confirms that the K Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple was rebuilt in the 9th year of Guangxu (1883), consistent with The Archives of  Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple (PAGE3, PAGE5). The original text states: “In our  Ká Hó Bay, the worship of Lord Hong Sheng has existed since ancient times,” indicating that Hong Sheng worship was established by the Tongzhi era (1862–1874), serving the fishing community. Island Folk Customs – Oral History of Old Neighbors in Macau’s Coloane notes that  Ká Hó Village, inhabited hundreds of years ago, relied on fishing, with residents initially settling by the bay. In 1883, due to the original temple’s deterioration, villagers pooled resources for reconstruction, completing it in one month, showcasing community collaboration. The inscription mentions “pooling resources to accomplish this noble deed,” and the temple, renamed Sam Seng Temple, expanded to venerate Lord Hong Sheng, Lord Tan Gong, and Lord Guan Sheng, reflecting the village’s shift from fishing to farming. The Archives confirm the temple’s unregistered ownership, indicating communal ownership.

Site selection lore and community significance

The selection of the temple’s current site is steeped in legend. According to an interview with the village head, a villager once climbed to the then-barren site, acting unusually, leading residents to believe it was “the Three Saints manifesting,” prompting the decision to build there. This undocumented oral tradition, echoing the stele inscription’s “boundless divine grace,” suggests the site was chosen due to mystical experiences. The inscription’s description of “lychee gardens glowing red, bamboo bays verdant” portrays Ká Hó’s natural environment, tying the temple’s location to the village’s ecology. The 1883 reconstruction likely responded to the village’s inland migration, addressing the spiritual needs of fishermen and Hakka farmers, with Hong Sheng and Tan Gong offering maritime protection and Guan Sheng supporting land-based prosperity. The temple, a symbol of community unity, continues to reflect Ká Hó’s cultural heritage, blending fishing traditions with Hakka identity.

Rehabilitation and Historical Events

In 1883 (Guangxu 9th year), the Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple was rebuilt due to its dilapidated state. The stele inscription notes: “Buffeted by wind and rain, the sacred visage, dust-covered, beams decayed, and water dripped in the empty courtyard,” highlighting the need for restoration. Villagers collectively funded the reconstruction, completing it swiftly, showcasing community unity. The Archives of Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple document subsequent repairs: minor renovations in 1908 and 1922, followed by restorations by the Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau in 2002 and 2012, adhering to the “repairing the old as it was” principle. Activity center staff noted that these government-led efforts reduced villager involvement, reflecting a shift from community-driven to official management.

The temple’s birthday celebration on the 13th day of the fifth lunar month remains a core tradition in Ká Hó. The village head confirmed that recent events still feature dragon and lion dances and tea snack preparations, consistent with Island Folk Customs. However, staff mentioned that weather and other factors have simplified activities, such as canceling communal feasts, impacting the fullness of traditional rituals. The village head shared an anecdote: a deity statue, sent to Macau’s “Rotten Ghost Building” for repairs, was mistakenly thought stolen, underscoring villagers’ care for the temple’s assets. Staff also referenced land changes in the 1980s, such as uncultivated fields, aligning with Island Folk Customs descriptions of Ká Hó’s economic shift from fishing and farming to modernization.

Geographical and Visual Evidence

The Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple’s location blends feng shui principles with ecological features. The stele inscription states: “Facing northwest from the southeast, aligned with the chen-xu axis. Its gate stands at a crossroad, facilitating circulation,” indicating the temple’s southeast-to-northwest orientation, with a northeast-southwest alignment and a main gate at a crossroad, adhering to feng shui design. The Archives of Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple confirm its location near Our Lady’s Road, occupying 38 square meters and designated as a “monument.” The inscription’s description of “lychee gardens glowing red, bamboo bays verdant” suggests the temple was surrounded by lychee groves and bamboo, close to the bay, reflecting Ká Hó’s fishing village character. Island Folk Customs notes that residents relocated inland from the bay, and the 1883 reconstruction site was likely chosen to align with the village’s layout, near roads for accessibility.

The village head’s interview reveals the site was once “hillside, with wild grass and trees,” aligning with the inscription’s natural imagery, and mentions a former “large beach” now filled in due to airport construction, echoing the inscription’s reference to the bay. Activity center staff confirmed the beach’s disappearance, noting it was once a place for fishing sales and swimming, reinforcing the temple’s ties to fishing life. Today, modern amenities like marble flowerbeds surround the temple, yet it retains a “clear view” toward the village center’s crossroad, continuing its role as a community focal point.

