AC 5007 - Batch 4 - Liu Xiaoyi

Conservation or Demolition: The Survival Issues of Mun San Fook Tuck Chee

LIU XIAOYI A0254397R

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Architectural Conservation at the National University of Singapore April 2023

Supervisor: Prof. Wong Yunn Chii

Abstract This dissertation investigates and analyzes the survival issues of the Taoist temple Mun San Fook Tuck Chee(万山福德祠) in Singapore, and explores the reasons behind them then proposes solutions.

The approach consists of semi-structured interviews with the primary figures in the temple’s committees and a scholar, supplemented by literature research and further analysis to validate the issues raised on the matter of interest.

The study identifies the four aspects of MSFTC's survival that it faces: the land lease on the temple, governmental conservation issue, the pertinence of the religious belief to modern day setting, and associated with it, the continuity of the practice to the next generation. To each of these issues, some preliminary corresponding recommendations are proposed. The findings of this work are cast to the broader set of concerns about the survival of Chinese religious architecture in Singapore.

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Acknowledgment The Taoist Dazan Rhyme(大赞韵) has the following words: "I am grateful to heaven and earth for their kindness, to the sun and the moon for shining on my body, to the king for the water and the earth for the spring, to my parents for their kindness in raising me.(酬天地盖载恩，蒙日月照临身形， 皇王水土万万春，抱父母养育深恩。)" I also have many people to thank for being able to complete this dissertation.

First of all, I am incredibly grateful to my supervisor, Prof. Wong Yunn Chii, who guided me throughout my dissertation writing, met with me every week and recommended some resources to me. His enthusiasm and seriousness for academics have deeply infected me, and his academic ideas have inspired me in many ways.

I also would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Nikhil Joshi who recommended the case of the MSFTC to me and introduced Mr. Ang Yik Han to me, which gave me direction for my dissertation.

In addition, I would like to thank Prof. Johannes Widodo and Mr. Shawn Teo for their suggestions on my dissertation.

Then, gratitude also goes to the interviewees of this dissertation, Mr. Ang Yik Han, Mr. Toh Yong Soon and Mr. Chin Fook Siang (ranked in the order in which they were interviewed). Without the information they provided, my dissertation would not have been possible and they are the core of this dissertation.

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And I would like to thank my family who have been so supportive and who have funded this dissertation both materially and morally.

Finally, thank you to the classmates I did research with and to all the people I met during my Masters who made me more passionate about architectural conservation.

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Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................ I Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................. II List of Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... VI List of Figures ................................................................................................................ VII List of Table and Charts ............................................................................................... VIII Chapter 1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Religious Buildings in Singapore ............................................................................ 1 1.2 Chinese Temples in Singapore and Case Study .................................................... 1 1.3 Research Implications ............................................................................................ 4 1.4 Research Limitations ............................................................................................. 4 1.5 Chapter Contents ................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 2 Literature Review ........................................................................................... 6 Chapter 3 Methodology ................................................................................................ 12 3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 12 3.2 Research Objective .............................................................................................. 12 3.3 Research Philosophy and Approach .................................................................... 13 3.4 Research Process ................................................................................................ 14 3.5 Data Analysis ....................................................................................................... 15 3.6 Ethical Considerations ......................................................................................... 15 3.7 Summary.............................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 4 Key Findings and Analysis............................................................................ 17 4.1 Stakeholders ........................................................................................................ 19 4.1.1 Government Agencies ................................................................................... 20 4.2.2 Civil Society Organizations ............................................................................ 21 4.2.3 Visitors and Devotees .................................................................................... 22 4.2 Survival Issues ..................................................................................................... 22 4.2.1 Land Lease .................................................................................................... 23 4.2.2 Governmental Conservation Issue ................................................................. 25 4.2.3 Religious Issue .............................................................................................. 30

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4.2.4 Next Generation ............................................................................................. 34 4.3 Efforts Undertaken and Planned .......................................................................... 35 4.3.1 Land Lease .................................................................................................... 35 4.3.2 Governmental Conservation Issue ................................................................. 35 4.3.3 Religious Issue .............................................................................................. 36 4.3.4 Next Generation ............................................................................................. 36 Chapter 5 Recommendations ........................................................................................ 38 5.1 Recommendations ............................................................................................... 38 5.1.1 Strengthening Partnerships ........................................................................... 38 5.1.2 Rethinking Religious Function ....................................................................... 39 5.1.3 Social Media Promotion ................................................................................. 40 5.1.4 Cultural Activities Participation....................................................................... 41 5.2 Implication ............................................................................................................ 42 5.2.1 Land lease ..................................................................................................... 42 5.2.2 Promotion and Profitability ............................................................................. 42 Chapter 6 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 44 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 45 Appendices ................................................................................................................... 48 Appendix A: Timeline ................................................................................................. 48 Appendix B: Interview with Mr. Ang Yik Han(洪毅瀚) ................................................. 51 Appendix C: Interview with Mr. Toh Yong Soon(杜荣顺) ............................................ 64 Appendix D: Interview with Mr. Chin Fook Siang(甄福常) .......................................... 75

Words Count: 9,472 (Excluding acknowledgement, list of abbreviations, list of figures, list of table, footnotes, bibliography, and appendices)

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List of Abbreviations COC

Office of the Commissioner of Charities & Charity Council

HDB

Housing & Development Board

JTC

Jurong Town Corporation

LTA

Land Transport Authority

MCCY

Ministry of Culture, Community, and Youth

MSFTC

Mun San Fook Tuck Chee

NHB

National Heritage Board

PSM

Preservation of Sites and Monuments

ROS

Registrar of Societies

SLA

Singapore Land Authority

TOL

Temporary Occupation Licence

URA

Urban Redevelopment Authority

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List of Figures Figure 4-1 Word Cloud.………………………………………………………………… 17

Figure 4-2 Mind Map 18.……………………………………………………………….

VII

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List of Table and Charts Table 4-1 Issue Level…………………………………………………………………... 22

Chart 4-1 2000 Taoism Resident Population………………………………………...

31

Chart 4-2 2010 Taoism Resident Population………………………………………...

32

Chart 4-3 2020 Taoism Resident Population………………………………………...

32

Chart 4-4 The Change of Young People Who Believe in Taoism…………………. 33

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Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Religious Buildings in Singapore The conservation of religious buildings in Singapore has always been a special issue compared to other buildings. This is because religious architecture is not only concerned with the tangible heritage aspects, but also with the intangible heritage aspects that come with religious practice.

Moreover, most of the religious buildings in Singapore are on 30-year land leases, unlike the 99 years for residential buildings, which are of much shorter duration and face a more challenging survival environment and more urgent conservation needs.

Among these religious buildings, a category of buildings are newly built, which means they are ineligible for conservation by the government because of less historical value. However, some older temples also do not have conservation status, though they are now deemed to be of cultural and historical significance.

During the Covid-19, changes in worship practices have led to a new crisis for religious buildings. But it was also an opportunity to think about the future of Singapore's religious buildings.

1.2 Chinese Temples in Singapore and Case Study The Chinese temples in Singapore are integral to the study of the conservation of religious buildings in Singapore, as they involve the Chinese,

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who make up 74.12% 1of Singapore's population. And the Mun San Fook Tuck Chee(万山福德祠) is a 158-year old temple, bearing witness to the changes and beliefs among devotees drawn primarily from the Chinese working class. MSFTC is being considered for conservation because of its its historical value and social value. Under these considerations it is a suitable as a case study of Chinese temples for conservation in Singapore.

Previous studies related to the conservation of Chinese temples in Singapore have mostly focused on elaborating on religious sustainability, temple history, and outstanding contributions in historiography and religiosity, while neglecting other aspects of their crisis, such as policy aspects and linkages with the community. The same is true for the study of the MSFTC, where previous studies have traced its history and elucidated its change and tradition in Sar Kong Kampong, and have recorded, collected and consolidated information on the MSFTC before 2016, leaving a valuable record for the temple.

2016 marked MSFTC's 150th anniversary. A Heritage Room was established to coincide with the anniversary; so was the publication of the last monograph (Ang, 2016) on the MSFTC to date. It also marked the year when the MSFTC Committee shifted its strategy of applying for conservation based on its tangible heritage aspects to the intangible ones. However, there is no systematic study of the imminent demolition threat that the MSFTC has been facing. There is little record of what happened to MSFTC after 2016 as well. Therefore, this dissertation sorts out the existential crisis faced by the MSFTC from the last century to the present, analyzes the reasons affecting

1 Source: Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) 2022 data.

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its conservation and survival, and attempts to propose conservation recommendation which can also be referenced by other religious buildings.

The fast-paced development plans in Singapore have placed many buildings (older and in areas with densification and re-zonning for new uses potentials) under therisks of renewal or demolition. This includes religious buildings with land leases drawing to an end. And for some of these temples, questions abound on how they can be conserved. Meanwhile, the decline in worship at religious buildings due to the Covid-19, in these two past years, has had a negative impact on many temples that rely on donations from devotees and are desperately seeking advice on how to survive. The MSFTC is facing both of these crises, providing a reference for the direction of conservation for religious buildings in the same situation, such as Fook Tet Soo Hakka Temple (望海大伯公庙). At the same time, as a temple without the financial support of sponsors, the MSFTC faces a more serious conservation crisis than some of the more financially powerful temples, and its study is of a wider reference value.

In the form of a case study, this dissertation analyzes the survival of the MSFTC from the national period of Singapore to the post-epidemic era, asking three specific questions about its survival: What are the survival issues it faces?

What are the reasons for these issues?

What can be done to solve the issues?

In order to answer these three questions, this dissertation adopts a research method of semi-structured interviews with Mr. Chin Fook Siang, the 3

Chairman of the MSFTC Committee, Mr. Toh Yong Soon, the ViceChairman, and Mr. Ang Yik Han, a literature and history enthusiast who studies the MSFTC. The interviews were also recorded and analyzed to compile a timeline of the conservation process of the MSFTC and who the relevant stakeholders were. It was also analyzed to find out which words were mentioned most often in the interviews, so as to identify the issues that were of most concern to the interviewees. A review of the sources dealing with the MSFTC was also undertaken to find documentary evidence relating to the survival issues.

Synthesise known information and propose conservation options.

1.3 Research Implications This dissertation updates the record of information on the MSFTC and makes some additions to the oral history. Highlighting the architectural conservation issues of the temple, the historical development of the temple is viewed in a different light. This dissertation provides a clearer direction for the future development initiatives of the temple.

1.4 Research Limitations There are some limitations in this dissertation, as the main research method is the interview in qualitative research, which is highly subjective, and therefore the objectivity of the dissertation cannot be fully guaranteed, although have made validation of the content provided by the interviewees.

At the same time, this article is based on Singapore situation and some aspects may not be applicable to other countries.

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1.5 Chapter Contents The dissertation is divided into six chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the background of the dissertation and the object and problem of the study. Chapter 2, Literature Review, reviews the previous research findings and gaps, and the relationship with this dissertation. Chapter 3 introduces the research methodology, and the implementation process.

Chapter 4 analyzes the existing results and describes the main findings.

Chapter 5 presents conservation recommendations. Finally, Chapter 6 concludes the working and outcomes of this dissertation.

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Chapter 2 Literature Review Many studies have been done on the survival and conservation issue of the Chinese Temple. Some focus on the conservation of the general basic functions of the temple in terms of the continuation of religious beliefs, some focus on the local context of the Chinese Temple in Singapore or China, and some focus on the certain temple such as the case of this dissertation MSFTC. The study of religious beliefs is informative on how to maintain the basic functions of temple architecture. H.Y.Low (2018) answers why Chinese Singaporeans choose to maintain religions, primarily through interviews with 32 native Chinese Singaporeans who are Buddhists and Taoists. He concludes that the issue of religious identity needs to be viewed from a macro-perspective and that the impact of deities, environment and society on the continuity of religious identity cannot be ignored. This book provides reasons why a new generation of highly educated Chinese Singaporeans are clinging to their religious identity and provides a context for how to continue the young generation's religious belief or interest in order to keep the temple in use, which is one of the issues that MSFTC are facing.

The religious situation in Singapore is different from that in China. For this reason, it is crucial to think specifically about the survival of Chinese temples in the local context. Most of the books published on Chinese temples in Singapore take a general macro view of temple culture and development, with some examples or lists of temples in Singapore.

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a) Comber Leon (1958) describes the rituals as well as provides a guide to Chinese temples in Singapore. But it does not mention the MSFTC which was established in 1866. b) Evelyn Lip (1981) illustrates the design philosophy of Chinese temples and deities statues by citing numerous examples of temples. She uses a chapter to point out that most Chinese temples in Southeast Asia were built in the nineteenth and first quarter of the twentieth centuries, and divides Chinese temples in Southeast Asia into four types. MSFTC falls into the most common type, which is designed to resemble temples in China.

However, some information in the above two books does not match today's situation because they were written in the last century. a) Kang Shua Yeo (2021) notes the religious and, perhaps more importantly, secular role that the temple plays in the community, such as a place for public flogging Important temples and buildings became symbols of pride for their respective communities. As a Cantonese temple, MSFTC, like the Teochew temple studied by Kang Shua Yeo, is a good place for the community to gather and even for gang power to flourish. b) Xu Liying's (2013) case study of a Singapore City God Temple (Lorong Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple 韮 菜 芭 城 隍 庙 ) explores how a traditional Chinese temple adapted and created a new, Taoist, ageappropriate identity. The temple changed itself from a certain local group of deities, family managed, and vague self-imaged temple to an open membership, committee managed and Taoist identified temple.

MSFTC can learn from it how to transform a temple.

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c) The March 2017 issue of Singapore Taoist(狮城道教), the magazine of the Taoist Federation of Singapore, reviewed the history of Charn Mao Hern Kew Huang Keng( 葱茅园九皇宫 ) and mentioned that with the help of the Lorong Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple(韮菜芭城隍庙), it had applied for a new 30-year land lease. d) In Huang Wenche's study (2017) of the history of the development of Thian Hock Keng Temple(天福宫), he mentioned that a temple would survive easier by aligning itself with the state, for example by organizing activities conducive to national edification. He also recorded the characteristics of the overseas Chinese community as presented

by Yang Jinfa in his speech: sufficient manpower, strong spirit of reform,

strong

organizational

skills,

typical

leadership,

and

compassionate, dedicated to public welfare and education culture, etc.

The MSFTC, as a Cantonese temple, also fulfills these characteristics. e) By examining the localization of Chinese temples in Singapore in terms of architectural art and spatial activities, Yuan Zhong (2017) illustrates their synthesis. The diversity of functions of the Chinese Temple in Singapore mentioned in the article provides a reference for MSFTC to learn how to get the community center function back.

All five articles above discuss the identity of religious architecture in the community and its adaptation to the times. But none of them go deeper to the crisis of demolition and the possibility of the demise of the temple building's identity. a) Lily Kong (2020) presents a thesis on the inseparability of religion and politics by analyzing the contemporary significance and value of state

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investment in religious buildings in Singapore. It is also noted that the Singapore government will demolish some temples for development purposes. However, the article only offers reflections from the perspective of the state administration and how to talk to the government as a temple manager, and does not offer a scholarly perspective on the temple's subjection to the state administration system.

Unlike the Chinese Temple in Singapore where most people come there for devoteeship, temples in China are mostly visited by tourists. Few scholars have studied whether the conservation philosophy of temples in China can be applied in Singapore. This group of works offers such an alternative treatment. a) Using the example of the Tampines Chinese Temple in Singapore, Mah (2019) propose a methodological framework for the creation of virtual tours to preserve the physical built environment and intangible elements within the cultural heritage space. However, this article focuses on the technical aspects and does not elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of virtual tourism in Singapore temples and how it differs from the use of virtual tourism in China. b) Wei Tao (2015) argues that the conservation and renewal of the temple space

should

be

guided

by

the

principles

of

authenticity,

systematization, and territoriality. And the spatial scale should be reexamined and planned with reference to the DH(Distance to adjacent buildings, Height of building) ratio, and the conservation measures and sustainable renewal methods should be elaborated for the various 9

facilities.

These principles of conservation are instructive for the

conservation of the MSFTC. c) Gan Mantang (2007) provides an in-depth analysis of the significance and social functions of village temple beliefs in the public life of the community from the perspective of religious sociology, and investigates the state of survival of the village temples(闽侯青圃灵济 宫) in Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China. In Chapter 6, he elaborates on the management of village temple income and expenditure, showing the survival situation of village temples in China. And MSFTC was also a village temple of the Sar Kong Kampong in the old days, there are some similarities and differences between it and the temple which Gan Mantang studies.

Both three references above examine the survival and conservation strategies of temples in the Chinese context, but not in the Singaporean context, and their conclusions need to be further explored as to their applicability to the Singaporean context.

There is less textual information available for the MSFTC, the case study of this dissertation. The two most important books are A Boon Returned (Lv & Ang, 2008) and A Kampong and Its Temple (Ang, 2016), both of which are special, limited editions for private viewing dictated by people associated with the MSFTC and written by lovers of literature and history.

The first book describes the historical development of MSFTC, the culture of the temple, and the preservation of its artifacts. The second book focuses on the relationship between MSFTC and the kampong in which it is located, and the changes that have taken place.

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Other information documenting the MSFTC is as follows. a) Xinming Ribao included MSFTC in its publication (2005) on Singapore temples, and gave a general description of it. b) The Singapore Taoist Federation's journal, The Singapore Taoist (2011), also includes an article on MSFTC. None of the references above, however, deals with the crisis of demolition faced by the MSFTC and does not discuss the issues concerning its conservation. c) A 2012 web article(On borrowed time: Mun San Fook Tuck Chee) documents the author's visit to the MSFTC and notes that because the nearby HDB is included in the Selective En-Bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS), the MSFTC is also at risk of being demolished. d) Li Zhixian's (2019) fieldwork on MSFTC's Zhongyuan rituals mentions that MSFTC's struggle to revive the Zhongyuan sand pile rituals for ghosts was a fight to keep the temple from being demolished. However, he does not discuss in depth the impact of the development of intangible cultural heritage on the survival of MSFTC's architectural heritage. e) The Lianhe Zaobao (2015) reported on the establishment of a heritage room in MSFTC in 2015 to preserve historical artifacts, and the temple was rejected three times to become a National Monument. However, it only briefly mentions the reasons for the rejection of the application and, as it was reported in 2015, does not address the efforts made by the temple's managers to conserve the building afterward.

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Chapter 3 Methodology 3.1 Introduction This Chapter consists of six parts, which are research objective, research philosophy and approach, research process, data analysis, and ethical considerations.

3.2 Research Objective The aim of this dissertation is to identify the survival issues that the MSFTC has faced and is facing, to make relevant recommendations, and to give ideas for the conservation of other religious buildings.

Specific research questions that can reflect the purpose of the study are: What are the survival issues faced by the MSFTC? Why is this temple facing these problems?

How can these survival issues be solved?

What are the lessons that can other religious buildings learn from the experiences of MSFTC? While the first three questions dig deeper into the survival issues of the MSFTC in various dimensions, the last question makes the research questions more relevant by linking case experiences to wider practice.

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3.3 Research Philosophy and Approach The research topic of this dissertation is more difficult to quantify, because different people have different views and opinions on the survival issues faced by the MSFTC. Interpretivism, one of the research philosophies meets the requirements of this dissertation. "Interpretivism is based on the assumption

that

reality

is

subjective,

multiple

and

socially

constructed"(University of Nottingham). Interpretivism emphasizes that the content of research is not objective and can be communicated through discourse, thought and experience, which is precisely in line with the nature of the research object of this dissertation, hence the choice of interpretivism as the research philosophy of this thesis to guide the research of this dissertation.

Interpretivism is generally applied to qualitative research. Qualitative research is based on descriptive research and is essentially a process of induction. The inductive approach is the process of moving from the particular to the general, looking for commonalities in characteristics.

The survival of the MSFTC is only an isolated case of a Chinese temple in Singapore, and the attitudes and thoughts of people from different positions and government departments towards the conservation of religious buildings that can be generalized from this case are applicable to the wider field of architectural conservation in Singapore. This is the reason for the choice of the inductive approach of quantitative analysis in this dissertation.

