a crowd on the roof

When we went out cycling a couple of days ago, the original plan had been to ride ‘out west’, but given that the temperature was pushing 30 degrees, we decided that we would just go as far as the western end of San Tin Tsuen Road, a quiet road that skirts around the northern edge of San Tin, then double back.

However, this decision presented a small problem: when we reach the end of San Tin Tsuen Road on our way west, we cross Castle Peak Road to join the Sheung Shui to Yuen Long cycle track, and along this track there is, within a short distance, a convenient rest area with covered seating. Whenever we stop for water, we like to be able to sit down for a few minutes before continuing, and there are no convenient stopping places anywhere along San Tin Tsuen Road.

I suggested that we detour into San Tin, which we hadn’t visited for three years, when I wrote about the historical sites there. The intention had been merely to find somewhere to sit down for a few minutes, but having done so almost immediately, I then suggested that, since we were here, we might as well have a ride around San Tin, which has some tricky alleyways to negotiate. We rode past the Man Lung Fung Ancestral Hall and the Tai Fu Tai Mansion, both of which are ‘declared monuments’, without stopping, but when we reached the Tung Shan (‘east mountain’) Temple, I wanted to stop to take a few photos:

It’s quite common to see various figures on the roofs of public buildings such as temples, but I’ve never seen quite so many on one roof. It’s worth taking a closer look:

Although I can’t offer any kind of detailed explanation, this appears to be some kind of street scene, with crowds of people and lines of buildings behind them. The polychrome mouldings under the eaves, which are in excellent condition, appear to show cranes, which are revered in Chinese culture.

Notice too the guarding animals on each side of the temple in the first photo above. They do look fierce. This is the one on the left:

Unless you’re familiar with Chinese culture, you probably won’t be able to identify what kind of creature this is. It’s a lungma (‘dragon horse’), a cross between a dragon and a horse and the basis of the popular salutation lung ma ching san (‘may you have the spirit/vitality of a lungma’).

This is the lungma on the right, which looks equally ferocious:

There are also representations of two lungma directly below the name of the temple, which you can see in the close-up photos of the roof above.

While dragons represent the male principle in Chinese culture, the female principle is represented by the phoenix, and the square plaques in the centre of the walls on each side of the door depict phoenixes:

There are dragons here too though. This is a photo of the tripod directly in front of the door, which is used by worshippers to plant joss sticks:

There is one dragon facing directly to the camera, and two climbing up the sides of the bowl.

Finally, this is a photo of a structure at one side of the courtyard in front of the temple. It is used during funerals to burn paper models of objects such as motor cars that the deceased person can use in the afterlife:

The structure to the right is a village shrine that probably has no connection to the temple.

I’ve been unable to find out when this temple was built, but I did learn that it underwent a major restoration in 1894, four years before the area was taken over by the British. This suggests that the temple is at least 200 years old.