Architectural Features and Heritage Conservation

The Overall Characteristics and Style of Chinese Religious Architecture in Macao · Chinese religious buildings in Macau are generally small in scale, although some have been expanded to their current sizes. These temples typically reflect traditional Chinese architectural styles, with the most common designs featuring hip-and-gable roofs. The main entrance of a temple usually consists of square stone pillars and beams, often adorned with horizontal plaques and stone carvings. The structural design employs a post-and-lintel construction with a high, open roof. The decoration of these temples is significantly more elaborate than that of residential buildings. Roof ridges are made from pottery sourced from Foshan, Guangdong, while the roofs and walls are embellished with plaster moudling. Additionally, the facade gables are decorated with brick carvings, and the interior shrines feature exquisite wood carvings, all of which contribute vibrant color and detail to the buildings. (Lu, 2015)

The Architectural Typology and Spatial Uniqueness of the Sam Seng Temple

The architectural style of the Sam Seng Temple is similar to most Chinese religious buildings in Macau, but it is still unique. In the Lingnan architectural style, small temples usually have three rooms, two entrances, two corridors and an atrium. However, Sam Seng Temple (Ká Hó) is a building with one bay and two halls, and the absence of an atrium between the halls is rarely seen in traditional Chinese temples. The temple mainly consists of two interconnected, flush gable-roofed structures: a porch and a main hall. On each side of the porch is a door opening, which gives the porch the same degree of openness as a corridor. The walls of both the porch and the main hall, mostly grey in colour, are finished with plaster and hand-painted brick patterns. The roof is designed in the traditional double flush gable style with the tiles laid at 4 meters high, and the building measures about 4.5 metres in width and about 8.5 metres in depth. The temple is adorned with simple decorations; in addition to the coloured murals above the door openings of the porch, double fillet mouldings with the ends twisting upward and embellished with leafy patterns are also featured on the gable walls, adding certain lightness and delicacy to the overall appearance (Culture heritage of Macau, n. d.).

Integration of Function and Decoration Under Climate Adaptability

As Macao is located in the coastal area, it is deeply influenced by the ocean and monsoon. Therefore, Macao has the characteristics of warm, rainy, hot and humid weather and distinct dry and wet seasons (Lu, 2015). Due to the rainy weather and proximity to the sea, the humidity in Macao is relatively high. In addition, the Sam Seng Temple is located by the sea, so the sea breeze and seawater have a huge impact on it. However, as representative architectural decorations of traditional Cantonese houses, plaster moudling and mural art are not only visual decorations but also have important functional attributes and cultural connotations. Plaster moudling uses lime as the main material, with paper tendons, straw and other auxiliary materials, and is shaped and colored. It is used to decorate houses and has the function of ventilation and dehumidification (Lingnan Plaster Sculpture Museum). For example, to prevent the gables from being easily attacked by rainwater without eaves, the wall surface from the bottom of the beam to the wall surface is plastered with a certain width as a ground layer. Murals are often painted indoors for decoration. The two "work together" to protect and decorate the wall surface. The "marriage" of plaster moudling and murals is a manifestation of the wisdom of Cantonese architectural craftsmen in responding to the natural climate and perfectly combining architecture and art (Wang, Zheng, Chen & Zhang, 2024).

Principles of Cultural Heritage Protection in Building Maintenance

The Temple of the Sam Seng was renovated twice in 1908 and 1922, mainly to replace the door lintel and repaint several plaster moudling (Macao cultural heritage) inside and outside the temple. Today, the outline of the plaster sculpture can be roughly identified from the left side of the temple. Due to environmental erosion, it is difficult to see the full picture of the plaster moudling on the outer wall. However, compared with the plaster moudling on the outer wall, the painted murals under the eaves are relatively intact. But in fact, the plaster moudling on the outer wall is still very clear from the photos released by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao in 2001. According to the oral statement of the head of Ká Hó Village, he said that before the Sam Seng Temple was assessed as real estate, the restoration and daily maintenance of the Sam Seng Temple were carried out spontaneously by the villagers of Ká Hó  Village. They would repair the plaster moudling and murals from time to time. However after the Sam Seng Temple was assessed as real estate, all repairs were the responsibility of the Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau, and the villagers could not make changes to the Sam Seng Temple without permission. According to the principles set by the Cultural Heritage Department of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, in addition to focusing on protecting the original historical and cultural values ​​of historical buildings, the specific construction also focuses on the "four preservations", namely preserving the original architectural form (i.e. style or layout), preserving the original building structure, preserving the original building materials and preserving the original craftsmanship, striving to achieve the international cultural heritage building restoration standards of "restoring the old as it was" and "building reversibility". Therefore, the Three Saints Temple is also maintained by the principle of "restoring the old as it was".