Guided by the above philosophy and approach, the interview is adopted as the most operational method in this dissertation. Interviews provide a quick and visual insight into the perceptions of the various stakeholders. The 13

interviews were semi-structured, i.e. the interview was pre-determined with only broad directions for the interview questions, and the questions were adapted according to the interviewee's narrative and allowed the interviewee to make most of the statements in order to reduce the potential for leading questions. Through the interviewee's oral accounts, it is possible to get a first-person perspective on the survival issues of the MSFTC and to learn their attitudes.

3.4 Research Process The interviewees for this dissertation are three people, in the order in which they were interviewed: Mr. Ang Yik Han, Mr. Toh Yong Soon and Mr. Chin Fook Siang.

Mr. Ang Yik Han is a government computer engineer and a lover of culture and history. As a member of the Salet Society, he has written two books related to the MSFTC, A Boon Returned - The History of MSFTC in 2008 and A Kampong and Its Temple – Change and Tradition in Kampong Sar Kong and the MSFTC in 2016, both of which are published by the MSFTC. Not being a member of the MSFTC, he can look at the survival issues that the MSFTC has faced from the perspective of an outsider and a culture and history lover.

Mr. Toh Yong Soon is the Vice-Chairman of the MSFTC and he is in charge of finance and communication issues with the government. An interview with him would give a more concrete insight into the difficulties faced and changes made in the conservation process of the MSFTC, particularly in the two areas he is responsible for.

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Mr. Chin Fook Siang is the current Chairman of the MSFTC, and as he has been the Chairman for over 10 years, he knows all the affairs of the temple.

And as a local resident of Sar Kong Kampong, his connection with the MSFTC began at an early age, giving him not only the rationality of a temple administrator, but also the deep sensibility of an original resident who lived near the temple.

Transcripts of the above interviews are included in the appendices of this dissertation.

3.5 Data Analysis The interview transcripts were analyzed using NVivo software to identify the most frequently mentioned words and to initially determine the focus of the interview.

An inductive approach was used to analyze the results of similarities and differences among the interviews. Summarizing the problems that the three interviewees talked about in terms of the survival issues of the MSFTC, both in past and at present, and analyzing the solutions to the crisis from different perspectives. At the same time, the inductive approach is also being applied to the extension of the experience from the MSFTC to the conservation of religious buildings in Singapore.

3.6 Ethical Considerations The interviews and related information are recorded with the consent of the interviewees and made public.

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3.7 Summary This paper is guided primarily by interpretivism and uses interviews as the main research tool to analyze interview transcripts through an inductive approach. The specific analysis of the interviews and the key findings will be elaborated in the next chapter.

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Chapter 4 Key Findings and Analysis This chapter answers the questions "What are the survival issues facing the MSFTC?" and "Why is the MSFTC facing these survival issues?" .

Data analysis of three interview texts using NVivo software yielded word cloud and the deletion of meaningless words, which gave a rough idea of the frequency of occurrence of words.

Figure 4-1 Word Cloud

The six words that appear most frequently are temple, year, land, people, government, and URA. This reflects the importance of the main body of the temple survival issues, the 30-year land lease, the role of people and the government.

This breaks down the "What is the survival issues facing the MSFTC" into "who is relevant to this issue?", "What is their relationship to the issues?", and "What do they do?". These questions are answered below in terms of stakeholders, specific survival issues, and measures taken and planned.

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The mind map below shows the logical relationship between these three aspects and the recommendations given in Chapter 5.

Figure 4-2 Mind Map

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As can be seen from the mind map, the stakeholders represent the subjects of action. The problems faced are the reason for stringing these subjects of action together. The actions taken and the recommendations made are based on the issues faced, only the subjects proposing the plan (the MSFTC committee and the author) are different, and one has been and planned to be implemented, and one has not been.

4.1 Stakeholders The stakeholders for the survival issues of the MSFTC can be divided into three main categories: government agencies, civil society organizations, visitors and devotees.

The stakes for government agencies are the management of the land where the MSFTC is located and the management of the culture involved in the MSFTC. The conservation or otherwise of the MSFTC affects the building programme and future cultural development of this site in the national level.

The stakes for civil society organizations is the management of the MSFTC's affairs. The MSFTC's survival issues affect their planning for the future.

The stakes for visitors and devotees are whether or not the MSFTC can be conserved determines whether or not their place of worship changes.

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4.1.1 Government Agencies The relevant government agencies are the HDB2, JTC3, URA4, MCCY5, NHB6, PSM7, COC8, ROS9, and LTA10.

Prior to 28 February 2023, the land leases of the temples were administered by three landlords, SLA, HDB and JTC. SLA "handles the registration of all property transactions"(SLA Website). The housing sites are then allocated to HDB for management and the industrial sites are allocated to JTC for management. And the kind of land on which the temple is built is managed by whichever government agency is responsible, the MSFTC site is zoned residential and therefore the land lease is managed by HDB. This making the issue of land management more complex. Therefore, from 1 March 2023(SLA Website, 2023), HDB lands are returned to SLA for management.

URA "adopts a long-term and comprehensive planning approach to formulate strategic plans"(URA Website) such as the Master Plan. It is also responsible for building conservation. The 1991 Concept Plan and the 2019 Master done by URA both planned the site of MSFTC as a residential area, and refused the requirement from MSFTC to be conserved.

2 Stake: Residential Construction 3 Stake: Industrial Construction 4 Stake: Conservation Issues 5 Stake: Culture Issues 6 Stake: Intangible Heritage Issues 7 Stake: Preservation Issues 8 Stake: Charity Management 9 Stake: Society Management 10 Stake: Transport Planning

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The MCCY and its subsidiary HDB, as well as the HDB's subsidiary PSM, are associated with the conservation of the intangible cultural heritage of the MSFTC. The MSFTC Committee is registered with the COC as a charity. The COC is a department under the MCCY, that supervises "the registration of charities, disclosure of annual financial information, annual reports, governance evaluation checklist"(COC Website), etc.

The MSFTC as a charitable organization is also governed by the ROS and the Societies Act & Regulations. The MSFTC is also subject to its supervision, for example, its regulation states that the treasurer can only serve for one term, so the treasurer of the MSFTC needs to be replaced every term.

As the road in front of the MSFTC is currently being widened, creating problems of reduced temple land and increased traffic hazards, the MSFTC Committee is also dealing with the LTA to communicate the road planning issues.

4.2.2 Civil Society Organizations The MSFTC is a member of the Singapore Taoist Federation and the Chairman of the MSFTC Committee serves as the Vice Chairman of the Taoist Federation. The Taoist Federation is a national-level society, which helps the MSFTC to communicate with the government.

The MSFTC Committee is the civic organization that deals with the affairs of the MSFTC and it has its own regulations.

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4.2.3 Visitors and Devotees People who come to the MSFTC can be divided into visitors and devotees.

Visitors mainly come to visit the architecture, the Heritage Room or to participate in activities organized by the temple, and seldom worship the deity. While the devotees come to the MSFTC for the purpose of worshiping, mostly participating in activities such as worshiping the Tai Sui(太岁) and the Pak Fu(白虎), and will buy incense and lotus lamps for worship.

It is clear that the devotees are the fundamental reason for the existence of the MSFTC as a religious building and the largest part of its source of income.

4.2 Survival Issues Based on interviews and analysis of the literature, the MSFTC is facing survival issues in four main areas. These are land lease issue, governmental conservation issue, religious issue, and next generation issue.

The four main issues facing the MSFTC are organized by level in the table below.

Table 4-1 Issue Level

Level

Issues

National Level

Land lease; Governmental conservation; Religious issue

Regional Level

Next generation

Single Building Level

Religious issue; Next generation

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As can be seen from the table, there may be different issues at a particular level and the same issue may relate to different levels.

4.2.1 Land Lease The most serious survival issue currently facing the MSFTC is the issue of the land lease.

In 1900, the trustee of the MSFTC purchased the land from the wealthy Hokkien merchant Lau Kim Pong(刘金榜). Then the trustee purchased an adjoining land of the temple from the wealthy Cantonese merchant Boey Nam Lock(梅南乐) in 190511.

In 1966, the Singapore government introduced the Land Acquisition Act, which gave the government the power to acquire private land for public purposes to build public buildings.

In 1976, the HDB began to acquire the land on which the MSFTC stands.

On 1 July 1979, a 30-year lease between the MSFTC and HDB came into effect. The lease expired on 30 June 2009.

From then until now, HDB gave a Temporary Occupation Licence (TOL) to the MSFTC every year. On 1 March 2023, the land lease was transferred to the SLA. The TOL represents the possibility that the MSFTC may be required to move at any time due to government development planning. This has heightened the sense of crisis for the MSFTC and affects its next development plans. The reason is that if the MSFTC does not need to move, 11

Source: Old land leases on display in the Heritage Room.

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it will build a new building on its current site, and restore the temple façade to its 1950s one. If the temple needs to move, it will need to identify a new site or join a Combined Temple. These are two very different strategies for the temple's future development, and a definitive answer from the government is urgently needed. The crisis of the land lease is therefore the most fundamental and urgent survival issue of the MSFTC. There are three reasons why MSFTC wants to obtain a new 30-year term lease rather than relocating. Firstly, the building materials for the MSFTC were made locally. Secondly, the MSFTC was once closely associated with the local community and is the only surviving evidence of its existence.

Thirdly, relocation may not be conducive to the retention of existing devotees in the event of a declining devoteeship.

The crisis in the land lease of the MSFTC is ultimately a matter of conflict between conservation and development due to the limited land available in Singapore. The Republic of Singapore was established in 1965, facing limited land, expanding population, inadequate housing, and overcrowding slums, even demolishing a large number of historic buildings for development purposes(Xu, 2021). The Land Acquisition Act of 1966, mentioned above, also reflected Singapore's pressing need for development at the time, and land acquired by the government was handed over to HDB for construction.

This imbalance between development and conservation and the intensity of the conflict has eased as development has progressed, but there are still restrictions on the duration of land leases for considering the future. At present, some temples in Singapore are given a 30-year lease term, some

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are given a TOL, and only a very small number of temples such as Thian Hock Keng Temple and Yueh Hai Ching Temple(粤海清庙), havea freehold.

As a result, temples that do not have a freehold will sooner or later face the risk of being asked to demolish or move out when the lease expires. Whether or not they will be asked to demolish or move out will depend on the government's land planning at that time. This uncertainty about the future, like the sword of Damocles, makes the temples fearful and worried about their future.

4.2.2 Governmental Conservation Issue If the MSFTC is able to secure a new 30-year lease, the next issue they face is that of governmental architectural conservation.

Obtaining the 30-year lease not only meant that the existing building could remain in situ, it also meant that the MSFTC had to spend approximately $1.5 million to purchase the lease. For a charity with a maximum annual income of only about $500,000 and lots of expenses, $1.5 million is not a small amount for the MSFTC, although there are some deposits. If the temple is listed as a National Monument, the government will not only exempt the $1.5 million for the purchase of the land lease, but will also subsidize the temple with an additional $2 million for conservation. This is the most realistic economic reason for the MSFTC to seek conservation.

The more important reason for the MSFTC to seek conservation is to protect its value. Its value is mainly reflected in its historical, architectural, cultural, and social value.

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In terms of historical value, the MSFTC has a history of 157 years since the temple was built in 1866 and has witnessed the development of the Kallang River area, particularly its industrial history and the history of changes in the lives of its working people. The place name "Mun San" has disappeared from common usage today, and only lives on in the name of MSFTC. And the temple is the only living evidence of the existence of the Sar Kong Kampong.

In terms of architectural value, the MSFTC retains the layout of the building from 1908 and an original structure that is over a century old. The wall bricks of the MSFTC are locally made and are not only an evidence of the history of the region, but also a result of the faith of the working people. Currently, the temple committee is also planning to increase the architectural value, for example, by purchasing wall decorations made by traditional craftsmanship from China, and replacing the current Japanese roof tiles with original Chinese tiles. There is an intention to restore the appearance of the 1950s façade.

In terms of cultural value, the MSFTC, as a Cantonese Taoist temple, has a deep foundation in Cantonese and Taoist culture. It also contributes to the transmission of Chinese folk culture, with its young people in the MSFTC Lion Dance Troupe inheriting the culture of lion dance, and it is the only temple in Singapore to hold a fire dragon dance.

In terms of social values, as a charitable organization, the MSFTC regularly organizes charitable events, such as respecting the elderly banquet, the distribution of bursaries, etc. The large-scale events also provide employment opportunities for Taoist practitioners and opera practitioners.

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The temple is also gradually regaining its former function as a community center.

However, despite all these values, the road of MSFTC conservation has been a difficult one.

In 2009, the MSFTC Committee realized that the 30-year lease expired, it had missed the time to apply for an extension, which should have been five years before the lease expired. It was claimed that the Committee made up mostly of Chinese-educated elderly were also not well versed with the legalistic and procedural terms of the lease. Realizing that the land lease could not be renewed, the MSFTC Committee wrote a letter12 trying to obtain preservation from the PSM but was refused.

In 2013, MSFTC Committee began to consider joining one of the Combined Temples13.

In 2014, MSFTC hired architects from Fivefootway Consultants to help with designing an alternative masterplan for URA for consideration14.

In 2015, it said that URA refused the conservation application of MSFTC. Because of a major renovation of MSFTC completed in 1985. The renovation was the last major one to date, as the original tiles were replaced and the façade was changed. Therefore, the URA considers that the architectural value of the MSFTC is not high and does not merit conservation. If the original façade could be restored, conservation could be reconsidered.

12 Source: Originally written by hand. Electronic copy titled "Proposed Preservation of Mun San Fook

Tuck Chee Temple". Provided by MSFTC. 13 Source: Emails provided by MSFTC. 14 Source: Emails and alternative masterplan provided by MSFTC.

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It was then that the MSFTC Committee realized that the architectural aspect of conservation was somewhat unworkable for the application to the URA, and they started to change their mindset and began to try to conserve it from the perspective of intangible cultural heritage.

In 2015, with the support of NHB, a Heritage Room was set up at the MSFTC to display and exhibit old artifacts of the MSFTC, such as straw fire dragons, old land leases, old Taoist paraphernalia and old MSFTC firefighting equipment. In the middle of the Heritage Room is a huge sand table, which is a restoration of the old Sar Kong Kampong, based on the memories of the old men of the MSFTC Committee, with a model of not only the MSFTC but also the vast prawn ponds in front of it. A number of panels hanging in the heritage room also illustrate the history of the development of the MSFTC and related intangible cultural heritage activities, such as the fire dragon dance.

In 2016, Mr. Chan Chun Sing, then Minister of the Prime Minister's Office, attended the 150th-anniversary celebrations of the MSFTC. It is said that he delivered a speech that said "The government is considering how to conserve the temple in whatever form". He made three demands: firstly, must be relevant to the current community. Secondly, the management must be sustainable. Thirdly, maintain tradition, culture, and practice. This points the way to the future development of the temple. With the minister's support, MSFTC feels more confident in their decision to change the direction of their application.

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In 2019, the architects from Liu & Wo Architects Pte. Ltd. were hired to restore the temple's original façade15.

From 2019 to 2022, the process of conservation application is slow due to Covid-19.

In 2022, an inventory of the MSFTC property was taken and a new 4-5 storey building was designed for a combination of museum, offices, car park, function room, columbarium, etc.

From 2009, when the lease expired and conservation was sought, to the present, the situation has gradually improved and hope has gradually grown, judging from the various stages of the MSFTC's initiatives.

MSFTC faces governmental conservation issues for the following reasons.

Firstly, the MSFTC does not meet all the conditions and values required for conservation. The application being rejected shows that, for the government, the architectural value, social value and future prospects of the temple do not meet the requirements and expectations of conservation. In terms of architecture, the 1980s restoration, although in good faith and reflecting the history of the development of working people, but restoring to the original appearance seems to be an irrevocable norm for the URA, and restoring to the original one is a more direct expression of its historical value. As far as social values and future development are concerned, MSFTC does not yet have strong enough links with the local community and lacks successors. All this makes the government wait and see whether the MSFTC will be able to perform better in terms of value and whether it deserves to be conserved.

15 Source: Emails provided by MSFTC.

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The second reason is the shortage of resources. Not only because of limited national conservation resources, but also because of the limited resources of the temple itself. Had the appearance of the building been enhanced regardless of the cost, as was the case with Thian Hock Keng Temple and Yueh Hai Ching Temple, both of which have big sponsors, perhaps the requirements of the URA could have been met and the road to subsequent conservation would not have been so torturous.

The third reason that makes the conservation of the MSFTC so difficult is that it is not a particularly well-known temple. Taking the Yueh Hai Ching Temple as an example, it is famous for its powerful Yue Lao(月老) and a large number of people come to worship, it naturally has a large base of devotees, making it less likely to be demolished. This relates to the temple's most basic religious function, and this is precisely another issue facing the MSFTC. 4.2.3 Religious Issue MSFTC is a multi-god temple with the Earth Deity as the main deity, who is also known as Dabogong(大伯公). Other deities worshiped in the temple are Tai Sui(太岁), Guanyin(观音), Choi Sun (Wealth Deity 财神), Bai Hu(白

虎), etc.

According to statistics from the Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS), the number of Singapore residents aged 15 and above who believe in Taoism (including other traditional Chinese religions) has grown sharply from 212,344 in 2000 to 339,149 in 2010, declining slightly to 303,960 in 2020.

Although the number of people believing in Taoism has declined in recent

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years, it is not easy to say what the general trend will be in the future, and the following analysis is based on specific data.

The largest age group believing in Taoism has changed from 40-44 years old in 2000 to 50-54 years old in 2010, to 60-64 years old in 2020. The reason for this phenomenon is not just that this group is getting older. In terms of numbers, the largest age group has grown from just 23,717 in 2000 to 37,764 in 2010, with a slight drop to 33,176 in 2020. These figures show that the number of elderly believers is also on the increase and that the age group that makes up the main group of believers is getting older.

Chart 4-1 2000 Taoism Resident Population

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Chart 4-2 2010 Taoism Resident Population

Chart 4-3 2020 Taoism Resident Population 32

According to the definition from the National Youth Council, youth is 15-35 years. Therefore, the following chart shows the change in the number of Taoist believers according to this age group. The statistical chart clearly shows that the number of young people believing in Taoism has fallen considerably in recent years, and is even lower in total than it was in 2000.

This shows that the Taoist faith is facing a crisis in the next generation. The overall situation in Singapore is such that it is also a survival issue for the MSFTC as a Taoist temple.

Chart 4-4 The Change of Young People Who Believe in Taoism

From the author's observations, it seems that there are very few devotees come to the MSFTC on weekdays and weekends, but only on the "big days" when there are events, and the number of people coming ranges from a few dozen to 400 or 500, depending on the event.

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In addition to problems with the number of devotees, the unorganized nature of the devotees makes MSFTC's income unstable. Devotees who are not members of the MSFTC come to the temple on uncertain dates, make uncertain donations and have no cohesion with each other. Therefore, attracting devotees to join the membership is by far the best way to go.

In short, for the MSFTC, the small total number of devotees, the few daily worshippers, the lack of donations from the devotees, and the lack of loyalty of the devotees are all religious issues that need to be addressed.

And there are three broad reasons for this situation: the first is that the information about the deities of the MSFTC's power is not widely known and people do not believe in them. This is the most fundamental reason. The second point is that the main deity of the MSFTC is the Earth Deity, whose main duty is to bless the land under its jurisdiction. The high rate of population turnover in Singapore, and the high mobility of people living in the vicinity of the MSFTC, are not conducive to the consolidation and longevity of the belief in the Earth Deity. The third point is that with the influence of science education on young people, there has been a sharp increase in the number of people with no religious beliefs. According to the DOS, the number of no religious people was 370,094 in 2000, the figure that has nearly doubled to 692,525 in 2020, and the age composition is predominantly young.

4.2.4 Next Generation Apart from the lack of young devotees mentioned above, the lack of young people to take over the temple is also a survival issue for the MSFTC.

