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NOTES AND QUERIES
of a new building for Queen's College. In January 1877, the Government advertised for sale at public auction the "materials, bricks, stones, tiles, doors, windows, joists, floors, etc. of buildings on Inland Lots 55, 93, 91 and 91A—known as Rangel's Estate”. Among the properties was "the Joss House, No. 10 Shing Wong Street". Soon after, the wreckers moved in and the temple was no more. So passed what was presumably the first community project of the Chinese population of urban Hong Kong.
It is difficult to establish the exact date for the erection of the Temple from records now available. It is possible that a notice in The Chinese Repository, October 1843, (Vol. XII, p. 549) may refer to the Shing Wong Temple. "A new Chinese temple is about to be undertaken [in Hong Kong]. Handbills and placards are out, for the purpose of raising money for the erection of the building".
The references to Chinese temples in the Hong Kong Blue Books are confusing and difficult to interpret. In 1844 under the heading of Ecclesiastical Establishments there is listed:
Buddhist in Victoria, W.D. [Western District]
Buddhist in Chekchoo [now Stanley]
Buddhist in Shekpaiwan [Aberdeen Harbour]
Buddhist in Sookumpoo
Established in 1842 Chinese
In 1845 it is stated that "There are 17 Chinese Temples in the colony, dedicated with few exceptions to 'Tee-how-mong-mong' (the Queen of Heaven)". In 1846 and 1847 it is stated that there are three small Chinese temples in Victoria, and in 1847 it is noted that there is "a small one in each village".
Under the Blue Book schedule of Chinese buildings a Chinese Town Hall is listed in 1845 and 1846. In 1847 two Town Halls are enumerated, with the addition of one Joss House. Was the Shing Wong building listed as a Town Hall? A statement made in a Chinese document entitled "Information as to the period of the formation of Districts in Hongkong and the alteration of the Character Wan-a bay-to Wan—a circuit” translated and published in The China Review, Vol. I, p. 133 (1872-1873) suggests that the Town Halls were Temples.
This article also provides a date for the construction of the Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road:
In 1843 one Sz-man-king opened a place for gambling. . Two years later, traders began to come, and two years after that