The survival and challenges of faith space

The unique spatial layout of "one hall, three gods and two steles" of the Sam Seng Temple reflects the adaptive strategy of folk religious architecture under limited site conditions. Influenced by the sparse population of Ká Hó Village and the limited area of ​​the temple, the builders innovatively replaced the traditional form of worshipping gods with steles, and set up auxiliary shrines close to the two sides of the main god, which not only met the religious needs of worshipping multiple gods, but also solved the practical problem of insufficient space. This form variation reflects the practical wisdom of folk architecture in the coastal areas of Lingnan in dealing with special environmental constraints.

If you look closely at the shrine, you can see the exquisite wood carvings on it, the golden dragons with layers of scales on their bodies, the gods with expressions and movements, and the flowers and plants full of vitality, which all create a solemn and sacred atmosphere for the temple. These decorations not only have aesthetic functions but also serve as a religious symbol system (Geertz, 1973), carrying specific cultural significance, solidifying the cognitive model of local beliefs through material form.

However, the cognition of contemporary villagers on the architectural symbol system shows a clear generational gap. According to field survey data, although villagers still maintain the custom of regular sacrifices, their religious practice focuses on the worship of the main god, and they lack a deep understanding of architectural elements such as the symbolic meaning of the two monuments and the cultural connotation of the gray sculpture patterns. This cognitive limitation mainly stems from two aspects: first, the lack of systematic written records has led to the interruption of the inheritance of architectural information; second, the interaction between architecture and traditional rituals has been gradually simplified. This situation has not only caused the loss of some functions of architecture as a cultural carrier, but is also likely to lead to the continuous loss of its historical value, craft value and community memory value. To meet this challenge, it is necessary to systematically record and interpret the material and non-material connotations of the Sansheng Temple through a combination of architectural anthropology and oral history.

Deity worship and Hakka traditions

Sam Seng Temple is an important religious and cultural site in Ká Hó Village, carrying the faith and tradition of the villagers. It was originally named "Hung Shing Temple" because only Hung Shing was worshipped at first. As Ká Hó Village is located along the coast, the villagers worship this sea god to pray for maritime safety. The addition of Kuan Tai and Tam Kong formed a diverse belief system. Kuan Tai symbolizes exorcism, warding off evil spirits, and promoting commercial prosperity. Villagers used to engage in fishing and trading in front of the temple, so they were particularly devout towards him; Tam Kong is a deity widely believed in the Hakka region, and it is said that during the Ming Dynasty, when pirates were frequent, he showed his spirit to protect the village.

Daily rituals and community connections

In daily activities, villagers either pray for blessings or go to worship when encountering problems, integrating their faith into their lives. In the early years, when the dragon boat race flourished, villagers would bring the boat to the temple to pray for victory. To safeguard the orthodox faith, villagers will spontaneously clean up unauthorized statues or tablets, which not only shows respect for the three deities, but also demonstrates their adherence to traditional culture.

Sam Seng Temple Anniversary

The Sam Seng Temple's birthday celebration is one of the most important cultural event in the community, held on the 13th day of the fifth lunar month. On the one hand, it is to thank the gods for their protection of the village, and on the other hand, it is also a good opportunity for villagers to reunite, because even villagers living abroad will come back to participate at this time. The Ká Hó Villagers' Mutual Aid Association is responsible for organizing, with funds sourced from previous land sales. The celebration event features lion and dragon dances, showcasing couplets that embody the villagers' aspirations for a better life; there are also the blessed roast pork sharing, which symbolizing the preservation of peace and health, as well as the evening banquet with Poon Choi. In the early years, there was a beach prayer ceremony in front of the temple, which dispersed wandering ghost by lighting candles. However, it has now disappeared due to factory construction.

Cultural and social values

The value of Sam Seng Temple not only lies in the cultural value of diverse fusion of beliefs, but also in the social value of strengthening community cohesion. The annual birthday celebration provides a communication platform for villagers to strengthen their identity recognition, while daily activities maintain intergenerational emotions. Faced with the impact of urbanization, protecting temple culture has become the key to maintaining the cultural identity of Ká Hó Village. It is not only the inheritance of tradition, but also the protection of the spiritual home in the process of modernization.

The Sam Seng Temple stands as a testament to Ká Hó’s social transformation: reflecting the expansion from marine-based to land-based livelihoods.