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At present, there are hardly any young people on the management committee of the MSFTC. The reason is that there are relatively few young people who are interested in managing the temple, and young people have jobs and families, so they do not have much time to spare for temple management.

4.3 Efforts Undertaken and Planned The MSFTC committee has done a lot of work on the above issues, and at the same time they have some outstanding plans to deal with them.

4.3.1 Land Lease Since the expiry of the land lease in 2009, the MSFTC Committee has been actively pursuing conservation from the relevant authorities, either by letter or in person.

The situation began to gradually improve in 2016 when the strategy shifted from soliciting conservation in terms of tangible cultural heritage to soliciting conservation in terms of intangible cultural heritage.

A recent meeting indicated that there is a good chance that the temple will be granted another 30-year land lease, so the temple is also actively seeking to become a national monument.

4.3.2 Governmental Conservation Issue MSFTC has not given up on seeking URA's conservation and plans to restore the building to its 1950s façad. There are also plans to enhance the architectural value of the temple, with plans of purchasing wall decorations made with traditional techniques from China.

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In terms of intangible cultural heritage, actively carrying out activities, such as the Fire Dragon Dance at the Earth Deity's Feast Day. 4.3.3 Religious Issue In order to enhance the religious value of the temple, the MSFTC plans to build a columbarium if it can be kept from being moved. This columbarium has not only provided some assistance to the funeral problem in Singapore where land is limited, but has also developed a regular crowd of people who come to the temple to pay their respects at Ching Ming(清明) and Seventh Month Festival(中元节).

4.3.4 Next Generation The chairman of the MSFTC Committee thought of two ways to attract young people.

The first is how to find young people to take over the temple. He tried to find them from the MSFTC Lion Dance Troupe, as most of the members of the troupe are young people, but so far no suitable ones have been found.

He also tried to get the administrators of the MSFTC Committee to let their own offspring succeed them, but it was clear that not everyone was willing.

His second approach was to address the problem of few young people coming to the temple. His idea is to restore the MSFTC to its original function as a community centre. He plans to set up a "Family Day", where each member will be given ten seats to invite their family members to attend. On Family Day, everyone will eat and play together at the MSFTC. He plans to hold the event every year from next year onwards, so that when the children

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who attend grow up, they will remember the temple and have a sense of belonging to it, and will bring their offspring to continue to attend the Family Day. He also plans to offer free tuition classes so that the students who are helped by the MSFTC will also have trust in the temple. And these are also good ways to increase MSFTC's connection to the community.

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Chapter 5 Recommendations Chapter 4 illustrated the survival issues faced by the MSFTC, with an analysis of the reasons behind them and a statement of the efforts made by the MSFTC Committee to address these issues. This chapter attempts to suggest other solutions to the survival issues of the MSFTC and discusses the implications of the MSFTC case for the survival of other temples in Singapore.

5.1 Recommendations 5.1.1 Strengthening Partnerships MSFTC has a good partnership with the government and other temples.

Improved communication and implementation by multiple parties is the most effective way to address land leases and conservation issues.

MSFTC has contacts and exchange activities with Taoist temples in many countries, including Singapore, China and Malaysia, and is also a member of the World Dabogong Fellowship. Because of Covid-19, exchange activities have been reduced.

At present, as the epidemic is improving, a greater exchange of experiences will facilitate the acquisition of new management ideas by MSFTC. As the saying goes, "the stones of other mountains can be used to make a good jude(他山之石，可以攻玉)", strengthening partnerships so that the MSFTC does not survive in isolation. Just as the 30-year land lease of Charn Mao Hern Kew Huang Keng with the government expired in 2016, but

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with the support of Lorong Koo Chye Sheng Hong Temple, the contract was applied for a further 30 years.

Talking to the Inter-Religious Organization is also good for brainstorming.

But it is also important to pay attention to the realities of the experience and the cultural context.

At the same time, good partnerships with the government and the international community are also reflected in doing things that benefit the country and the international community, such as organizing positive events.

Think about what kind of edifying obligations they need from the temple from the perspectives of the government and the world. For example, promoting the moral values behind traditional culture and showing the results of the government's management in the area of religion.

5.1.2 Rethinking Religious Function At a time when the faithful are dwindling, the MSFTC committee needs to rethink how to conserve the most basic function of the temple, which is the religious function.

Joachim Wash and Paul Tilich define the purpose of religion as dealing with the ultimate concerns facing life, such as death, injustice, frustration, war, etc (Yang, 1994). The MSFTC plans to set up a columbarium is caring for death. Reflecting on this aspect, other measures that can be taken by the MSFTC are activities such as psychological support activities and frustrating experience sharing sessions. This is where certain ideas from Taoism, such as "knowing enough so you won't be humiliated, and knowing stop so you

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won't be in danger. That's how you can keep your peace for a long time(知 足不辱，知止不殆，可以长久).", are a good topic for exchange.

And as mentioned above, Taoist thought is also something that is closely related to religion but can be independent of it. In addition to religious texts, secular literature also contributed to the spread of Taoist thought (Yang, 1994). Therefore, relevant book sharing sessions and lectures by Taoist priests are good opportunities for people to come into contact with Taoist thought.

However, most of the above relates to the ideological and psychological aspects, and it is up to the MSFTC committee to make its own decisions on how to conserve the specific action of worshiping the deities and burning incense. Because religion's place in people's hearts was shaken by the intervention of Western science, and as life improved, people had more options to spend their time, and it was no longer the time when they had no choice but to go to the temple to burn incense. Therefore, with such a trend, it is important to think about whether to operate the basic function of worshiping deities as the most important function of MSFTC. In the future, the temple may have a greater cultural value as a "museum" commemorating the spiritual world of former generations.

5.1.3 Social Media Promotion Social media has made it possible to expand the private sphere and to share the insights of personal experience to a wider audience. Therefore, many of the problems faced by the MSFTC, such as not being well known,

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not having much influence and not being able to attract young people, can be solved through social media promotion.

At present, the only social media that MSFTC operates is Facebook, so the suggestion is that the temple can use multiple channels to promote itself and use some filming and editing techniques to make the photos and videos wider dissemination.

In terms of content management, at present, the Facebook account of MSFTC is mostly a preview of events and retrospective records. To promote the temple on multiple platforms, it needs to produce other content, such as sharing knowledge about Taoism, stories about the history of MSFTC, memories of Sar Kong Kampong, etc. This would not only provide a record of the history of the temple, but also attract more people who are interested in it and increase the influence of the temple. It would also help the government to consider whether to conserve the temple.

5.1.4 Cultural Activities Participation Visitors to the MSFTC's current activities related to intangible cultural heritage are seen from the perspective of a spectator. Perhaps the addition of some activities that can be participated in first-hand would attract a group of people.

The event could take the form of a study tour seminar, where participants are taken on a tour of the architecture and heritage of the temple, and an interesting discussion session is devised to hear visitors' views on the current state of the MSFTC and suggestions for its future development.

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The temple can also have some intangible cultural heritage experiences activities, such as learning to make small straw fire dragons and trying out lion dances, fire dragon dances and martial arts.

Hands-on involvement with intangible cultural heritage not only gives participants a better understanding of them, but also gives them a sense of achievement and something to share on their social media feeds.

5.2 Implication The study of the MSFTC's survival issue is not only beneficial to the temple itself, but also has implications for other religious temples in Singapore.

5.2.1 Land lease There are few temples in Singapore that are facing the problem of expiring land leases, so more than a decade of tireless attempts by the MSFTC has given other temples a good model to learn from. The most important experience is that the need to identify what makes a temple shine. MSFTC's Fire Dragon is currently the only one still dancing in Singapore, this could turn out to be a highlight of MSFTC. This is also the most important reason why the MSFTC has been able to follow the path of intangible cultural heritage preservation. Other temples can also reflect on themselves and what is unique to them in comparison to other temples.

5.2.2 Promotion and Profitability The publicity and profitability of the MSFTC are not good. This is because, as can also be seen from the literature review section, there are not many articles and journals that mention MSFTC. And most of the sources of

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information on the MSFTC through web searches are its own Facebook, there are limited sources of information output.

The MSFTC committee does not want to exaggerate in its propaganda, but some temples may face suspicion of promoting superstition, such as promoting the ability of deities to make people win the lottery. This requires grasping the line between religious propaganda, which, broadly speaking, gives people spiritual support and hope for life, and superstition, which is more of promoting unearned gain.

Other temples that have a different approach to promotion and profitability from that of the MSFTC may benefit from some reflections on the case of the MSFTC. For example, what is the temple promoting and making profits for?

What is it trying to achieve? How to grasp the line between religious propaganda and superstition? All these can be reflected in the answers given

by MSFTC.

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Chapter 6 Conclusion This dissertation summarizes, mainly through interviews, the four main issues facing the MSFTC in Singapore, namely the issue of land lease, governmental conservation, religion and the next generation. This dissertation adds to the solutions that have been worked out by the MSFTC Committee, with the four main directions suggested being strengthening partnerships, rethinking religious function, social media promotion and intangible cultural heritage engagement. This dissertation has implications for other religious architecture in Singapore with regard to land leases, promotion and profitability.

There are some limitations to this dissertation. This is because the research methodology was mainly based on interviews, the findings of which are somewhat subjective, and the lack of supporting material for certain facts may lead to a slight lack of objectivity. The cases and research questions in this dissertation are heavily influenced by the legal and institutional set-up of Singapore, resulting in some of the conclusions not being applicable to other countries.

Based on the findings of this dissertation, future research directions could be the tracking of the development of the MSFTC, the similarities and differences in the survival management of the Dabogong Temple and other temples, and the conservation strategies for the universality of religious buildings.

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Appendices Appendix A: Timeline Table 1 Timeline SLA

HDB

1976

Start to acquire the land.

1/7/1979

Acquired the land, and gave a 30year land lease.

URA

NHB

MSFTC

1/7/198430/6/2009

Need to apply for a land lease extension, but not done.

1985

Finishing the temple's most recent major renovation.

1991

30/6/2009

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Concept Plan Publication and this area be planned as a residential area.

Expiry of the land lease, giving a TOL.

SLA

HDB

URA

2009

NHB

MSFTC

PSM (under NHB) refused to preserve.

2013

Considered to join a combined temple.

2014

Hiring architects from Fivefootway Consultants Ltd. to help with designing an alternative masterplan for URA for consideratio n.

2015

2016

2019

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Refused to conserve because of the architecture.

Stopped saying they were going to evict this temple.

Support to build the heritage room.

Mr. Chan Chun Sing came and made a speech, setting three conditions.

2019 Master Plan Publication

Hiring architects from Liu & Wo Architects Pte. Ltd. To

SLA

HDB

URA

NHB

MSFTC help with restoring the temple's original façade.

December 2019

The Minister of MCCY came to see the temple.

2019-2022

Dealing with the covid-19 issues.

2022

New building plan.

1/3/2023

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Take over the land lease.

Appendix B: Interview with Mr. Ang Yik Han(洪毅瀚) Date: 21/02/2023 Duration: One hour and thirteen minutes Location: NUS campus Interviewee: Government IT officer, a member of the Salet Society, author of two books on MSFTC 采访者：了解到您是石叻学会的一员，可以介绍一下学会都做些什么吗？怎样发现万山福 德祠这一课题？ 洪先生：可以说是因为万山福德祠的关系，我们就想组织这个学会。石叻学会是当时我们 发现万山福德祠，然后我们从事这个庙的历史研究。我们对这种本土历史、旧庙都有兴趣， 周末就有空去这些庙里去看一下，刚好（发现万山福德祠）那天我是没陪他们去啦，他们 两个不知道怎么就去了 Sims Drive，就看到一间小庙，那个庙呢，它的外观其实没什么特 别的，但他们走进去看有那些文物，看到那个碑嘛，所以他们就发现这个庙还蛮有历史的。 在这之前，新加坡本地没什么人对这些庙做过记录，所以我们就从那间庙开始了，然后认 识了庙的人，也就慢慢跟他们聊熟悉了，就从那里切入了。因为在新加坡，学会在新加坡 是法定的组织嘛，注册的时候需要符合一定的条件，所以我们就找了一些朋友（一起成立 了学会）。后来可能大家各忙各的，已经有十多年没有运作了。学会不一定要花很多钱， 但会有一些程序，比如每年开一次会员大会，要有注册地址，这些都需要钱，可能大家觉 得比较麻烦，这个学会后来都没有运作了。后来我们就以个人的性质和万山福德祠有来往 了。 Interviewer: I learned that you are a member of the Salet Society, can you introduce what the Society does? How did you find the subject of the MSFTC? Mr. Ang: I think it is because of MSFTC that we wanted to organize this society. The Salet Society was founded when we discovered the MSFTC, and then we engaged in historical research on this temple. We were interested in this kind of local history and old temples, so we had time to go to these temples at weekends and look around. I didn't go with them on the day they found the MSFTC, they went to Sims Drive and saw a small temple, which was nothing special in appearance, but they went in to see the relics and the stelae, so they found that the temple had quite a history. Before that, not many local people in Singapore had recorded these temples, so we started with MSFTC, and then we got to know the temple people. As the Society is a statutory body in Singapore, we had to meet certain requirements for registration, so we got some friends together and set up the Society. The Society has not operated for over ten years, as we have all been busy with our own work. The Society does not necessarily cost a lot of money, but there are some procedures, such as holding a general meeting once a year and having a registered

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address, all of which require money. Later on, we had dealings with MSFTC on a personal basis. 采访者：做研究的资料来源都有哪些呢？福德祠的委员会吗？ 洪先生：文献主要是档案馆，我们在档案馆那边就找到了它的两张建筑物的平面图，还有 零星的一些材料。当然还有些其他资料，比如说还有这个旧报纸啦。不过其实这个口述历 史这块啊，也是比较重要的，因为因为他们不是一间大庙嘛，它不是什么粤海清庙天福宫 之类的，所以旧文献中他不常出现。所以后来写第二本书的时候，其实我们跟那些的理事， 尤其是那些上了年纪的，就又做了一些访谈，记录一些历史了。不过第二本书出版是 2016 年嘛，配合他们的那个文物陈列室的开幕，16 年到现在旧理事走了好几个，所以如 果没有他们当时讲那些东西，我们也不知道。他们（委员会）主要是四邑人嘛，其实广东 地区讲广府话的，分为四邑和五邑，他们是相通的，但还是有一些不一样的。当时从中国 南方的移民潮，去美国旧金山和澳洲新金山的苦力大部分是四邑人，来新加坡的就比较少， 但来这边的主要是从事制砖的、手工业这几块。所以材料来源主要就是文献和口述。 Interviewer: What are the sources of information for doing research? The committee of the MSFTC? Mr. Ang: The main source of documents is the archives. We found two plans of the building in the archives and some other materials. Of course, there are other materials, such as old newspapers. And oral history is also important, because it is not a big temple like Yueh Hai Ching Temple(粤海清庙) and Thian Hock Keng Temple(天福宫), so it does not often appear in old documents. So when we wrote the second book, we actually did some interviews with the committee members, especially those who were older, to record some of the histories. But the second book was published in 2016, to coincide with the opening of their heritage room, and several of the old committee members have passed away since 2016, so we wouldn't have known if they hadn't spoken about those things.

They (the committee members) were mainly Siyi(四邑) people. In fact, the Cantonese region is divided into Siyi and Wuyi(五邑), and they are similar, but there are still some differences. At that time, most of the migrant workers from southern China who went to San Francisco in the United States and New Gold Mountain in Australia were Siyi people, while fewer came to Singapore, but those who came here were mainly engaged in brick making and handicrafts. So the sources of material are mainly documents and oral accounts. 采访者：您有参与到庙的事务吗？ 洪先生：我没有，我不是委员会的一员，也不是来自他们村落，完全是出于对历史的喜爱。 我平时比较少去，偶尔有机会经过会去烧香。大日子会去，新年会尽量过去，还有土地诞。 近年呢，比较新的就是那个 2019 年的片子，和 Victor Chee 一起拍的，他们负责拍摄剪 辑，我负责提供资料。片子一个月前刚进行了最后的调整，才算结束了工作。2016 年之

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后我也没找到什么新的资料，能找的都有了。庙那边听说老会员理事家里面会翻出庙学校 的毕业证书，我就跟他们讲，尽量收集啦，这些东西会流失的嘛。 Interviewer: Are you involved in the affairs of the temple?

Mr. Ang: No, I'm not part of the committee and I'm not from their village, it's purely out of a love of history. I usually go there less often, but occasionally I will go and burn incense when I have the chance to pass by. I would go on big days, I would try to go on New Year's Day, and Earth Deity's Feast Day. In recent years, the new thing I engaged in is the movie in 2019, which I shot with Victor Chin and another man, they shot and edited and I provided the material. The movie just had its final tweaks a month ago before the work was finished. I haven't found any new material after 2016. When I heard that the old members of the temple committee found their graduation certificates from the Kampong School (Mong Yang Chinese School, set up by MSFTC) in their homes, I told them to collect them as much as they could, as they would be lost. 采访者：你们在写完第一本书到写第二本书之间，这些年都是筹备第二本书，还是临时有 想法出版第二本书？ 洪先生：因为这不是我们的正业啊，所以这个资料收集其实是很慢的，但是就是偶尔就是 要说在找资料的时候啊，或者刚刚好看到一些其他东西了，发现有关福德祠，就收集起来。 比如我们也是后来发现英国那边有个博物馆16有收藏福德祠的旧照片。是 50 年代，一个 英国的人类学家来新加坡调查乩童。就是在庙里面，神要和人有沟通，需要有媒介，这个 媒介可以是物也可以是人。通过物就是扶鸾，扶鸾就用一根 Y 字型的木棒，两个人握着， 问神一些问题，那个木棒就在沙盘里自己走，这就是一个媒介。乩童就是通过人的，请神 上身。福德祠以前应该是没有这样的活动，这个英国人不知道怎么就去了芽笼十七巷，拍 了两张福德祠的外观，就很珍贵，因为那是我们所知道的最早的福德祠的照片。后来刚好 他们要办文物室，就有了个契机，把手头的资料整理一遍，就出了第二本书。 Interviewer: Between writing the first book and writing the second book, did you prepare for the second book over the years, or did you have the idea to publish the second book on the fly?

Mr. Ang: Because this is not our main job, the collection of information is actually very slow, but once in a while, when we are looking for information, or when we see something else, we find something about the MSFTC and collect it. For example, we found out later that there was a museum in the UK that had a collection of old photographs of the MSFTC. In the 1950s (1951), a British anthropologist (Alan J.A.) came to Singapore to investigate the Jitong(乩童). In order for the deities to communicate with the people in the temple, they need a medium, and this medium can be either an object or a person. The object is the planchette writing(fuluan 扶鸾), which is a Y-shaped wooden stick that two people hold and ask the deity some questions, and the stick moves on its own in the sandbox.

16 Museun of Archaeology and Anthropology. maa.cam.ac.uk

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The Jitong is the people medium who invites the deity to come up to him. I don't think there were any such activities at the MSFTC before. This Englishman somehow went to Geylang Lorong 17 and took two pictures of the appearance of the MSFTC, and they became very precious, because those are the earliest pictures of the MSFTC that we know of. Later on, it happened that the temple was going to set up a heritage room, so there was an opportunity to collate the information on hand and produce the second book. 采访者：我有了解到办文物室有一个目的是 URA 想让他们搬走嘛。 洪先生：对，因为除了记录他们的历史之外，他们现在也主要面临这样一个问题。就是他 们的那个地契是临时的，其实他们是没有地契的，那块地是属于政府，所以根据 URA 的 发展蓝图，照理讲他们是不可以留在那边的。现在还是有些东西不肯定，有很多未知数。 但比几年前写第二本书的时候，情况还是比较明朗的。因为政府有可能让他们保留，所谓 的保留不是说保留整个建筑物，而是说可以再拿到一个地契，30 年的地契，就是新加坡 的这种宗教场所，一般都是 30 年，除非你是那种老庙啊，像粤海清庙和天福宫，它们有 99 年或永久性的，就没问题了嘛。要不然那些新的就是 30 年的。 Interviewer: I have learnt that one of the purposes of setting up the Heritage Room is that URA wants them to move to another place.