As recorded in temple inscriptions, the temple originated as a Hung Shing Temple. "Hung Shing" refers to the South Sea God, a maritime deity worshipped across southern China's coastal regions. Initially constructed during or before the Tongzhi reign (1862-1874) as a small late-Qing folk temple, the original structure had deteriorated by the Guangxu era. The current temple was rebuilt in 1883 (9th year of Guangxu) at its present hilltop location, expanding its worship from Hung Shing to include Tam Kung and Guan Di - hence renamed “Sam Seng Temple”.

·The temple's deities directly correspond to local residents' livelihoods. Both Hung Shing and Tam Kung, widely revered sea gods in southern coastal China, reflect Ká Hó's fishing heritage. Murals on the temple walls depicting bountiful harvests and calm seas echo fishermen's aspirations. The later addition of Guan Di (deified general Guan Yu) during the 1883 reconstruction signifies the community's transition toward land-based production.

Hakka settlers, late Qing migrants to Macau, brought agricultural traditions to this transformation. Following 18th-century land reclamation policies that encouraged migration from eastern Guangdong, Hakka ancestors gradually shifted from initial fishing and salt-making in Ká Hó Bay to revived farming practices. By late Qing dynasty, two agricultural Hakka villages emerged, Ká Hó and Hác Sá, both distant from commercial ferry terminals yet developing distinct rural identities.

Nowadays, the main deities enshrined in the Sam Seng Temple are Hung Shing, Tam Kung and Guan Di, including sea and land deities, reflecting the fact that Hakka people have brought a more diversified way of production and life to Ká Hó, which is a significant empirical evidence of the social changes in the place.

The Sam Seng Temple serves a symbol of social cohesion in Ká Hó Village: Hakka Culture, Faith, and Community Identity 

Tam Kung, revered as both fishermen's guardian and a representative deity in Hakka culture, originated from Huizhou, Guangdong. Legends credit him with weather control and healing powers. His worship spread from Guangdong to Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas Chinese communities. As early as 1876, Victoria's Chinese community in Canada built North America's first Tam Kung Temple on Government Street. Overseas Chinese people have faith in Tam Kung, who is able to bless their safety during transoceanic journeys.

The temple's stone inscriptions reveal that several merchant donations during its 1883 restoration, linking to Guan Di's (deified Guan Yu) inclusion. Guan Yu, a representative of the traditional Chinese virtues of loyalty and righteousness, was further honored by the rulers during the Qing Dynasty, and a number of Guan Di temples were built as a result. Guan Yu was originally a land god, but as the Hakka and other mainland communities migrated to the coastal areas, the belief in Guan Di was further integrated with the local environment and folk beliefs. Moreover, Guan Di has been worshipped as the Martial Wealth God since ancient times, serving as a guardian deity of commerce. Merchants in coastal areas believed Guan Di not only ensured business prosperity, but also represented commercial integrity, advocating honest dealings with customers and expecting partners to uphold mutual trust. Furthermore, Ká Hó's strategic position at the Cross Gate made it a crucial 19th-century maritime trade route. Frequent pirate raids and security threats led villagers to revere Guan Di's martial prowess for protection, trusting his divine power to safeguard their lives and ensure safe return from sea voyages.

During the late Qing Dynasty, water routes remained the sole connection between Ká Hó Village, Macau Peninsula, Coloane, and Xiangshan Province. The lack of transportation has made Ká Hó an “isolated island”. For villagers, the Sam Seng Temple symbolized community prestige, while their unified spiritual beliefs critically strengthened social cohesion. Meanwhile, the temple's religious practices also served as a rationale for settlers to establish permanent roots in Ká Hó. By transmitting these beliefs to descendants, the Hakka immigrants deepened their sense of belonging, forming enduring emotional bonds between the community and Ká Hó.

The Settlement Code of Sam Seng Temple: Immigrant Settlement, Cross-regional Cultural Connections and Cultural Resilience in Modern Macau

Situated in Ká Hó Village, one of Macau's last remaining Hakka settlements, the Sam Seng Temple embodies unique local heritage and collective memory. While sharing common folk deities with other Macau regions (such as Earth God, Guanyin, and Mazu under Cantonese cultural influence), its concentrated worship of coastal Guangdong deities like Tam Kung and Hung Shing forms Ká Hó's distinct cultural signature.

From the perspective of temple siting, generally, a lot of temples in Macau were built in places where the deities manifested themselves, backed by hills and facing waters. It is not only because of the early reliance on fishing but also due to the influence of Feng Shui and migrant cultures. Before land reclamation, most of Macau was surrounded by water. Feng Shui practices, sea worship, and migration traditions from Guangdong and Fujian shaped temple placements near coasts. For instance, Sam Po Temple in Taipa, A-Ma Temple in Macau Peninsula, and the original Sam Seng Temple in Ká Hó were built where locals believed deities appeared or their ancestors first settled. According to the residents of Ká Hó, the present site of the Sam Shing Temple was originally a shore full of thorns, but back then, a villager insisted on crossing the thorns and told other people that the temple must be built on this spot. The villagers thought that the man was a manifestation of the gods, and then rebuilt the temple here, which led to the present-day Sam Seng Temple. From the perspective of Feng Shui, building temples near rivers or coasts enhances their spiritual power. For example, the location of the Kwan Tai (Guan Di) and Tin Hau Temple in Taipa's Cheok Ka Village was chosen with special consideration, with its back against Tai Tam Hill and its face towards the water outlet of Siu Tam Hill. Following the Feng Shui principle of “surrounded by mountains and water”, the temple was designed to protect people on their way to and from the sea. However, reclamation projects have resulted in the loss of the Taipa Kwan Tai Temple's view of the sea, and the siltation of Ká Hó Bay has made the temple no longer look as spectacular as it once did when it faced the tides. Of the thirteen temples in the Macau area dedicated mainly to the god of water, only the Ancient Temple of Guan Yin (Shing Wong Temple) does not face the sea. In addition, the orientation of the temples is also closely related to the local climate. In order to avoid the frequent southeast typhoons, most of the water temples in Macau are built facing west. 

The rapid modernization of Ká Hó since the 1970s has completely reshaped the life of the local community. The festival at Sam Shing Temple continues to this day, but it is not as grand as it once was. In the past, fishermen and Ká Hó residents came directly to the beach in front of Sam Shing Temple to trade in agriculture. In the 1980s, the beach before Sam Seng Temple buzzed with life. The area in front of the temple used to be a place for residents to pray and play, the villagers also put paper boats with incense and handwritten prayers into the sea. Later, the waves of the times transformed the land and coastline, bringing about a radical change in the production and lifestyle of the local residents. Today, ports and industrial facilities have replaced fishing boats and farmland, and local residents no longer engage in traditional fishing and farming activities. With young people moving out of Ká Hó to work in various professions, while the middle-aged and elder people returned and staying in Ká Hó. Local residents have never forgotten that Ká Hó is their roots, memories of temple gatherings and shoreline rituals maintain their deep bond with the land and heritage, constituting the local residents' deep attachment and love for their ancestors and the land. Nowadays, the scent of incense still lingers at Sam Seng Temple, quieter now than in its bustling past. For a century, the weathered temple and the neighboring sea have stood witness to the village's journey, with deities and Hakka ancestors remaining silent guardians of the land. As urban development reshapes the coastline that once framed the temple, preserving this site transcends heritage conservation, it becomes a shared challenge for Macau's cultural continuity. As tides of change erode ancestral shores, how shall this sacred vessel of Hakka memory navigate the currents of modernity to safeguard Ká Hó's living heritage?

Cultural protection strategy

The Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple is central to Ká Hó’s cultural identity, sustained through tangible efforts to preserve Hakka traditions. The annual birthday celebration on the 13th day of the fifth lunar month, featuring dragon and lion dances, pork division, and tea snack preparations, draws villagers and overseas diaspora, strengthening community bonds. Exploring the significance of the Ká Hó Sam Seng Temple as a cultural heritage site and its contribution to sustaining Ká Hó’s community identity during modernization highlights its role in uniting people. To pass down this heritage, the Ká Hó Villagers’ Mutual Aid Association hosts workshops teaching youth to make traditional tea snacks; school visits educate students about the temple’s history; and digital projects archive oral legends and festival records online. These practical initiatives engage younger generations, ensuring the temple’s cultural value endures amid urban changes.

CONCLUSION

The Sam Seng Temple’s century-long legacy embodies Ká Hó Village’s historical transition from maritime livelihoods to Hakka agrarian traditions. As a spiritual landmark for Hakka immigrants, its Lingnan architecture, diverse deities, and annual rituals not only testify to the community’s resilience through change but also safeguard intergenerational collective memory. Facing land reclamation and youth migration, villagers, cultural organizations, and the government actively collaborate to revitalize the temple through cultural initiatives, plaster moulding restoration, dragon boat blessings, Spring Festival group greeting events—each action a steadfast commitment to roots while engaging with the future. As coastlines yield to ports and traditional celebrations dwindle, the temple’s survival raises a pressing question: How can this centuries-old sacred landmark amplify its voice in modernity, becoming a cornerstone of Macau’s cultural resilience? More than an irreplaceable part of history, Sam Seng Temple embodies an enduring dialogue between memory, identity, and the yet-unwritten chapters of Ká Hó’s story.