Mr. Ang: Yes, because apart from recording their history, they are also facing this problem.

The land lease is temporary, actually, they don't have a land lease, the land belongs to the government, so according to the development masterplan of the URA, as a rule, they can't stay there. There are still some things that are not certain now, there are a lot of unknowns. But the situation is clearer than it was when the second book was written a few years ago. Because there is a possibility that the government will let them keep it. I don't mean conserve the whole building, but I mean that they can get another land lease, a 30-year lease, that is, for such religious places in Singapore, usually 30 years, unless you are one of those old temples, like the Yueh Hai Ching Temple and the Thian Hock Keng Temple, they have 99 years or permanent, there is no problem for them. Otherwise, those new ones are 30 years. 采访者：您有了解到 URA 的一些政策吗？他们为什么又有可能同意去保留？ 洪先生：庙跟政府的对话进行了好几年，我所知道的不同政府之间的考量不只是建筑的价 值，还有整个区的发展。因为那些公寓是一排这样建过来的嘛，要看整个区的发展。还有 说如果这个庙要继续办下去的话，它有没有那种持续性，就是说有没有栽培后人。因为庙 的理事大部分都是老村民，那些人都七八十岁，子孙不像父辈那样对那片土地一样有乡村 亲情。因为他们不是在那片土地长大，或者说迁那片土地的时候，他们年纪很小。让他们 回到这座庙这边，他们可能是可以啦，但是大日子比如新年来拜，不过你叫他参与庙务， 担任理事，那就不一样嘛。所以这个庙要怎样办下去，我相信政府那边有要庙这边回答这 个问题。最主要就是年轻人接班。除了这个之外，庙虽然是旧建筑，但 81 年有做过重修，

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建筑的主体结构，砖什么的还是原来的嘛，但是整个屋顶都换掉了。因为以前都没有什么 旧照片嘛，就像我之前讲的两张 50 年代的是最早的，除了 50 年代的，其他都是局部的， 它们没有看到整个建筑物的 documentation。所以怎么修，这是个问题。他们曾经有写信 申请要作为历史遗迹保留，当时 PSM 拒绝了，提出它们翻新的时候，什么东西都改造完 了。不过我个人看法，要是恢复的话，还是可以的。因为它好在说本身的建筑就很简单， 不像天福宫要修复，需要花很多钱，很多细节去看的。因为它本身就是小庙，本身建的时 候就没有花很多钱，就是墙壁和屋顶。屋顶上有鳌鱼，就大概那样做，找那种石湾的鳌鱼 就可以了。因为广东的建筑装饰，很多都是来自石湾的。 Interviewer: Have you learned anything about the URA's policy? Why were they likely to give another land lease?

Mr. Ang: The Temple has been in dialogue with the government for a number of years, and I know that the considerations between the different governments are not only the value of architecture, but also the development of the whole district. Because the condominiums were built in a row. And if the temple is to continue, will it be sustainable, that is, will it nurture the descendants? Most of the temple committee members are old villagers, in their seventies and eighties, and their children and grandchildren do not have the same rural affection for the land as their fathers did. Because they did not grow up on that land, or they were very young when they moved out of that land. They may be able to return to the temple, but they may only come to worship on big days like Chinese New Year. It is different if you ask them to participate in the temple's affairs and to be on the board of trustees. So I believe the government has asked the temple to answer this question of how to run the temple. The main thing is for young people to take over the reins. Apart from that, the temple is an old building, but it was restored in 1981. The main structure of the building, the bricks , etc., are still the original one, but the whole roof has been replaced. It was a problem because there were no old photographs, like the two from the 1950s that I mentioned before, but apart from those, the others photographs shot part of the architecture, they did not have the documentation showing the whole building.

They had a letter of application to be preserved as a national monument, which the PSM refused at the time, arguing that they renovated it and then everything had been transformed. But my personal opinion is that it would still be possible if the temple wants to be restored. Because it's good to say that the building itself is very simple, unlike the Thian Hock Keng Temple which requires a lot of money to be restored and a lot of details to consider. Because MSFTC is a small temple, it was built without spending a lot of money, just the walls and the roof. There are aoyu(鳌鱼) on the roof, so just do it roughly like that and look for the kind of aoyu in Shiwan. Because a lot of the architectural decoration in Guangdong comes from Shiwan. 采访者：庙的建筑价值相对比较低。

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洪先生：对，看你怎么看了，虽然说建筑方面比较简单，但会有历史价值。不是说富丽堂 皇的庙才值得保留，也要看它促成保留的其他方面。比如说，在加冷河畔现在不是工业区， 现在的工业区都是政府规划的，以前在殖民地时期，加冷河是新加坡第一个工业区。如果 有看那本书，手工业绝大部分设置在那边，因为它有很好的地理条件，有河流，讲到制砖， 沙、泥土、工人全部在那边。如果你看现在我们这些古迹，它们保留，每个古迹都有自己 的意义。但是我好像没有看到一个地方跟这些劳动阶级有很大的关系，尤其是早年的，我 不要讲独立之后的，尤其是这些苦力，因为这样被保留下来。这是另外一个角度啦。 Interviewer: The temple is of relatively low architectural value.

Mr. Ang: Yes, depending on how you look at it, although it is said to be relatively simple in terms of architecture, it has historical value. It's not that an opulent temple is worth conserving, it also depends on the other aspects that it has contributed to conserving. For example, the bank of the Kallang River is not an industrial area now, the current industrial areas were planned by the government, previously during the colonial period, the Kallang River was the first industrial area in Singapore. If you have read that book (A Kampong and Its Temple), the vast majority of the craft industry is set up there because it had great geography, there was the river, and when it comes to brick making, the sand, the clay, the workers were all over there. If you look at the monuments being conserved now, each one has its own significance. But I don't seem to see a place that has much to do with the working class, especially in the early years, and I don't say the post-independence period, especially those "coolie". That's another perspective. 采访者：您认为福德祠除了面临地契和年轻人少的问题，还有哪些问题是需要考虑的？ 洪先生：可能这个宗教文化这一块，以前那边有个村，福德祠不仅是宗教场所，也是 CC。 现在已经没有这种功能了，看宗教方面的功能，主神是大伯公，福德祠的正神嘛，土地神。 那么土地神，宗教的方面来讲，是掌管土地的神明，所以当时的村民一定去那边拜，因为 你住在那边，要保平安，一定要拜那个神。以今天的情况，现在新加坡人口流动率比较高， 一个组屋区，可能 20 年后、30 年后，大概啦几十年后再重新发展，又换了一批人。所以， 那个土地的概念已经不在那边了，是一直在变，所以现在它周围的祖屋居民有多少会去那 边拜？住在公寓的那些人，他们会觉得说，因为我住在这边，那有个土地庙要去拜？所以 观念不一致这样，它作为土地庙，它可不可以一直做下去？以前不仅是附近居民，也有别 的地方的人来拜，这种庙是这样啦，庙有名气啦，神明很灵验啦，其他地方的人也会来拜。 现在的情况是，那个村子已经没了，所以它失去了它原先的信众，其他地方的人虽然也可 以来拜，但没有什么新的因素啦，刚讲的，庙很多啦，为什么其他地方的人一定要来这拜 个土地公呢？ Interviewer: What other issues do you think the MSFTC needs to be considered, apart from facing the problem of land lease and fewer young people?

Mr. Ang: Maybe should consider religious culture. In the past, there was a kampong (Sar Kong) over there, where the MSFTC was not only a religious place but also a Community

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Center, but now there is no longer such a function. Looking at the religious aspect, the main deity of the MSFTC is Dabogong, the Earth Deity. So, in religious terms, the Earth Deity was the deity who is in charge of the land, so the villagers must have gone there to worship that deity, because if you lived there, you had to worship that deity to keep safe.

Nowadays, Singapore has a high population turnover rate. An HDB area may be redeveloped 20 or 30 years later, or probably decades later, with a new group of people.

So the concept of land is no longer there, it is changing all the time, so how many of the HDB residents around it now will go there to worship? Those who live in the condominium, would think, "Because I live here, there is an Earth Deity temple, so I need to worship?".

So the concept is not consistent, can it continue to be an Earth Deity temple? In the past, not only the residents in the neighborhood, but also people from other places would come to worship. The situation now is that the kampong has disappeared, so it has lost its original devotees. People from other places can also come to worship, but there is no new factor for them to do so. As I have just said, there are many temples, so why must people from other places come here to worship this Earth Deity? 采访者：了解到福德祠有一个委员会，会员需要帮福德祠做一些事情。 洪先生：其实我本身不是会员，我只是跟他们关系比较亲密。会员在冠病之前，每年都有 两场大的活动。一个是土地诞，有一个宴会，可能是百桌这样，我记不太清了，请的很多 都是会员，会员也不仅是来吃饭，也会捐钱，这是庙的一个收入来源。会员也是信众嘛， 除非是经济能力有限，都会给一点。另外一个就是七月，盂兰胜会，比较小型啦，办几十 桌，有人喊标。可以去标，标到福物，就要还清那个标嘛。所以这是冠病之前，冠病之后， 这两场活动都停止了。所以，他们跟会员的互动就减少了。现在他们怎么跟会员互动可以 问理事和甄先生啦，据我所知他们会寄信。像今晚的活动，火龙，还有之前的拜太岁，还 有之前的一些宗教仪式，他们会问会员要不要参加。 Interviewer: I learned that there is a committee for the MSFTC and that members need to help the MSFTC to do some things.

Mr. Ang: I'm not actually a member of their committee, I'm just closer to them. The members had two big events every year before the covid-19. One is the Earth Deity's Feast Day, when there was a banquet, maybe a hundred tables, I can't remember exactly, and many of the people invited were members. This is a source of income for the temple.

Members are also devotees, so unless they have limited financial means, they will give donations. The other is the Seventh Month Festival, which is a relatively small event, with a few dozen tables and people calling for bids. If you get a bid, you have to pay off the bid. This was before the covid-19, and because of the covid-19, both events were stopped.

So, their interaction with the members has been reduced. Now, you can ask the committee members and Mr. Chin (Chairman) how they interact with the members, and as far as I know, they send letters. Like tonight's event, the fire dragon dance, and before

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that, the Tai Sui worship, and some other religious ceremonies, they will ask the members if they want to participate. 采访者：您有了解他们财务方面吗？ 洪先生：财务方面你们可以去问荣顺。财务方面一方面是那个地契，还没有敲定，假设政 府真的给 30 年，他们也是要还钱的，看土地价市场价作为标准，也是很贵的，好几百万。 除了例来的传统仪式像拜太岁，我也不知道他们给多少钱，十几二十的，也得开发新的渠 道。 Interviewer: Do you know anything about their finances?

Mr. Ang: You can ask Toh Yong Soon about the financial aspect. The land lease issue has not yet been finalized, and assuming the government really gives 30 years land lease, they will have to buy the lease, depending on the market price of the land as a standard, it is also very expensive, several million. In addition to the traditional rituals like worshiping the Tai Sui, I don't know how much they (devotees) give, ten or twenty, and also have to develop new channels to get money. 采访者：新加坡的庙都是市场化的嘛，就是政府不会给太多支持。 洪先生：对。 Interviewer: The temples in Singapore are all market-based, that is, the government doesn't give too much support.

Mr. Ang: Right. 采访者：因为在中国，庙的很大一部分经济来源是旅游嘛，新加坡您觉得庙的旅游业发展 是有可能吗？收门票、买香火之类的。 洪先生：我自己的想法是，在中国很多庙不仅是庙，也是景区。所以买票的时候，其实是 参观整个景区，因为地方够大。但新加坡的庙很多就是一间，半天就可以看完，不会特地 买票去天福宫，再买票去粤海清庙。不是说完全不行，可能比较困难，这种收钱模式。比 如福德祠以这种模式经营，守门票补贴经济来源，怎么把旅客带到那边去，也是个问题。 因为旅客也会比较，办那些旅行团的也会比较，我带他们去天福宫不需要还钱，来你这个 地方我还要还钱，你这个地方必须要有些亮点啦。 Interviewer: Because in China, a big part of the temple's income is tourism, do you think it's possible to develop tourism in Singapore? Charging admission fees, buying incense , etc..

Mr. Ang: My own opinion is that in China many temples are not only temples, but also scenic spots. So when you buy a ticket, you are actually visiting the whole scenic area because the place is big enough. But many of the temples in Singapore are just one single building, and you can see them all in half a day, so you don't buy a ticket specifically to go to Thian Hock Keng Temple and then to Yueh Hai Ching Temple. It is not that it is not possible at all, it may be more difficult, this model of collecting money. For example, if the 58

Fook Tuck Chee is operated in this mode to keep the entrance fee to subsidize the economic source, it is also a problem how to bring the visitors over there. Because travelers will compare, and those who run those tours will also compare: I don't have to pay for taking them to Thian Hock Keng Temple, but I have to pay for coming to your place, which has to have some highlights.

采访者：我最近有了解到，比如说，北京雍和宫他们在卖一些时尚饰品，通过开光，样子 也比较精美，受到很多人喜欢。在新加坡开光纪念品会有市场吗？进货渠道会不会受限？ 洪先生：其实新加坡也会有这样的宗教商品，刚才我强调那个喊标，他们标的东西，少数 有的也是有开光。它会注明这个东西开光了，会怎样怎样保佑你全家，你们都来喊标吧， 也会有这种情况。如果不是喊标，就是放在那边售卖，还钱就可以带回家的，他们也可以 帮你弄个简单的仪式，也是有的。 Interviewer: I have recently learned that, for example, they are selling some fashion accessories at the Yonghe Palace in Beijing, which are also quite exquisite and are liked by many people through consecration. Is there a market for consecrated souvenirs in Singapore? Will there be any restrictions on the channels of purchase?

Mr. Ang: In fact, Singapore also has such religious goods, and just now I highlighted that bidding, the few things that they bid also have consecration. It will state that this thing is consecrated and will bless your whole family, so you all come and bid for it, and there will be such cases. If it's not bidding, it's just putting it over there for sale, and you can take it home if you pay, they can also help you with a simple ceremony to consecrate. 采访者：有在佛牙寺看卖那些。 洪先生：对，从商业角度肯定是可行的，有不少人在做，也能赚到钱。从另外一个角度， 我个人的看法，这个东西不是不可以做，但是也不需要做地太过大。如果这种风气太盛， 会不会是一种迷信。庙就好像是在利用这些信徒的迷信的心理在赚钱，是不是要朝这个方 向去做下去？给个例子，有个庙，怎么把自己炒起来呢，它就说某某人来这边问赌博的号 码，神给了，他回去就中了，然后就很多人来了。有的庙把自己名声打响，就是这样经营 的，但是我觉得这不是一种持久性的做法。卖福物，精致不精致是另外一回事啦，有的人 他们并不是看它是否精致，而是看这东西买回来可不可以保佑我全家，可不可以让我的生 意做得更好。所以这东西我觉得比较难拿捏。 Interviewer: I saw them selling those at the Buddha's Tooth Temple.

Mr. Ang: Yes, from a commercial point of view it is definitely feasible, there are quite a few people doing it and making money. From another point of view, my personal opinion is that this is not something that can't be done, but it doesn't need to be done too big either. If this trend becomes too prevalent, will it be a form of superstition? It is as if the temple is making money by exploiting the superstition of these devotees, should we go on in this direction? To give an example, there is a temple, how does it hype itself up, it 59

says that a certain person came over here and asked for gambling numbers, the deity gave him, he went back and won, and then many people came. Some temples make a name for themselves and that's how they operate, but I don't think that's a sustainable practice. Some people don't look at whether the souvenirs are exquisite or not, but whether buying them will bless my family and make my business better. So I think it's a difficult thing to decide. 采访者：现在的庙好多都做得比较传统，但需要关注下一代嘛。但现在的传播还是有点限 制，怎么吸引年轻人，年轻人好像不太会主动去这样子。 洪先生：对，或者说年轻人我去了这间庙，也别说它带给我什么这样子，我为什么去？ Interviewer: Many temples nowadays are traditional, but they need to focus on the next generation. But now the promotion is still a bit limited, how to attract young people, young people don't seem to proactively go to temples.

Mr. Ang: Yes, or young people would think why do I go to the temple? Not to mention what it brings me. 采访者：我之前有搜索到粤海清庙是很灵的月老庙，很多年轻的男女去那里求姻缘。但福 德祠目前没有看到类似的东西，还是传统的火龙舞。 洪先生：对，而且这个粤海清庙是本地潮州社群主要的机构，但现在去求月老的什么籍贯 的都有，所以它这块做得挺好啦。而且它不属于炒作啦，不像求彩票中奖的，那是炒作， 这个月老这一块，我觉得不属于炒作，它就是慢慢传传传，就很多人去拜。而且听说真的 有很多成功案例。 Interviewer: I have searched before and found that the Yueh Hai Ching Temple is a very powerful temple for Yue Lao (Matchmaker 月老), and many young men and women go there to pray for marriage. But I don't see anything similar at the MSFTC at the moment, it's still the traditional events like the fire dragon dance.

Mr. Ang: Yes, and Yueh Hai Ching Temple is the main institution for the local Chiu Chow community, but nowadays there are people of all origins who go there to ask for marriage, so it's doing quite well. And it's not part of the hype, unlike the lottery winning, it just spreads slowly and many people go to worship. And I heard that there are really many successful cases. 采访者：福德祠就是可以求生子和看生病这些。 洪先生：香港之前有个电影明星叫沈殿霞，据说她和她的丈夫在 70 年代曾经去福德祠拜 过，但可惜没有留下照片。现在在网上对福德祠没什么资料。 Interviewer: The MSFTC is where you can pray for birth and sickness and other things.

Mr. Ang: There was a movie star in Hong Kong named Shen Dianxia, and it is said that she and her husband used to go to the MSFTC in the 1970s, but unfortunately no photos were left. There is not much information on the internet about the temple now.

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采访者：所以说还是要考虑年轻一代。 洪先生：对，那些信众也是一样的，他们来的都是七老八十的，二十年之后大日子要请谁 来吃饭。 Interviewer: So it's still important to think about the next generation.

Mr. Ang: Yes, the same with those devotees, they come in their seventies and eighties, who are going to be invited to the banquet on the big day twenty years later. 采访者：因为庙本身是宗教场所嘛，如果下一代信的人多的话，您会认为是迷信吗？ 洪先生：也不会啦，信仰这种东西比较难拿捏。你很难画一条线说什么是健康的信仰，什 么是迷信。迷信就是说没有经过思考，不管是神跟你说的，还是庙里人跟你说的，都全盘 接受。所以人多并不表示一种迷信。人多从宗教的角度来看，就是神真的很灵，能吸引到 信众。确切地说，要考虑什么因素促使信众增加，就好像我刚才说，有人中彩票，明天没 开门就有人排队，信众暴增，这样就不是很好咯。 Interviewer: As the temple itself is a religious place, would you consider it superstition if there are many people of the next generation believing in it?

Mr. Ang: No, it's not. It's difficult to pinpoint beliefs like that. It's hard to draw a line and say what is healthy faith and what is superstition. Superstition means that you don't think about it, you just accept whatever the deities tell you or what the people in the temple tell you. So a large number of people believe in it does not indicate a superstition. From a religious point of view means that the deities are really powerful and attract devotees. To be precise, one has to consider what factors are driving the increase in the number of believers, just as I said earlier that if someone wins the lottery, there will be a queue in front of the doors open tomorrow and the number of devotees will increase by leaps and bounds, which is not very good. 采访者：明白了。所以刚才聊这么多问题，您觉得最大的、最需要解决的问题是什么？ 洪先生：最眼前的，最急的就是土地的问题。假如土地那边没有政府的一个说法的话，他 们很难决定下一步是什么。比如说政府不让他们保留，他们现在就需要物色另一个地方， 把神像什么的请过去，再开一间庙。如果政府让他们保留，他们眼前的问题是怎么去筹集 这个钱。如果政府不能很明确地跟他们讲，他们就有点“我们接下来要怎么样”。 Interviewer: I see. So having just talked about so many issues, what do you think is the biggest, most pressing issue that needs to be addressed?

Mr. Ang: The most immediate and urgent issue is the land lease. If the government doesn't give them an answer on the land lease, it's hard for them to decide what the next step is. For example, if the government doesn't let them keep the temple, they need to find another place, move the deity statues , etc., and open another temple. If the government lets them keep it, their immediate problem is how to raise the money for the

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lease. If the government is not very clear with them, they have a bit of a "what are we going to do next" problem. 采访者：他们现在是一年一签？ 洪先生：对，我们这叫 TOL（Temporary Occupation Licence）。 洪先生：当然，土地问题解决的话，那些年轻人的问题是比较长远的。 Interviewer: They are now on a one-year lease?

Mr. Ang: Yes, we call it TOL (Temporary Occupation Licence).

Mr. Ang: Of course, the land lease issue is solved, those fewer young people's problems are longer term issues that need to be considered. 采访者：决策权还是在政府手里，但据说有百分之九十几的可能是可以的。 洪先生：因为我跟他们也十几年了嘛，现在的发展可以说是最乐观的。在这之前他们也通 过各种途径，比如写信去要求保留，但是当时说的是没办法。现在又通过争取重新翻案嘛， 还是蛮接近的，只是公文还没发下来。 Interviewer: The decision-making power is still in the hands of the government, but it is said that there is a ninety percent chance that it will be conserved.

Mr. Ang: Because I've been with them for more than ten years, well, the development now is arguably the most optimistic. Before, they also went through various ways, such as writing letters to ask for conservation, but at that time it was said that there was no way. Now they are fighting for the case to be overturned, so it is still quite close, but the official document has not yet been issued. 采访者：他们跟政府对接主要是 URA 还是 HDB？ 洪先生：两边都有。现在可能跟 URA 比较多，现在地是属于 HDB，但发展蓝图是 URA， 可能还有其他部门，都需要坐下来开个会。 Interviewer: Is it mainly URA or HDB that they interface with the government?

Mr. Ang: Both sides. Now it's probably more with URA, the land lease now belongs to HDB, but the development masterplan was made by URA and there may be other departments that all need to sit down and have a meeting. 采访者：政府需要考量一些经济因素，需要庙方告诉他们保留而不是建住宅的原因。 洪先生：对，这个要考虑地价，房地产价钱这几年都在上升，他们也接近市区，价钱肯定 是更高的。如果进入市场，肯定是给发展商来标嘛，肯定是有底价的，政府会知道保留那 间庙会损失多少。这个价钱的问题，不同部门需要讨论，从 URA\HDB 的角度是钱的问题， 从其他部门又可能是地方历史、社群的意义，就需要平衡。可以看下之前有什么先例。 Interviewer: The government needs to take into account some economic factors and needs the temple committee to tell them the reasons for conserving rather than building residential.

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Mr. Ang: Yes, this has to take into account the price of land, property prices have been rising over the past few years and the temple is close to the city, so the price is definitely higher. If it goes to the market, it must be given to the developer to bid, there must be a reserve price, and the government will know how much it will lose by conserving that temple. From the perspective of URA/HDB, it is a matter of money, while from other departments, it may be a matter of local history and community significance, so a balance needs to be struck. You can look at what precedents have been set before. 采访者：谢谢您！ Interviewer: Thank you very much!

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Appendix C: Interview with Mr. Toh Yong Soon(杜荣顺) Date: 24/02/2023 Duration: One hour and twenty minutes Location: Online meeting Interviewee: A business procurement manager, Vice-Chairman of MSFTC Committee 采访者：听洪先生说您是万山福德祠的副主席，请问目前是主管财务和政府对接这方面吗？ 可以大致了解您做了哪些工作吗？ 杜先生：我是业务采购经理，每次投标这些是我本行。保养、维修也是我的内行，不过我 在万山福德祠是管它土地的问题，建筑的问题。 Interviewer: I heard from Mr. Ang that you are the Vice Chairman of the MSFTC, are you currently in charge of the finance and government interface? Can you give us a general idea of what you have been doing?

Mr. Toh: I am the business procurement manager, and I am in charge of bidding items. I am also an expert in maintenance and repair, but I am in charge of the land and the building at the MSFTC. 采访者：所以您会跟 URA、HDB 谈 land lease 的问题？ 杜先生：现在是 SLA3 月 1 日接手。新加坡所有庙的地在 2023 年 3 月 1 日开始，都归 SLA 管。所以我现在是跟 SLA 谈。 Interviewer: So you would talk to URA and HDB about land lease issues?

Mr. Toh: It is now SLA taking over on March 1. All the lands of the temples in Singapore will be under SLA's control from March 1, 2023. So I am talking to SLA now. 采访者：所以，所有的地契将要归到他们那边去了。 杜先生：因为以前政府收地，收的地给 HDB 建。如果旁边有一间庙，HDB 就管。如果政 府收的地是工业用地，就是 JTC 裕廊集团，如果旁边有庙宇，就会给裕廊集团管。如果 有些地方它收了之后，没有给别的部门，就是 SLA 管。到 2023.2.28，有三个 landlord 在 管，HDB， SLA，裕廊集团。新加坡有两个层次，第一层是土地管理局去物价司报告给 总统，第二层是 HDB 或裕廊集团向 SLA 买地再建设。Conservation 属于 URA 管，这个 地要怎么用，是 Master Plan，现在是 2019 年的 Master Plan，5 年换一次，明年就会更 新。URA 就会计划在这 5 年间保留多少产业。 Interviewer: So, all the land leases are going to go to their side.

Mr. Toh: Because the government used to resume land and the land resumed was given to HDB to build. If there was a temple in the land, HDB was in charge. If the land resumed by the government was industrial land, it was under the control of JTC, and if there was a temple in it, it would also be under the control of JTC. If there are places it has resumed

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and not given to other departments, it is SLA that will be in charge. There are two levels in Singapore, the first level is for the SLA to go to the Land Surveyors Board to report to the President, and the second level is for HDB or JTC to buy land from SLA and then build. By 28/02/2023, there were three landlords in charge, HDB, SLA, and JTC. Conservation is under the control of the URA, and how this land is to be used is the Master Plan, it is now the 2019 Master Plan, which will be renewed every 5 years, and the next renewal is next year. The URA will then plan what is to be conserved during these 5 years. 采访者：所以现在是 HDB 卖回给 SLA 了？ 杜先生：因为是觉得一个机构在管理比较好，宗教土地的问题。之前有时要听 SLA 的话， 有时要听 HDB 的话，沟通比较复杂。 Interviewer: So now the land lease is selling back from HDB to SLA? Mr. Toh: Because it was felt that one body was managing better, the issue of religious land. Before, sometimes you had to listen to the SLA and sometimes you had to listen to the HDB, and it was more complicated to communicate. 采访者：我之前看到 URA 对贵庙地块的计划是道路，对庙现在有什么影响吗？ 杜先生：1979 年政府收地，实际上是 1976 年开始收地，收地的时候，政府说给万山福德 祠 30 年。1979 年 7 月 1 日开始，地契在 2009.6.30 完结。收地为什么有三十年的政策？ 因为土地有限，三十年比较方便规划。所以以前有些小庙被政府收回建联合宫。把全部的 籍贯，广东、潮州，只要人与人可以做邻居，就把他们放在一起。只要可以变动的庙就请 他们搬。所以，2009 年，我们就开始有了 TOL，给你一个暂时的准证，随时都可以叫你 走。那时候，老人家在征求保留。但政府的政策是地契走了一半，即 15 年以后到 30 完之 前申请延续 30 年。也就是说 2009 年的时候，应在 15 年前申请保留。但老人家没有这么 做。因为以前都是华校生嘛，豆芽字都不知道嘛，豆芽字就是英文。所以他们就误会，以 为庙是永久在的。2005 年发现了这个问题，庙一定是要保留的，因为新加坡所有的广东 庙都是没有保留的，为什么一定要赶我呢？这其中就发生了许多事情。所以新加坡的庙保 留要提前申请，如果可以保留，政府会在 5 年前告诉你要多交多少钱。如果他给你 10 年、 20 年的地契，就是说 10 年、20 年之后他要你重新搬，就得搬走。因为新加坡 URA 的 Concept Plan 是 1991 年开始公告天下，第一份是 1971 年，1991 年是重新修改。1991 年就把这块地划分为住宅，所以在地契走到一半的时候，白纸黑字说要搬，不过老人家没 有看公告，就不知道。HDB 收地的官员收走地之后就退休了，新官员白纸黑字跟他们讲 地契到期了，没有机会申请保留了。 Interviewer: I saw earlier that the URA's plan for your temple site was the road, does it have any impact on the temple now?

Mr. Toh: The government resumed the land in 1979, in fact, it started in 1976, and when it resumed the land, the government said that it would give 30 years to the MSFTC. It started on 1 July 1979 and the land lease ended on 30/06/2009. Why was there a 30-

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year policy for land resumption? Because land is limited and thirty years is more convenient for planning. That is why some small temples were previously resumed by the government to build the Combined Temple. Put all the places of origin, whatever Guangdong or Chaozhou, together as long as people and people can be neighbors. Ask them to move as long as the temple can be changed. So, in 2009, we started to have TOL, which gives you a temporary permit to ask you to leave whenever they want. At that time, the elderly (MSFTC Committee Members) were asking for conservation. But the government's policy was that the land lease went halfway, which meant that after 15 years from the beginning until the end of 30 you need to apply for a 30-year extension. This means, in 2009, the reservation should have been applied for 15 years ago. But the elderly did not do that. Because they were Chinese school students in the past, they did not know the "douyazi 豆芽字", which is English. So they misunderstood and thought that the temple was there permanently. The problem was discovered in 2005, and the temple must be conserved because all Cantonese temples in Singapore are not conserved. Why must this temple be evicted? A lot of things happened. So temple conservation in Singapore has to be applied for in advance, and if it can be conserved, the government will tell you five years beforehand how much more money you have to pay. If the government gives you the land lease for 10 or 20 years, it means that after 10 or 20 years the government wants you to move again, you have to move out. The Concept Plan of Singapore URA was revised in 1991 and the first one was published in 1971. In the 1991 Concept Plan, the land was zoned as residential, so when the lease was halfway through, it was written in black and white that you had to move out, but the elderly did not read the notice, so they did not know about it. The HDB officer who took the land retired and the new officer told them in black and white that the land lease had expired and there was no chance to apply for a conservation. 采访者：刚您讲的是 09 年之前，09 年之后发生了什么事情？ 杜先生：09 年之后，旁边的屋子就被赶了，就改成 blk 了，那些旧祖屋就要搬走。这间土 地庙一直在争取保留，不过保留有两种，一个是 preservation，一个是 conservation。但 老人家都是受华文教育的，这两种翻译都是“保留”，文化差异呀。URA 有两个部门， conservation 是一个部门，如果要 preservation 就要去 PMB(Preservation Monument Broad)。老人家去了 PMB，那边跟他们说，庙要原汁原味、古色古香的建筑物才可以保 护。就像 National Art Gallery 和维多利亚剧院，没有把以前的东西拆掉，才可以保留。但 庙 1985 年，他们把旧壁画、屋顶、地砖、篱笆、玄关（广东庙有第一道门和第二道门） 都拆了。其实那间广东庙很可怜，前两天毅瀚跟我讲，我忽然发现像粤海清庙、天福宫这 些福建庙、潮州庙，都是义安公司、福建会馆这些有钱人在装修。福德祠是穷人的庙，在 1980 年代装修的，是那些中马票的，还有那些过得去的人凑钱装修的，所以庙的钱一分 都没有用到。换屋顶、拆壁画，都是香客出钱来做的。但他们 80 年代不懂得怎么保护那 间庙，就把旧东西拆了。主席跟我讲，屋顶、墙壁的砖什么的都是自己人，铁匠、木匠放 66

了工买料自己慢慢做的。所以这个庙应该保留，因为它是穷人的庙。不像洛阳大伯公他们， 这间庙没有大财主的，都是一块钱、两块钱这样子。 Interviewer: Just now you were talking about before 2009, what happened after 2009?

Mr. Toh: After 2009, the houses next to the MSFTC were evicted and changed to a block, and those old HDBs had to be moved away. This Earth Deity temple has been fighting for conservation, but there are two kinds of "baoliu 保留", one is preservation and the other is conservation, but the old people are educated in Chinese and both translations are "baoliu", this is cultural differences. URA has two departments, one is for conservation, one is for preservation. If you want to preserve, you have to go to PMB (Preservation Monument Broad). When the old people (of the temple committee) went to the PMB, they (the PMB officers) were told that the temple should be preserved only if it is an original and ancient building. Just like the National Art Gallery and the Victoria Theatre, the former stuff has not been torn down in order to be preserved. But in 1985, they took down the old murals, the roof, the floor tiles, the fence, the entrance gate (the Cantonese temple had a first gate and a second gate). In fact, this Cantonese temple was very poor. Two days ago, Yik Han told me that I suddenly found out that like the Yueh Hai Ching Temple and Thian Hock Keng Temple, these Fujian temples and Chiu Chow temples were renovated by rich people like the Ngee Ann Kongsi and the Fujian Association. The MSFTC was a poor man's temple, renovated in the 1980s, by those who had won the horse vote, and those who chipped in to renovate it, so not a penny of the temple money was used. The replacement of the roof and the removal of the murals were all done at the expense of the devotees. But they didn't know how to preserve that temple in the 1980s, so they took down the old stuff. The Chairman told me that the roof, the bricks for the walls and everything else were made slowly by our local people, the blacksmiths and carpenters who bought the materials themselves and finished work. So this temple should be conserved because it is a temple for the poor. Unlike the Loyang Tua Pek Kong, this temple is not owned by the rich, it is by the poor, who pay a dollar or two. 采访者：刚讲到 09 年 preservation 失败了。 杜先生：失败了之后到 2011 年，老人家就说再试试看。2012 年我就出现了，我出现也是 一桩故事。也是毅瀚跟我讲这间庙很可怜，他就叫我来看看。我说，哎呀，这间庙应该拆 了，因为我看 URA 的 Master Plan，旁边有一块红地。我就跟主席讲，要是方便你们就搬 去对面咯。到处都是破破烂烂的，到处都是黑色的油烟，没有古色古香的味道。但毅瀚跟 我讲不可以搬。后来我找了个朋友去通灵，土地爷就跟我朋友讲“不要问我”，观音娘娘和 太岁就跑了出来，跟我朋友说“你叫这个固执的老人进来喝茶”。既然土地爷爷不要搬，我 就帮他们写了封请愿书去 conserve。这时候是 2014 年了，刚刚好文物室刚做好。后来， the idea of conservation 终于进了庙(人)的脑海里。就是说不要太注重那些古色古香的建 筑结构了，而是保留文化、保留传统、保留教育，用这个方向来申请保留。2015 年，申 请到 URA。URA 说建筑结构不可以，他们从头到尾都是说不可以的。非物质文化遗产不 67

是 URA 管的，是 NHB 管的。我们有了一个文物室，跟 NHB 说这些是非物质文化遗产。 150 周年的时候，我们邀请现在的教育部长 Chan Chun Sing (陈振声)，当年他是职工总 会（NTUC）管劳工的。我们写了几封信，用非物质文化遗产的理由，去找了 Chan Chun Sing，他答应来。因为陈是广东人，他的母亲是住在这个村的后面。所以他小时候对这 个地方有印象，他就来了。那时候他做了个演讲，说政府在考虑用什么方式来保留这间广 东庙。The government is considering how to conserve the temple in whatever form. 他 开了三个条件：第一，要和社区挂钩，must be relevant to the current community. 第二， The management must be sustainable, 理事要更新。第三，maintain tradition, culture and practice.所以这就是保留庙的“药方”，其实这个条件很合理的。所以 2016 年，HDB 停止说要赶这间庙。第一次驳回是 2012 年，2012-2016 年每年都要开会吵架的。我 2012 年开始帮忙写信，变成 2015 年他们叫我做理事，做了理事才知道里面的问题，才好跟部 长讲。所以我们就走用非遗保护的路子了。之后又换了部长，我们就找了一个有名的建筑 师来申请。从那时候见 URA，URA 说他们会考虑，但没有答案。直到 2019 年 12 月的时 候，当时的文化部长 Resford 来了庙里看。我们就觉得有希望，整 10 年都没有希望，准 备要搬的。不过 2016 年 9 月 150 周年陈部长说要考虑，2016-2019 都在考虑，2019 年 看到了曙光。然后 covid-19 来了。庙旁边的屋子都拆了，2011 年住屋短缺，他们还给那 些住不到屋子的人提供住宿。到 2018 年都拆了，建了工地了。Covid-19 期间拆完。所以， 其实我们是通过非遗而不是建筑物本身获得希望的，是 culture, people and practice 这三 样帮了我们。除了文物室，火龙也帮了我们。前几天报纸都讲了，新加坡唯一一个火龙。 为什么火龙会来新加坡啊，是这样，火龙是来自香港。香港以前有台风，台风过来，他们 杀了蟒蛇，有了瘟疫，观音娘娘出现。香港人除了加拿大，有一半的人是来新加坡的，去 中餐馆、粤菜出名，就全部移民来新加坡。福德祠是广东庙，所以 80 年代，师傅们就去 了福德祠。香港火龙是中秋，我们是土地诞。我们的火龙头、尾巴等的设计不一样，从 80 年代演变过来。因为火龙要烧，太贵了，每三年一次。但现在不烧，为了环保，这里 修那里补，基本每年都可以有火龙。不过今年着火了，火龙要回家了，要换新的了。 Interviewer: Just talked about how preservation failed in 2009.

Mr. Toh: After the failure, in 2011, the elderly said, "let's try again". In 2012, I appeared, and my appearance was also a story. It was also Yik Han who told me that this temple was very poor, so he asked me to come and take a look. I said, "Oh, this temple should be demolished", because I looked at the Master Plan of the URA, there is a red piece of land next to it. I told the chairman, "If it is convenient for you, you should move to the opposite side". It was in a state of disrepair and there was black soot everywhere, and it didn't look like an ancient building. But Yik Han told me that it couldn't move. Later, I asked a friend to psychic, and the Earth Deity told my friend, "Don't ask me", and the Guanyin and the Tai Sui came out and told my friend, "Tell this stubborn old man to come in for tea". Since the Earth Deity did not want to move, I wrote a petition for them to seek conservation. It was 2014 and the heritage room had just been finished. Later, the idea

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of conservation finally entered the mind of the temple (people). In 2015, the application was submitted to the URA, which said that the building structure was ineligible for conservation, and that they were saying no from the beginning to the end. Intangible cultural heritage is not under the control of the URA, it's under the control of the NHB. We have a heritage room to tell the NHB that these are intangible cultural heritage. At 150th anniversary of MSFTC, we invited Chan Chun Sing (陈振声), the current Minister of Education, who was in charge of labor at the NTUC back then. We wrote a few letters and went to Chan Chun Sing on the grounds of intangible cultural heritage and he agreed to come. Because Mr. Chan is from Guangdong, his mother lived behind this Sar Kong Kampong. So he had an impression of this place when he was a child and he came. At that time he made a speech saying that the government is considering how to conserve the temple in whatever form. He set three requirements: Firstly, it must be linked to the community, and must be relevant to the current community. Secondly, the management must be sustainable, and the committee staff must be renewed. Thirdly, maintain tradition, culture and practice. So this is the "prescription" for conserving the temple, which is actually a very reasonable requirement. So in 2016, HDB stopped saying they were going to evict this temple. The first time it (application to HDB) was dismissed was in 2012, and we had meetings and fights every year from 2012-2016. I started to help write letters in 2012. In 2015, they asked me to be a councilor of the temple committee, and only after I became a councilor did I know the problems inside so I could speak to the minister. So we went the way of using the intangible heritage to seek conservation for it. Then the minister changed again and we got a famous architect (Eugene Lin, the Chief Architect of Fivefooway Consultants) to help us apply. Then we communicated with URA, URA said they would consider it, but there was no answer. In December 2019, the Minister of MCCY, came to see the temple. We then thought there was hope. There was no hope for the whole 10 years and we were ready to move. But the 150th anniversary in September 2016 Minister Chan said he would consider it (conservation), and it was under consideration from 2016-2019 and saw the light of day in 2019. Then Covid-19 came.

The houses next to the temple were torn down, in 2011 there was a shortage of housing and they gave accommodation to those who couldn't get a house. By 2018 it (HDBs) was all demolished and the site was built. Finished demolition during Covid-19. So, it was through the heritage rather than the building itself that we got our hope, it was culture, people and practice that helped us. Besides the heritage room, the fire dragon also helped us. It was all over the papers these days, the only fire dragon in Singapore. Why did the fire dragon come to Singapore? It's like this, the fire dragon came from Hong Kong. Hong Kong used to have typhoons, typhoons came, they killed the pythons, there was a plague and the Guanyin(观音) appeared. Half of the people from Hong Kong came to Singapore, except for those to Canada, and went to Chinese restaurants, and Cantonese food to become famous, so they all migrated to Singapore. The MSFTC is a Cantonese temple, so in the 1980s, the Cantonese food masters went to the MSFTC. The Hong Kong Fire

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Dragon Dance is in the Mid-Autumn Festival and we are at the Earth Deity Feast Day. Our fire dragon head, and tail design is different from Hong Kong's and evolved from the 1980s. Because the fire dragon has to be burnt, it's too expensive, once every three years.

But now we don't burn it for the sake of the environment, and basically we can have a fire dragon every year. But this year it caught fire and the fire dragon is going home and will be replaced with a new one. 采访者：所以是否保留现在还是 URA 在做决定? 杜先生：URA 把这个交给文化部，文化部现在管宗教庙宇。这间庙不是一个很商业化的 庙，我们现在的形式是 80 年代的形式，有人说太保守了，赚不到钱。但我们是百年古庙 嘛，就用传下来的方式咯。2019 年之后，NHB 也是文化部，URA 说如果文化部说 OK， 那么我们也 OK。前几年 conserve 的建筑物越来越多是非遗，比如东岳庙。不过政府之前 也是讲这块地做住宅，但旁边的地没有卖，所以有伸缩性。新加坡的大前提是为了发展需 要这块地，非遗是可以放在一遍的，发展更重要。不过如果给了 30 年的地契，在 30 年以 内，旁边房子一定会建起来的，一建起来屋子有 99 年的产权，如果庙旁边的屋子不拆， 庙也不会拆的，就相当于多了六十多年的存活期限。万山福德祠的问题是旁边的屋子没有 拆。 Interviewer: So whether to conserve it or not is still a decision that URA is making now?

Mr. Toh: The URA handed this over to the MCCY, which is now in charge of religious temples. MSFTC is not a very commercial temple, the form we have now is the form we had in the 1980s, some people say it's too conservative, it doesn't make money. After 2019, the NHB and the URA say that if the MCCY says it's OK, then we're OK. A few years ago, more and more buildings in the conserve were because of intangible heritage, such as the Tang Gah Beo. But the government was also talking about this land for residential before, but the land next to it was not sold, so there was a stretch. The general premise in Singapore is that the land is needed for development and then the intangible heritage can be unimportant, development is more important. However, if a 30-year land lease is given, within 30 years, the houses (HDBs) next to it (the temple) will definitely be built, and once it is built the houses will have 99 years of ownership. If the houses next to the temple are not demolished, the temple will not be demolished either, which is equivalent to an additional 60 years of survival. The problem with the MSFTC is that the house next to it has not been demolished. 采访者：您之前提到 2019 年之前有请过一个建筑师，请问他做了哪些事情呢？ 杜先生：他用 URA 的语言跟政府沟通，画了一个蓝图给政府。因为如果这间庙保留的话， 很多地方都受影响，比如路怎么扩建，需要出个方案给 URA。可能会用我们的替代方案， 也可能不会用。为了以后 30 年的地契，我们有可能恢复到 1914 年的外观。其实广东庙 很简单，没有什么龙和凤，只是有几幅壁画，屋顶用同济医院的旧屋顶，放个龙珠就好了。

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Interviewer: You mentioned earlier that the temple had hired an architect before 2019, what did he do?

Mr. Toh: He communicated with the government in the URA language and drew a masterplan for the government. The reason is that if this temple is conserved, many areas will be affected, such as how the road will be extended, and a proposal needs to be made to the URA, which may or may not use our alternative proposal. For the sake of the land lease for the next 30 years, we have the possibility of restoring it to its 1914 appearance.

In fact, the Cantonese temple is very simple, there is no dragon or phoenix, just a few murals and the old roof of Thong Chai Hospital is used for the roof and a dragon ball is placed. 采访者：明白，刚才讲到 2019 年，所以从 2019 年到 2022 年期间，有没有新的进展？ 杜先生：我们对社会有贡献，从 2015 年开始有敬老会。Covid-19 之后，我们和文化部一 起研究怎样封，怎样解封，用什么政策解封。我们也要跟香客沟通，因为拜神的方式换了 嘛。 Interviewer: I understand, we just talked about 2019, so is there any new progress between 2019 and 2022?

Mr. Toh: We have contributed to the community, and we have had a banquet for the elderly since 2015. After Covid-19, we worked with the MCCY on how to close it (the temple), how to open it and what policies to use to open it. We also have to communicate with the devotees, because the way of worshiping the deities has changed. 采访者：拜神的方式换了是指？ 杜先生：以前可以跪，可以打杯（笅杯），可以在里面烧香。但疫情之后，每个人不可以 在里面待太久，要排队，要洗手，要戴口罩。但有的香客说戴口罩神就不认识他嘛。所以， 跟政府互动，和基层互动，这三年大家做了朋友，互相了解。人与人之间的关系，非遗是 息息相关的。 Interviewer: The way of worshiping the deities has changed means?

Mr. Toh: Before, you could kneel, you could "drop the cup (Da Jiao Bei 打笅杯)" (for divination) and you could burn incense inside. But because of the Covid-19, everyone was not allowed to stay inside for too long, they had to queue up, wash their hands and wear masks. But some devotees said that if they wore masks, the deity would not recognize them. So, interacting with the government and interacting with the grassroots, we have made friends and got to know each other over the past three years. The relationship between people and the intangible heritage is closely related. 采访者：您之前提到今年三月份之前，有三个 landlord，有没有一个 main landlord 呢？ 杜先生：每年 HDB 都会给我们一封信，因为 TOL 是 yearly renewal，每年要续期。2016 年之前都说我们要搬走，但 2016 年之后就说“我们还没有决定，你们先签“。 71

Interviewer: You mentioned earlier that there were three landlords before March this year, was there a main landlord?

Mr. Toh: Every year HDB would give us a letter, because TOL is a yearly renewal, it has to be renewed every year. Before 2016, they all said we should move out, but after 2016 they said "we haven't decided yet, you sign first". 采访者：TOL 是每年都签吗？甄主席有提到他没有签字。 杜先生：TOL 是按年签，按月给钱，像房租一样。Contract by action，没有签但每月缴 费就是签了。 Interviewer: Is the TOL signed every year? Chairman Chin had mentioned that he did not sign.

Mr. Toh: TOL is signed annually and paid monthly, like rent. Contract by action, not signed but paid monthly is signed. 采访者：那目前的计划是什么呢？ 杜先生：和 SLA 一起商量。因为很多庙也是同样的问题，政府已经决定这间庙原则上可 以原地保留。因为 Covid-19，新加坡的地价高涨，什么兴都教啦，拜神的地方没有钱去 支付地租。因为政府也不可以太便宜卖给我们，因为卖太便宜，国家储备就少了，就是在 用未来的钱资助我们。所以现在律政部(Ministery of Law)在检讨这个问题，SLA 是律政部 的，国家土地条约都是律政部在管。所以这个问题要一起解决，在等签再一个 30 年的地 契。今年会解决啦，因为这种东西不能拖太久的。 Interviewer: And what are the current plans?

Mr. Toh: To discuss with the SLA. Because many temples are also facing the same problem, the government has decided that this temple can in principle be conserved in situ. Because of Covid-19, Singapore's land prices are high, like Xing Du Jiao la, the place of worship has no money to pay the land rent. Because the government also can't sell it to us too cheaply, because if they sell it too cheaply, the national reserve will be less, that is, in using the future money to finance us. So now the Ministry of Law is reviewing this issue, the SLA belongs to the Ministry of Law and the national land treaty is all under the control of the Ministry of Law. So this issue has to be resolved together, and we are waiting for another 30-year lease to be signed. It will be resolved this year, because this kind of thing cannot be delayed for too long. 采访者：我听说再签 30 年，也需要资金去买地契，有想过怎样筹集这笔资金吗？ 杜先生：我们有储备。不过如果太高，就没有储备。这是要一次性支付的。如果需要钱就 喊一下嘛，“大伯公需要钱“，会有人来捐的，有多少就多少咯。 Interviewer: I've heard that to sign another 30 year land lease, you need funds to buy the lease as well, any thoughts on how to raise this money?

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Mr. Toh: We have reserves. But if it's too high, there are no reserves. It's a one-off payment. If we need money, we can just shout, "Dabogong(大伯公) needs money", and someone will come and donate as much as they can. 采访者：我整体听下来，万山福德祠的转折点是在从保护建筑到保护非遗上，当时谁想到 转变方向的呢？是怎样想到的？ 杜先生：是四个人想出来的，一个是毅瀚，一个是吉米，他做灯笼的。还有我和主席。我 们商量说之前那条路不能走了，就用火龙、文物室，又和社区挂钩。我们这几年在大伯公 联谊会、香港青松观都有点知名度，这也帮了我们。 Interviewer: I heard that the turning point for the MSFTC as a whole was when it went from preserving the building to conserving the intangible heritage. How did the idea come about?

Mr. Toh: It was four people who came up with the idea, one was Yik Han, and one was Jimmy, who made lanterns. And me and the Chairman. We discussed that we couldn't go down the same road as before, so we used the fire dragon, the heritage room, and linked them to the community again. We've had a bit of visibility in the past few years with the Dabogong Fellowship and Hong Kong Ching Chung Koon, which has helped us. 采访者：今年土地诞，我看见有穿其他大伯公庙衣服的人来帮忙。 杜先生：帮忙也有，交流也有。别人奇怪，本来福德祠要完蛋，怎么又保留了。 Interviewer: This year at the Earth Deity Feast Day, I saw some people in other Dabogong Temple clothes coming to help.

Mr. Toh: There were also helpers and exchanges. Others wondered how the MSFTC was kept again when it was supposed to be demolished. 采访者：是有很多人的心血在里面的。您之前提到因为福德祠是百年古庙，创收方式比较 保守，有没有考虑过拓展新的方式呢？ 杜先生：有想过，不过我们委员会的成员都觉得不必收太多钱。土地公在华人的文化里就 是我有多少就给多少嘛，福德精神嘛，要奉献，要多交朋友。所以我觉得有多少就赚多少 咯，可以结缘就结缘嘛，不要商业化。大家能省就省嘛，给客人花得比较多。 杜先生：我们可以保护得很好，是因为政府相信人民，人民也相信政府。 采访者：明白了，谢谢您！ Interviewer: There is a lot of work that goes into it. You mentioned before that because the MSFTC is a century-old temple, the way of generating income is rather conservative.

Have you considered expanding into new ways?

Mr. Toh: It has been thought of, but all of us on the committee feel that we don't have to collect too much money. In Chinese culture, the Earth Deity is to give as much as I have, and the spirit of the "Fu De (Blessedness and Morality 福德)" is to give and to make more

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friends. So I think we should give as much as we can and make friends if we can, not be commercialized. We can save as much as we can, but we spend more for our guests.

Mr. Toh: We can protect it well because the government believes in the people and the people believe in the government.

Interviewer: I see, thank you!

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Appendix D: Interview with Mr. Chin Fook Siang(甄福常) Date: 18/3/2023 Duration: Nearly four hours Location: Conference room of the MSFTC Interviewee: Businessman, Chairman of MSFTC Committee 采访者：之前杜先生有发给我你们 2014 年请过一个建筑师做重新规划的方案，这个方案 URA 的态度是什么呢？ 甄先生：有给过 URA，但他们有没有存档我们不知道。2017 年也有一位建筑师帮我们联 系 URA。 Interviewer: Mr. Toh has sent me a proposal that you hired an architect(Eugene Lin) to do a plan in 2014, what was the attitude of the URA on this proposal?

Mr. Chin: It was sent to URA, but we don't know if they have it on file. We also had an architect contact URA for us in 2017.

采访者：那 URA 那边的态度是？ 甄先生：URA 有跟我们谈过了，问我们这个地方已经有这么多年了，那两棵树也有这么 多年，可能他们有记录。后来，他们的部长傅海燕来见我们，她要知道这边大概的历史。 我们也跟目前的文化部长陈圣辉开过会，有很多间庙一起开会。他会帮我们申请，他希望 是保留，但是保留的情况要看保留局的意思，还不知道（结果）。他们跟我们讲说可能给 我们 30 年地契，我们是没有选择的啦。我们的需求是希望保留，他很慈祥地要帮我们。 Interviewer: What is the attitude of the URA at that time?

Mr. Chin: The URA has talked to us and asked us how many years this place has been here and how many years the two trees (in front of the temple) have been there, maybe they have records. Later on, the MCCY Minister Grace Fu(傅海燕) came to see us and she wanted to know the general history of this place. We also had a meeting with the current Minister of MCCY, Alvin Tan(陈圣辉), and there were many temples meeting together. He will apply for us, and he hopes that this temple will be conserved, but the conservation will depend on the URA, and we don't know (the outcome) yet. They told us that they might give us a 30-year lease, but we had no choice. Our demand is to conserve it, and he(Alvin Tan) is kind enough to help us. 采访者：上次一起开会的时候有其他的庙？ 甄先生：有些庙是 30 年已经到期，他们就想问为什么 30 年到期，政府不给他们 renew， 他们害怕要把他们赶走。那天开会讲是保留 30 年，但如果政府用地，就得搬走。我们这 种不同，因为我们这种有一百多年的历史，所以可以保留最好，不能保留就 30 年地契也

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好。我们这个庙特殊的是新加坡唯一广府庙，拆了搬去别的地方就没有意思，因为这个是 加冷地带的地标。以前有很多在这住的老人也会回来，也会跟他们的孙子讲这个庙有很多 年的历史。一个百多年的地标保留，外国人来看也会有意义。 Interviewer: There were other temples at the meeting?

Mr.Chin: Some of the temples were on 30-year leases that had expired and they wanted to ask why the government would not give them renewal and they were afraid that they would have to be evicted. The meeting that day said the government would give them another 30-years lease, but if the government needs to use the land, they have to move.

Our case is different because we have a history of more than 100 years, so it is best to conserve it, but if not, it is ok to have a 30-year land lease. Our temple is the only cantonese temple in Singapore and it would be meaningless to demolish it and move it elsewhere because it is a landmark in the Kallang area. Many elderly people who used to live here would come back and tell their grandchildren about the history of this temple.

It would be meaningful to keep a landmark that is over 100 years old and for foreigners to come and see it as well. 采访者：去年这个庙有装修或翻新？ 甄先生：是装修，没有翻新。因为过年嘛，外墙重新刷漆。因为有五、六年没有油漆，又 是华人新年嘛，就重新刷了一下。 Interviewer: Was the temple renovated or refurbished last year?

Mr. Chin: It was renovated, but not refurbished. Because of the Chinese New Year, we repainted the outside walls. It hadn't been painted for five or six years. 采访者：今天来看到庙外面的财神像也没有了？火龙节那天还在。 甄先生：（以为采访者说的是庙内的阴财神像）那个很久了，很久以前是用纸扎的，每三 年就要烧掉，重新做一个。到了我们管理的时候，好像是 2013 或 2014 年的时候，我们 去中国用树刻了一个阴财神像。 Interviewer: The statue of the Wealth Deity(Cai Shen 财神) outside the temple was gone?

It was still there on the day of the Fire Dragon Dance.

Mr. Chin: (Thinking the interviewer was talking about the statue of the Yin Wealth Deity inside the temple.) It's still there and has been there for a long time. A long time ago, it was made of paper, and every three years it had to be burnt and redone. By the time we managed the temple, I think it was 2013 or 2014, we went to China and carved a Yin Wealth Deity statue out of wood. 采访者：您是指屋里的阴财神像？不好意思，我没表达清楚，我想说的是屋外很高的塑像。 甄先生：哦，那个不同，那个是过年时候用的。每一年过年我们都做一个财神给大家看看， 还有很多灯，过年热闹嘛。

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Interviewer: Do you mean the statue of the Yin Wealth Deity inside the temple? Sorry, I didn't express myself clearly, I wanted to say the very tall statue outside the temple.

Mr.Chin: Oh, that's different, that's for the Chinese New Year. Every year we make a Wealth Deity for everyone who passes by to see, and there are lots of lights as well. To make Chinese New Year lively. 采访者：是你们自己出资做的？ 甄先生：对，好像很多路和巴刹也有财神。 采访者： 对，我有见到，以为是有统一赞助商之类的。 甄先生：不是，那个不是永久的，是过年的装饰。 Interviewer: Did you fund the statue yourselves?

Mr.Chin: Yes, there seems to be Wealth Deity statues on a lot of roads and Pasars too.

Interviewer: Yes, I've seen them and thought they had a unified sponsor or something.

Mr.Chin: No, that's not permanent, it's a decoration for the Chinese New Year. 采访者：2022 年好像也有一位建筑师来做过设计方案？ 甄先生：那个方案是没有申请什么的。就是叫他来看看，我们从土地局申请一份土地的记 录，因为我们有收取旧的地契，旧地契还存在，我们就要证明一下这个土地是不是还是我 们的。因为我们小时候到二零一几年的时候，都不知道这个土地是谁的。后来，我们拿到 地契，是很巧妙的，那个地契很久都没有人见过，就像垃圾一样丢在一个银行的保险箱里， 很久都没有人去看过。那个银行我们就开来看，很多东西，因为它的保险箱很深，我们看 到里面有东西，就拿出来看，原来是我们这块地的地契，我后来印在 Heritage Room 里展 览的那两张。一张是 1900 年，一张是 1905 年。是两个人送出来土地给庙用。1900 年是 刘金榜送出了的，但我们这个庙很久之前就在这里了。1905 年是梅先生送出来的。我们 的庙以前是个祠堂，就是我们的父老有什么事情，就来这个庙里来讲话、调解。后来才慢 慢扩大一点。1905 年的时期就放大来这边了，原本是只有中间一间屋，后来才加上了两 耳。因为我们要发展学校嘛，学校是和庙一起的，在庙的一边，另一边是体育馆，给人家 玩武术的。为什么是武术嘞，因为要健强每个人的身体，以前也没有东西玩嘛，所以就来 这里玩玩国术、乒乓这些。我们的星洲沙冈体育馆，曾经拿过全东南亚的乒乓冠军，还蛮 有名嘞。 Interviewer: I remember there was an architect who did a design proposal for you in 2022?

Mr. Chin: That proposal is not aimed at applying for conservation. We asked him to come and have a look, and we applied for a record of the land from the SLA, because we had the old land lease, which still existed, and we had to prove whether the land was still ours.

We didn't know who owned this land when we were kids until the 2010s. Later on, we got the land lease, which was very coincident, and that land lease was not seen by anyone for a long time, it was just left in a safe in a bank like rubbish. That safe we opened and looked into, there were a lot of things. Because the safe is very deep, we saw something

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in there, we took it out and looked at it, and it turned out to be the land leases, the two that I later printed for exhibition in the Heritage Room. One was dated 1900 and one was dated 1905. Low Kim Pong(刘金榜) gave the land to our temple in 1900, but our temple had been here for a long time. In 1905, Boey Nam Lock(梅南乐) gave another land to our temple. Our temple used to be a Ci Tang(祠堂), where our ancestors would come to chat and mediate when matters came. In 1905, it was enlarged and moved to here, originally there was only one room in the middle, but later one room on either side was added. The school was located on one side of the temple and the gymnasium on the other side was for people to play martial arts. Why martial arts? Because we wanted to strengthen everyone's body and there was nothing to play with in the past, so they came here to play Chinese martial arts and table tennis. Our Sing Chau Sar Kang Gymnasium(星洲沙冈体 育会) was once the champion of table tennis in South East Asia and was quite famous. 采访者：现在还有乒乓队吗？ 甄先生：现在没有了，没有地方了。学校在 1970 或 80 年代停办了，小孩子来庙里读书 是不太花钱的，给 5 毛、一块这样。1930 或 1940 年代，陈嘉庚先生在新加坡发起教育， 我们庙也跟着去发扬这个教育给这边的子弟都有的上学。 Interviewer: Is there still a table tennis team?

Mr. Chin: No, there is no more space now. The school stopped operating in the 1970s or 80s and it didn't cost much for children to come to study, costing 50 cents or a dollar like that. In the 1930s or 1940s, when Mr. Tan Kah Kee initiated education in Singapore, our temple followed suit and gave all the children living here the opportunity to attend school. 采访者：老师都是义务的吗？ 甄先生：是义务的，老师是女生，校长是男生，叫伍 ze 南。停办的时候我还没有参加这 个庙，我在外面做生意。1969 年我创业，是自己一个人白手起家。我 1950 年代是在一个 船厂做工，外面的 supplier 都对我很好，因为他们卖 material 来工厂，我要收货，他们就 要给我钱请我喝咖啡，但我不要。我就说，等我出来创业的时候，你们要帮忙。他们讲没 有问题。所以我创业的时候是没有钱的，只有 50 元。1969 年 50 元是很值钱的，不过也 没有很多，那时候我租厂房一个月 100 元。我跟房东商量可不可以收回钱再付房租，他 （或她）同意了，说没问题。那时候我租的其实不是工厂，是养猪的猪寮。矮矮的一层楼， 我们要加建几层楼，没有工钱给工人，所以都是朋友帮忙来建的。每年福德祠做大戏的时 候我就回来，直到 1985 年我真正回来帮庙里做事情。很早之前这个庙没有屋子的人不可 以做庙里的会员。后来，没有年轻人帮忙，我们才可以介绍进来做会员。1960 年、1970 年我们回来是做自卫团、救火队，因为当时还有很多亚答屋嘛。自卫团是晚上在这里看天 亮的，巡逻的，怕人来防火抢劫偷东西、打搅女孩子。晚上四个男孩子轮流守夜，以前没 有警察来这边的。消防局也是我们这一班人，反正我们也要看更，有事就敲锣叫人来帮忙。

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有一班自卫团是比较新一点的，因为他们那班很少出来，因为他们很多人读书上学，很斯 文的男孩子。 Interviewer: Are the teachers all volunteers?

Mr. Chin: Yes, the teacher was a woman and the headmaster was a man called Wu Zenan.

When the school stopped operating, I was not here, I was running my business elsewhere.

In 1969, I started my own business, and I started from scratch. I was working in a shipyard as a laborer in the 1950s, and the suppliers were very nice to me because they sold material to the factory and I had to collect the goods, and they wanted to pay me to buy me coffee, but I refused. I said, "When I start my own business, can you help me?" They said there was no problem. So when I started my business I had no money, only 50 dollars, which was worth a lot in 1969, but not too much, I was renting a factory for 100 dollars a month. I discussed with the landlord whether I could get the money back and then pay the rent, and he (or she) agreed, saying it was no problem. What I rented at that time was not actually a factory, but a pigsty where pigs were raised. It was a one-storey building and we had to build a few more floors, but we didn't have money to pay the workers, so our friends helped us build it. I came back every year when the MSFTC on big days, until 1985 when I actually came back to help with the temple. A long time ago, this temple did not allow people without a house to be a member of the temple. Later, there were no young people helping them, so we were able to be introduced as members. In 1960 and 1970, we came back as a self-defense team and a fire-fighting team of the kampong, because there were still many Atap houses. The self-defense team was here to keep watch at night, to patrol the area, for fear that people would come to rob and steal and disturb the girls. The four boys took turns to keep watch at night, and no police used to come here. The fire-fighting team is also our defense team, since we have to keep watch anyway, so if something happens, we just bang a gong and call for help. There was a newer self-defense team, they rarely came out, because many of them went to school and were very gentle boys. 采访者：我刚才来的时候，看得外面在挖什么东西？ 甄先生：是在挖龙沟，前面旧的龙沟要塞上，要开路，上面有洋灰（水泥），现在外面有 搅大车。庙前面是草垛，再前面政府要开多两条的马路。发展商（丰隆）和申请开马路， 这边的地 1979 年归政府了，开路后我们的地就窄了。 Interviewer: When I came just now, I saw something was being dug outside?

Mr. Chin: It was digging the "dragon ditch (龙沟, ditch)", the old ditch in front of the temple was to be blocked, a road was to be extended, there was cement on it, and now there was a mixer truck outside. In front of the temple are haystacks, and in front of the haystacks the government wants to extend two more roads. The developer (Hong Leong Group) applied for the road to be extended, since the land was given to the government in 1979 and our land was narrowed after the road was extended.

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采访者：庙的地原先的范围是什么？ 甄先生：前面是到白色的水泥那边，旁边是到红砖，后面到集装箱那里，已经打了横在那 里了。因为政府可能是要我们后面放大 7 米，因为我们跟 URA 申请是 5 米，他们好像说 多给我们两米。后面是三角形的又不可能做什么用。前面的路已经有四条了，好像开路是 为了给住宅的车，但根本没有什么作为，旁边的路都不开（因为另一条有车站不能开）， 只开这一条更有问题。都是两条两条，前面开成三条三条，很危险的。我们跟他们讨论过， 听说政府（陆路交通局 LTA）已经 confirm 了，但他们还在研究。有一位义务的路的建筑 师，建议了一个方案是侧边开一条路绕过庙。 Interviewer: What was the original extent of the temple site?

Mr. Chin: The front is up to the white concrete side, the side is up to the red bricks, and the back is up to the container, where the line is already drawn. The government probably wanted us to enlarge the back by 7 meters, we applied to the URA for 5 meters, and they seemed to say they would give us 2 meters more. It's impossible to do anything with the triangular shape at the back. There are already four roads in front, and it seems that they are opened for residential cars, but it doesn't help at all. The roads next to them are not extended (because there is a station on the other side so the road can't be extended), so it is more problematic to extend only this one. It's all two roads and the front extends into three, which is dangerous. We have discussed this with them and we heard that the government (Land Transport Authority) has confirmed it but they (the developer) are still looking into it. A volunteer road architect suggested an option of opening a road on the left side to bypass the temple.

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采访者： 路口有另一座庙（芽笼济正宫城隍庙），和咱们这个庙的关系是怎样的？ 甄先生：他们那个庙是私人的，是一间赚钱的庙，和我们不同，我们是慈善的。别人的庙 不敢乱讲，他们有跟我们打交道，我们就跟他们打交道。他们原本是一座私人的楼，地契 也是私人的。大概是 21 世纪，他们就买来，从 Ang Mo Kio 那边搬过来。我们做慈善，他 们有时也会来捐一点，帮帮忙之类的。因为我们全部都是义务的，只有三个有工钱，总务 有 600 块车马费。我们基本都是退休没有做工的，都是自己出钱的。出国交流也是自费， 中国邀请我们去上海、北京、广州交流，机票吃住费都是自费。因为去外国交流要带会员 出去，我们也要补贴会员的钱，因为他们是做工的嘛，我们做生意的不同，我们自己可以 付得来的。所以土地公补贴他们飞机票和住宿费，其他吃饭的钱就没的补贴。如果对方有 公函请我们来，对方会负担宾馆住宿费。我们请别人来交流，也要包食宿。我们去过广州 白云观，西安，广州，上海，韩国，日本，马来西亚。马来西亚十三个州我们都走完了。 交流我们新加坡的庙怎么运营，活动是什么，他们也讲他们的活动是什么。也互相参加活 动。 Interviewer: There is another temple(Geylang Ji Zheng Gong Cheng Huang Miao) at the road junction, what is the relationship with our temple?

Mr. Chin: Their temple is a private one, a money-making temple, unlike us, we are a charity. We don't dare to talk about other people's temples, but they deal with us, and we deal with them. They were originally a private building, and the land lease was also private.

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It was probably in the 21st century that they bought the land and moved the temple from Ang Mo Kio. We do charity work and they sometimes come and donate a little bit, help out or something like that. Because we were all voluntary, only three of us got paid, and the general affairs staff got $600 for transport fees. We are basically all retired and not working, and we all pay for ourselves. We were invited by China to go to Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou to communicate, and we paid for our own airfare, food and accommodation. Because we have to take our members out on exchange trips to foreign countries, we also have to subsidize our members, because they are workers and we are in business, we can afford to pay for it ourselves. So the Earth Deity subsidizes their plane tickets and accommodation costs, but not meals. If the other temple has an official letter inviting us to come, they will pay for the hotel accommodation. If we invite someone else to come for an exchange, we will also pay for food and accommodation. We have been to Baiyun Guan( 白云观 ) in Beijing, Xi'an, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Korea, Japan and Malaysia. We have traveled to all thirteen states in Malaysia. We have exchanged how our temple in Singapore operates and what the activities are, and they also talk about what their activities are. We also participated in each other's activities. 采访者：附近的香火客都去哪边拜呢？ 甄先生：基本都有固定的香火客。不一定去哪边，也有别处来拜的，住在附近也有去别处 拜的。 Interviewer: Where do devotees in the area go to worship?

Mr. Chin: Basically, there are regular worshippers in every temple. They don't necessarily go anywhere. There are also those who come from elsewhere to worship, and those who live nearby go elsewhere to worship. 采访者：2021 年有一个四层楼的设计规划…… 甄先生：这只是一个计划，如果保留就起高楼，如果政府给我们保留，后面扩大 7 米，就 计划建楼。因为新加坡地方比较小，我们就想一个办法放骨灰。这样是一个原因，另一个 原因是清明、七月就很热闹了，我们也希望这个庙香火鼎盛。这个在计划中，但是前提是 庙要保留，如果不能再有三十年，做这个也没有意义。年轻人也没有接手，我们的年轻人 很多，他们舞龙舞狮的很多都是年轻的，但他们对庙没什么兴趣。第一个，他们要做工， 家里也要吃饭，孩子要上学，我们的庙又跟其他的庙不同，其他的庙很多人拜，很多支持 者，那些庙就可以赚很多钱。大日子他们来，我们就给他们车马费。本来我有个计划，每 一个理事里面，到委员，不算会员，有 40 个人，每一个人的家庭交一个孩子出来，跟老 爸走一个路线。这样年轻人就可以慢慢进来，但年轻人怕很多事情的，管理庙比较复杂的。 因为我们的庙一年才最多收取 50 万，我们支出的钱差不多 20 多万。我们现在请三位工 人，其实不算是工人啦。大日子 supplier 大概要二十多万，加上他们四个人的工钱七万， 加上一个月 2600 多的地租，一年差不多三万，等于一年支出三十万。所以如果一年收到

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五十万，就还有几十万赚，如果收不到，可能就赚几十千。所以，我们要平衡庙的收支。 收入主要靠香火客买金元宝、求签、香油钱。我们一年来的收入跟别的庙比很少，城隍庙 那边大日子一天的收入就三十万、四十万了。因为我们是老庙嘛，我们也没有找那种很有 钱的人来，香火客都是自己来的，有的捐一万块一次，他们舍得，因为他们做马票啦，那 个现款捐下去。收入不够政府不会帮你。不过庙不会亏损，收入少就会减少开支，香火少， 工人就少一人，他帮我们打扫卫生。屋里的文书一定是要保留的，文书很重要。总务是分 配工作的人，那里有损坏啦，哪里要补，要出钱。我们委员会，超过两千块的东西，我们 就要开会决定出不出。十六个理事肯定要在场，不在场的人就当作不通过，有三分之一的 人同意就 ok 了，因为来的人大概也就是三分之一。主席有否决权，不过我们不要用我们 的职权，因为这个职权感觉是有一种独裁的做法，感觉我们很大，我们要听取别人的意见。 如果这个事情急着去做，比如屋顶上面都要塌下来，他们找到人估计价钱，超过两千以上， 就打电话通知理事开紧急会议。这是特别紧急的会议，不然就是每月月尾开一次会，一年 开 12 次，就报告下个月做什么东西，用多少钱。像我们过年，刷漆和布置要用到十多千， 就要开会咯。我们就跟他们讨论这个价钱可不可以减少。开会说广东话，我们这边有福建 人、海南人，都会说广东话，因为我们广东庙，如果别的人听不懂，就用福建话或华语跟 他们解释。有别的庙唱衰我们的，说你们是广东人，讲别的话不好，应该要保持广东庙的 尊严。 Interviewer: There is a design plan for a four-storey building in 2021...

Mr.Chin: It's just a plan, if the government keeps our temple and expands it by 7 meters at the back, then we plan to build a building. Because Singapore has limited land, we are thinking of where to put the cremains. This is one reason, another reason is that if the columbarium is built, Qing Ming and the Seventh Month Festival we will be very busy and we want this temple to be full of incense. This is in the plan, but only if the temple is conserved, and there is no point in doing this if we can't have another 30 years land lease.

Young people have not taken over either. We have many young people, and many of them are young dragon and lion dancers, but they have little interest in the temple. Firstly, they have to work, their families have to eat, their children have to go to school, and our temple is different from other temples, where many people worship, many supporters, and those temples can make a lot of money. When they come on the big day, we pay their fare. Originally I had a plan that inside the committee, people(council) with positions, not including the ordinary members, would be 40 people, and each person's family would hand over a child to the temple committee and follow a route with their dad. This would allow young people to come in slowly, but young people are afraid of many things, and managing the temple is complicated. Because our temple only collects a maximum of 500,000 dollars a year, we spend almost 200,000 dollars or so. We are now employing three workers, which are not really workers actually. The big day supplier costs about $200,000, plus $70,000 for the three people, plus a monthly rent of over $2,600 for the land, which is almost $30,000 a year, which equates to an expenditure of $300,000 a

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year. So if we receive $500,000 a year, we will still have a few hundreds of thousands to earn, and if we don't, we may only earn a few hundred or thousand. So we have to balance the income and expenditure of the temple. The income mainly relies on the devotees buying Golden Yuanbao( 金元宝 ), asking for Qian( 求签 ) and incense oil money. Our annual income is very small compared to other temples, but the income of the Chenghuang Temple on a big day is $300,000 or $400,000. Some of the devotees donate $10,000 a time, and they are willing to do so because they business betting tickets and donate the cash to the temple. The government won't help you if you don't have enough income. But the temple will not lose money, if the income is low, the expenses will be reduced, and we will have one less worker, who helps us clean up. The paperwork in the temple must be kept, the paperwork is important. The general affair staff is the one who assigns the work, knowing there is damage there, where there is to be replaced, and money has to be paid. In our committee, we have to meet to decide whether to pay for anything over $2,000. The sixteen members of the committee must be present, and those who are not present will be considered as not approved. The President has the power of veto, but we should not use our authority because it feels like a dictatorial approach, it feels like we are big. We have to listen to other people's opinions. If the thing is urgent, for example, the roof is going to collapse, and they find someone estimated the price, over two thousand or more, they call the members for an emergency meeting. It's a particularly urgent meeting, otherwise it's a meeting at the end of the month, 12 times a year, just to report on what's being done next month and how much money is being used.

For example, if we need more than 10,000 dollars for painting and decorating for the Chinese New Year, we have a meeting. We discuss with them whether the price can be reduced. We speak Cantonese in our meetings. We have Hokkien and Hainanese people here who speak Cantonese because we are a Cantonese temple, so if other people don't understand, we explain to them in Hokkien or Mandarin. There are other temples who bad-mouth us, saying that you are Cantonese, it is not good to speak other languages and you should keep the dignity of the Cantonese temple. 甄先生：刚才讲到一个家庭出一个孩子出来，我有问我的孩子，有两三个都不可以，讲他 们生意比较忙，走不开，有一点时间休息而已。有一个是比较闲，他的工作是在船上的， 上去拿船的 order 下来，交给公司去处理，不用他办，他负责处理而已。 Mr.Chin：Just now we talked about one family giving a child out to join the committee. I have asked my children, there are two or three who can not, say their business is busy, can not go away, and have a little time to rest only. One of them is relatively free, his work is on the ship, going up to the ship and getting the ship's order, handed to the company to deal with, do not need himself to do it. 采访者：庙的条例和选举制度是怎样的呢？

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甄先生：我们每一年开会员大会都公布我们的条例，这个条例不是政府的，是我们庙的规 矩，由老人家那一辈传下来的，不过我们也有加有减啦，已经改到完整了。如果有人有意 见，他就写一个公函来，我们开会员大会来决定是否采用。条例里是说有新的会员进来一 个礼拜，他的名字和照片就放在黑板上，让我们的理事会员来看，这个人可不可以用，一 个礼拜后没有人反对，我们就把照片拿下来，给理事发通知，confirm 这个人入会了。我 们一年收会费 10 块，三年后才享受条例里的福利。他本人、他的妻子、他的父母四个人， 其中一个走了，我们庙有一个钱 140 块给他，不多。通知会员叫一辆巴士拉会员给他吊 丧。不够三年就没有这个福利，在享受福利之前，我们的大日子他不帮忙都可以，但他要 来庆祝，每一年有过年、土地诞、七月十五、老人敬老会这四个大日子，他最少来三次， 要签名，才可以享受这个福利，不然这个福利不给。还没有到三年，选举的时候，他有选 举权，没有被选举权。三年之后，他才有被选举权。我们两年一届，本来今年五六月要选， 可能我们要开个会说今年可能不会选，经过这三年的疫情，心理好像还没有完全复原，所 以我们今年可能开会看有没有人反对，这一班多做两年，到 2025 年再换届。我们选举时， 给会员发信，每人有一个选票，最多可以写 40 个人的名字上去，然后投到我们设置在庙 外面的选票箱。我们有一个截止日期，过了截止日期的选票就作废了。然后我们开选举会 唱票，再有一个人核对，票数最低的就是委员，然后再复选 16 个有职务的。一个职务一 个职务选，先选正职，副职由正职决定。比如投票选出了正主席，副主席就由正主席直接 指定，因为他要确保手下的人是配合他的。其他的职务也是一样，比如正交际、副交际。 为什么是 16 个人呢？因为这 16 个人（到委员）是要报进慈善机构登记给政府看。这 16 个人不可以有黑社会，不可以有赌博，不可以有政治相关的人，不可以有破产的人，曾经 破产现在没有的也可以。政府要求主席正的要有一个，副的有几个由庙里自己决定。财政 是最重要的，不过财政正的每届要更换，这是政府的条例要求的。政府的条例是社团注册 里面的条例。看这个行政顾问小组（主席肯定是要在里面的），权力是很大的，做重大决 策的，有特权去否决事情。行政小组基本是固定的，一选就是基本永久的。文书有中文文 书和英文文书。每个月有开会，财政报告要经过查账查看。监督权力也很大的，开会他基 本不讲话的，做的对他不说，不对他有否决权的。如果监督都不可以决定，就要到行政顾 问决定。我已经在主席这个位置做十多年了，整天都在找年轻人接班，就算是没有年轻的， 也要找个有威信的，不然你叫他坐这个位置，别人也会讲你为什么叫他来。而且要找个经 常来的，一年 12 次开会最少来 10 次，不然我们在做什么东西他都不知道。我是做总务出 身的，所有的事情都了解到了，主席是开会，总务是整年范围的，哪里有问题，神台、屋 顶有什么问题，他都要知道。 Interviewer: What are the temple's regulations and election system?

Mr. Chin: Every year we announce our rules and regulations in our member meeting. If anyone has any comments, they can write an official letter to us and we will decide whether to adopt it or not in the meeting. The regulations say that if a new member comes in for a week, his name and photo will be put on the board for our committee members to see if the person can be accepted or not, and if no one objects after a week, we will take 85

down the photo and send a notice to the committee members, confirming that this person has been admitted to the committee. We charge a membership fee of $10 a year and the benefits in the regulations are only available to members after three years of membership.

He himself, his wife, his parents, four of them, one of them passed away and our temple has a money of $140 for him, not much. We will call a bus to carry the members to the funeral. Before he could enjoy the benefit, he did not have to help on any of our big days, but he had to come to the celebration. Every year, there are four big days, the Chinese New Year, Earth Deity Feast Day, Seventh Month Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival Event for the Elderly, and he had to come at least three times and sign to prove his attendance before he could enjoy the benefit, otherwise the benefit would not be given. If he has not been a member for three years, he has the right to vote but can not be elected.

After three years, he will have the right to be elected. We have a two-year term, originally we were going to have an election this May or June, maybe we have to have a meeting to say that we might not have an election this year, after these three years of the epidemic, our psyche seems to have not fully recovered, so we might have a meeting this year to see if there are any objections, this team will do two more years and we will have a new term in 2025. For our election, we send out letters to our members and each of them has a ballot paper, on which they can write the names of up to 40 people and then drop them into the ballot box we have set up outside the temple. We have a deadline and any ballot papers after the deadline are invalidated. Then we have an election meeting where the votes are counted, and then one person checks the votes. The member with the lowest number of votes is the council, and then the 16 with positions will have a selection. The election is held one position at a time, with the main position being elected first and the deputy position being decided by the main position. For example, if the main chairman is voted in, the vice-chairman is appointed directly by the main chairman, because he wants to make sure that the people under him are cooperating with him. The same goes for other positions, such as the main diplomat and the deputy diplomat. Why are there 16 people? Because these 16 people are to be reported into the charity for registration to the government. These 16 people cannot have gangdom, cannot gambling, cannot have political related people, cannot have bankrupt people, and those who were bankrupt and are not now can be. The government requires that there must be a president and the number of vice-chairman can be decided by the temple. The finance staff is the most important, but it is a requirement of the government regulations that the main finance staff be replaced every term. This is required by government regulations. The government regulations are in the registration of societies. The executive advisory panel (the chairman must be on it) has a lot of power and makes important decisions and has the privilege to veto things. The executive panel is basically fixed and once elected it is basically permanent. There are Chinese and English documents. There are monthly meetings and the financial reports are subject to scrutiny. The power of the ombudsman is also very large, he basically does not speak at meetings, he does not say what is right, but he has

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the right to veto. If the ombudsman cannot decide, he has to go to the administrative advisor to decide. I have been in the position of chairman for more than ten years, looking for young people to take over. Even if there is no young person, find a person with prestige, otherwise you ask him to sit in this position, others will also say why you ask him to come.

And you have to find someone who comes regularly, at least 10 times a year for the 12 meetings, otherwise he won't know what we are doing. I come from a general affair staff background, and I know everything. The President hosts meetings, the general affair is responsible for whole year range affairs, knowing where there is a problem, such as what is wrong with the altar or the roof. 采访者：Facebook 上写 2021 年土地诞有福德祠青年团来帮忙，这个青年团是？ 甄先生：就是狮团，因为我们是发起人嘛，狮团也是有狮团的会员，他们的帐是单独的。 Interviewer: It is written on Facebook that there is a MSFTC Youth Group that came to help with the 2021 Earth Deity Feast Day, this youth group is?

Mr.Chin: It is the Lion Dance Troupe, because we are the initiator, and the Lion Dance Troupe also has members of themselves, and their accounts are separate. 采访者：媒体也是主动来的。 甄先生: 对，我们不邀请他们的，我们是比较低调的，因为叫他们来我们开销很大，我们 收入不是很高。2016 年我们 150 周年纪念火龙出巡，很多记者来，还有台湾的记者来， 我们跟他（或她）讲，改天来，那天很忙的照顾不来。因为我们当时招待外国人就有三四 百人，他们有宴会嘛，我们那个时候用了差不多五十多万，我们是亏本的，收入是二十多 万。不过我们有一个准备啦，因为请外国人要包宾馆，不过宾馆不会把房全给你，他们要 做生意，一个地方给我们二三十间房这样字。总共要两百多间房。我们纪念品也要花钱的， 我们是在上海定的茶壶，给我们印 logo。 Interviewer: The media also come on their own initiative.

Mr. Chin: Yes, we don't invite them, we are rather low-key, because we have a lot of expenses to ask them to come, our income is not very high. In 2016, our 150th anniversary fire dragon parade, many journalists came. A reporter from Taiwan came, we told him (or her), come another day, that day is very busy and we cannot take care of him (or her). At that time, we spent almost half a million dollars to entertain 300 to 400 foreigners, we had banquets and we lost money, with an income of over 200,000 dollars.

We have made preparations, because to invite foreigners, we had to hire a hotel, but the hotel would not give you all the rooms, they wanted to do business and gave us 20 to 30 rooms in one place. In total, we need more than 200 rooms. We also had to pay for souvenirs, we ordered teapots in Shanghai and had our logo printed. 采访者：我记得火龙路线也是跟原沙冈村有关的。

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甄先生：本来我们是想走到二十五巷，红绿灯那边，但是警察局不容许。我们就走里面一 个圈。差不多我们的沙冈村阿公那个地，到现在还在建 condo 那边。 Interviewer: I remember that the Fire Dragon route was also related to the former Sar Kong Kampong.

Mr. Chin: Originally we wanted to go to Geylang 25, the traffic light side, but the police station wouldn't allow it. So we went like a circle. It's almost like the land of Dabogong in Sar Kong Kampong, to the land that was under construction as a condo. 采访者：可以谈谈关于年轻人的问题吗？ 甄先生：狮团那边如果有年轻人对庙感兴趣，就拉他进委员会，看他适合哪方面的职务， 就把他往副总务、副财政或副主席培养，这三个职务都是能总体了解庙务的，都是可以培 养出主席的。第二，这个人要脾气好，不能是脾气暴躁的。我们现在有几个年轻人，不过 他们工作忙，我们不可以强迫他。我们年轻的时候也是这样啦，一个星期来一次，我做总 务的时候，也是全权交给副总务处理，每周汇报一次这样。 Interviewer: Can you talk about the issue of young people?

Mr.Chin: If there is a young person in the Lion Dance Troupe who is interested in the temple, we will pull him into the committee and see which position he is suitable for, and train him towards the Deputy General Affairs, Deputy Finance or Deputy Chairman, all three of which are positions that can give a general understanding of temple affairs and all of which can produce a Chairman. Secondly, the person should be good-tempered, not a grumpy one. We have a few young people now, but they are busy with work and we cannot force them. When I was the General Affairs staff, I also gave full authority to the Deputy General Affairs staff and reported once a week. 采访者：您刚才谈的是庙里接班的年轻人的问题，您怎样看待吸引年轻信众的问题？ 甄先生：有想过吸引附近年轻人，但很奇怪啦，和年轻人有一种尴尬，好像和我们不熟悉 一样。虽然每天都见面，打招呼之类的，他们有很多进委员会，不敢做决议这样，有些就 退出了。其实我们很高兴他们进来做会员。很多年轻人进进出出也有来拜神的，但讲到入 会，他们就摇头说不要。但一开始肯定会尴尬啦，我们出去别的庙像后港斗姆宫、三清宫 那边，我们一开始也不熟，多去就熟悉了。而且很多年轻人对道教也不是太了解。庙要吸 引年轻人，还要多点活动，多点娱乐的活动。比如给年轻人在这边唱唱歌，组织一帮打球 的人，或者有什么娱乐的东西给他们玩，可能他们就会多一点回来。按理来讲，我们已经 迟了十多年了。十多年前，我就想像慰老宴那样，做一个“家庭日”。我们的会员有功劳没 有功劳都好，每个人有十个座位，可以带家人来聚会。这边有 BBQ，bingang，喜欢吃什 么，自己去 bingang。小孩子会跟大人来，每年都会开办，所以每年都会来很开心。但我 们已经迟了，因为 2009 年说要搬，我们就没有做这件事。每个月见政府的人两三次，也 不是说见就见，要约时间去他们总 office 那边，一开会都是五六个钟头不定的，有时候开 到太晚。有时候他们讲的我们不接受，我们就讲出理由，拉来拉去，拉来拉去。因为我们 88

是必定要拿回这个地方，他们必定是要拿掉那块地。所以迟迟没有做这个家庭日，之后新 冠疫情又来了，我们就还是没有做这件事。今年我们也没有，可能明年做这个家庭日，因 为明年就恢复做戏了，要宴会了，要标东西了，我们才有经费，这样我们才敢做这个家庭 日。我们给会员那个位置，是不提供餐食的，就像一个 BBQ 一样，没有位置也可以坐在 草坪上。不过我们那个草坪可能也要没有了，这也是个头疼的问题。有草坪的话，我们可 以做那个 bingang 的车。这样一直办下去，小孩子长大，就会觉得很好玩，就会对我们这 边有印象，这样跟他们说参加做会员，他们就会答应的。这样我们出万多块就可以了，我 们慰劳宴也是万多块，拿那个钱做家庭日也是一样的。这样孩子也能放心他老爸在这边， 他自己老了也可以来这边。这不是一日之功，可能五年、十年才可以看到成效。我想很久 啦，他们都说要做。 Interviewer: You were talking about the problem of young people taking over the temple, how do you feel about attracting young devotees?

Mr. Chin: I have thought about attracting young people from the neighborhood, but it's very strange, there is an awkwardness with young people, as if they are not familiar with us. Although we meet and greet them every day, many of them join the committee and are afraid to make resolutions, so some of them drop out. We are actually very happy to have them as members. Many young people come in and out and come to worship, but when it comes to membership, they shake their heads and say no. But at first it was definitely awkward, we went out to other temples like Kew Ong Yah Temple and San Qing Gong, we were not familiar with them at first, but we became familiar with them after more visits. Also, many young people don't know much about Taoism. To attract young people to the temple, there should be more activities, more entertainment. For example, give the young people singing over here, organize a group of people to play ball, or have something entertaining for them to play with, and maybe they will come back a bit more.

Actually, we are more than ten years late. More than ten years ago, I wanted to do a "family day" like the Banquet for the Elderly. Our members, with or without credit, would have ten seats each and could bring their families to the party. We have BBQ and you can bring your own food, and the kids will come with the adults, so it's fun to come every year. But we are late because we didn't do this in 2009 when it said we were going to move. We meet with the government two or three times a month, and we don't just meet, we have to make an appointment to go to their main office. A meeting is five or six hours long. Sometimes we don't accept what they say, so we give our reasons. Because we were bound to get the place back and they were bound to take the land away. So there was a delay in doing this family day, and then the Covid-19 came and we still didn't do this. We didn't do it this year either. Maybe next year we will do this family day because next year we will resume doing opera, we will have a banquet, we will have to bid for things, and only then we will have the funds so that we dare to do this family day. We are giving members that spot, which is without a meal, just like a BBQ, and you can sit on the lawn even if you don't have a spot. But we're probably losing that lawn as well, and that's

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a headache. With a lawn, we could do that food car. Keep running it(the family day) like that, and the kids will grow up, they'll think it's fun, they'll be impressed with our temple, so they'll say yes to joining as a member when we tell them. This way we pay over 10,000 dollars and our banquet for elderly is also over 10,000 dollars. Taking that money for the family day is ok. That way the kid can also be assured that his dad is over here and he can come over here himself when he's old. It won't take a day, maybe five or ten years to see the results. I've been thinking about it for a long time and they've all said they want to do it. 采访者：其实就是恢复社区中心的功能。 甄先生：对，我的会员有提议过，拿中秋节做家庭日。我讲中秋节这是个吉日，拿中秋节 去做浪费了，中秋节就给小孩子拿灯笼、吃饼。我们这个家庭日另外选一个日期，在戏班 和标东西过后一两个礼拜的周六去做这个家庭日。每个会员都会收到一个公函，自己去吃， 自己去玩。他们想唱歌就做个卡拉 ok 给他们唱咯，热热闹闹的。基督教就是利用这种活 动，小孩子吹球比赛，什么比赛的，小孩子都很高兴的。他们还有开班的，开夜班，我也 想到这个问题了，开补习班给小学、中学的，高中就不用了。我们开班不用收费，但我们 地方不够。晚上七点来，老师是免费的，只拿那个车马费而已。我们就利用这个补习班给 小孩子补习，是很好的，小孩子长大之后就会回来拜拜之类的。我们跟 RNC 有联络，但 我们没有位置，政府说可以到他们楼下去补习，但我们是想让他们来这边嘛，记住这个地 方。如果可以保留，我们在考虑扩建。最低扩建一个二楼，这样文物室和会议室都能搬上 去，楼下就可以办补习班。我们也有助学金，给低收入的家庭的孩子，给他们帮忙。由 RNC 找附近哪一家有困难，每年一次，15 个小学，15 个中学。小学给 150 块，中学 200 块。这两样东西做好了之后，年轻人会更多。 Interviewer: It's really about bringing back the community center.

Mr.Chin: Yes, my members have proposed to take the Mid-Autumn Festival as a family day. I said that the Mid-Autumn Festival is an auspicious day, it would be a waste to take the Mid-Autumn Festival to be a family day and just take lanterns and eat mooncakes for the children. We choose a separate date for this family day and do it on the Saturday a week or two after the opera performance and the bidding. Each member receives an official letter to go and eat and play on their own. If they want to sing, we make karaoke for them, and it's a lively event. Christianity uses this kind of activity, children's blowball tournaments and other competitions, and the children are very happy. They also have classes, night classes, and I thought of that, too, offering tutorial classes for primary and secondary schools, but not for high schools. We don't have to charge for running classes, but we don't have enough space. The teacher comes at 7pm and it's free, he or she just gets that transport fare. We use the classes to give tuition to the children, which is very good, and the children will come back when they grow up and worship or something like that. We have contact with the RNC, but we don't have a place. The government said we could go to their building for tuition, but we want the children to come here and remember 90

this place. If we can keep the temple, we're thinking of extending it. At least a second floor extension so that the heritage room and meeting room can be moved up and tutorials can be run downstairs. We also have bursaries for children from low income families to give them a helping hand. The RNC finds out which family in the neighborhood is in trouble and once a year, 15 primary school students and 15 secondary school students. The primary school students are given $150 and the secondary school $200. When these two things are done well, there will be more young people. 采访者：除此之外，还做了哪些事情呢？ 甄先生：有给老人家分干粮吃，分红包每人 12 块，是一种慈善的做法。我们大概做 500 个老人家，分地方的，比如牛车水多少个老人家，这边多少个老人家这样。我们派车接他 们，有散散的几个在别的地区，他们都会来登记。登记好了，到那天他们带着登记表，就 来这边吃下午餐。一年一次，我们也做不多。因为我们这边很多的有钱人不会来捐钱，很 奇怪的。我们每次做都是自己出钱的。别的地方不是嘞，有的地方分红包一个老人百多块 的，还有公司出钱的。有人跟我们讲，有些老人很有钱的，戴金链，还有工人陪着，我讲， 我们是敬老，敬老这两个字不管有没有钱的。 Interviewer: Apart from that, what other things have been done?

Mr. Chin: We give food to the elderly and distribute 12 dollars each as a charity. We do about 500 elderly people, divided into localities, such as how many elderly people in Chinatown, how many elderly people here. We send a bus to pick them up and there are a few scattered ones in other areas, and they all come and register. Once they are registered, they bring their registration forms on the day and come here for lunch. Once a year, we don't do much. It's strange because a lot of the rich people in our area don't come and donate money. We always pay for it ourselves every time we do it. In other places it's not like that, there are places that give out red packets of more than 100 dollars to an elderly person, and there are companies that pay for it. Some people tell us that some of the old people are very rich, wearing gold chains and accompanied by workers, but I say that we are respecting the elderly, and the word "respecting the elderly" does not matter whether they have money or not. 采访者：怎样让老年人知道有这个活动？ 甄先生：他们知道每年都有这个活动的，我们也会做一个布条贴在外面宣传这个活动。本 来我想土地诞那天做这个，那天人多嘛，不过那天我们都没有空。 甄先生：有计划礼拜一、礼拜四义务给老人家看病，看病收一块两块不要紧。我们有跟大 众医院、广肇医院商量过，可不可以派医生来看小病。我们外面的空地可以派椅子和帐篷， 晚上六点到十点应该 ok。医院那边说医生是免费的，但我们还是要给点车马费。不过没 有三十年的地契，我们也做不到这些。政府再给我们三十年，我们就要买回地契，差不多 需要一百八十万，还不算这个建筑。如果政府批准保留就好，算是变成国家的文物，国家

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就会补贴我们二百万。一百万是给庙重修的，一百万是设计的，地价就不用给，我们就可 以剩一百多万下来。 Interviewer: How do you let seniors know about this event?

Mr. Chin: They know that this event is held every year and we also make a banner and put it outside to promote the event. Originally I wanted to do this on the Land Earth Feast Day as there were a lot of people there, but we weren't available on that day.

Mr. Chin: There are plans to hire doctors to see the elderly on Mondays and Thursdays, and it doesn't matter if we charge a dollar or two. We have discussed with the Public Free Clinic and Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital about the possibility of sending doctors to see minor illnesses. The hospital said the doctors would be free, but we would still have to pay for the transport. But we can't do that without 30 years of land leases. If the government gives us another thirty years, we'll have to buy back the lease, which will cost us almost a million and eighty thousand dollars, not counting this building. If the government approves the preservation just fine, sort of turning it into a national monument, the government will subsidize us with two million. One million would be for the restoration of the temple, one million for the design, and the land lease fee would not have to be paid, so we would have a million or so left over. （看到戏班照片。） 甄先生：戏班是在香港或马来西亚请的，广东戏班，这十多年我们都是从香港请的。我们 有请过中国珠海的戏班，是那个名角红线女的徒弟来这边演，蛮贵的。因为他们来这边的 费用都是我们来付嘛。 (See photos of the Cantonese Opera Troupe.)

Mr.Chin: The troupe was hired from Hong Kong or Malaysia. The Cantonese Opera troupe, we have hired from Hong Kong for more than 10 years. We have hired a troupe from Zhuhai, China, which is the disciple of the famous actress "Hong Xian Nv (红线女)".

It's quite expensive because we pay for them to come here. （出门看到集装箱。） 甄先生：里面是火龙和香烛，因为很容易着火，所以我们锁在里面。 (Go out and see the container.)

Mr.Chin: Inside are fire dragon and candles, because they are easy to catch fire, so we locked inside. （走到了屋前面，看到门前两棵树。） 甄先生：这两棵树是青龙树，和庙差不多年纪，广东庙建庙种树。现在新加坡很少这种树 了，政府想让我们培育一些，但新加坡没有土地来种这个树，有土地就可以拿去借种，种 个十年八年埋回来。除非去马来西亚种，再运回来。这种树很古老的。 采访者：明白了，谢谢甄先生。 92

(Walked to the front of the temple and saw two trees in front of it.)

Mr.Chin: These two trees are Angsana, about the same age as the temple, the Cantonese temple was built and at the same time plant trees. There are very few of these trees in Singapore now, and the government wants us to cultivate some, but there is no land in Singapore to plant this tree, and if there is land, we can borrow the seeds and plant it for ten or eight years and bury it back. Unless we go to Malaysia to plant it and ship it back.

This tree is very old.

Interviewer: I see, thank you Mr. Chin.

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Chong Guan Kwa, Bak Lim Kua. "A General History of the Chinese in Singapore", World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt, 2019

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Hong Yin Chan. "A Preliminary Study of the Social History of the Cantonese Chinese Community in Singapore", Translocal Chinese: East Asian Perspectives, 2022

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Guan Thye Hue. "Chinese Temples and Transnational Networks: Hokkien Communities in Singapore", Cultural Diversity in China, 2017

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Guan Thye Hue, Yidan Wang, Kenneth Dean, Ruo Lin et al. "A Study of United Temple in Singapore—Analysis of Union from the Perspective of Sub-Temple", Religions, 2022

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"Buddhist and Islamic Orders in Southern Asia", Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2019

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Yingwei Yan, Kenneth Dean, Chen-Chieh Feng, Guan Thye Hue et al. "Chinese Temple Networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the Collaborative Study of the Chinese Diaspora in Southeast Asia", Religions, 2020

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