To all my well wishers, thank you for your good wishes for my birthday.
I did not go anywhere the entire day yesterday during my birthday (March 20) as it was a working day for everyone. I only went out with my wife in the evening to a small corner restaurant called TK seafood corner 20 metres from a Chinese temple called Feng Shan Si in Kg Lee Kong Chian opposite Jalan Gombak Maybank for a simple dinner with her.
On my arrival there, they 'welcomed me' with fantastic loud noises over loudspeakers as the temple will be celebrating the birthday of one of their ancient sages called Sing Ong Kong tomorrow. I was told by people from the temple Sing Ong Kong was a doctor, and according to my Hokkien engineer friend here in Kuala Lumpur, Sing Ong Kong means 'New King Grandfather'.
However according to my Mandarin translation from Hokkien, Sing Ong Kong (聖王公) means "Sacred King Grandfather" (聖王公), a title often given to revered historical figures, deified generals, or sages who have been venerated for their wisdom, leadership, or divine protection.
Whatever the name or the meaning, yesterday (20 March) itself they were already celebrating the eve of his birthday (not mine) with a lot of very loud temple "music" on the stage above this TK seafood corner.
Later, towards the end of my dinner those fantastically loud noises abated, and was replaced by Hokkien opera music that was far more pleasant to listen. There were 3 video clips I took of the Chinese Hokkien opera (which is very rare to see nowadays) on the eve of Sing Ong Kong birthday whom the temple will be celebrating tomorrow (21 March). They have already sheltered up the area in case it rains as there are putting a few hundred tables there.
I understand from the restaurant they will closed tomorrow as the temple needed space to place hundred tables outside their compound to celebrate Sing Ong Kong's birthday, and the dinner caterers will be outside KL - all the way from Kuala Selangor - must be very good food in Kuala Selangor (not TK seafood restaurant).
They asked me to come tomorrow to watch the temple celebration of Sing Ong Kong's birthday. But those people 'welcomed' my birthday last night with horribly loud noises on my arrival. I remember in the late 1950's when I was still in school the Chinese temple behind my house in Batu Pahat around April each year also celebrated one of their temple fairs with Chinese opera for several days along the streets which was very crowded with all kinds of hawkers selling food and drinks. There, days earlier, people would bring their chairs and wooden boxes as reserved 'seats' to watch the Hokkien Chinese opera. But I am unsure if it was also for Sing Ong Kong's birthday?
Enjoy the 2 minutes video clip on Hokkien opera I took on my birthday (20 March) last night. I think we need to cherish ancient Chinese cultures. Maybe tomorrow the opera will be in full swing with thousands of people there
On Monday, 14 May 2012 I was in Batu Pahat for a number of days when our present King of Malaysia, then Sultan Ibrahim of Johor in his annual royal kembara motorcycle tour program around Johore visited Lim Sz Chong Su Tian Hou Buddhist Temple is also known as the 'Ma Zor Keng' which was founded by his great, great grandfather Sultan Sir Abu Bakar (3 February 1833 – 4 June 1895) who was the first modern Sultan of Johore
Lim Sz Chong Su Tian Hou Buddhist Temple was founded in 1912 by Sultan Sir Abu Bakar who encouraged the construction of Chinese temples and burial grounds by providing land, leading to the establishment of numerous temples, some dating back over a century, like the Chong Long Gong Temple founded in 1864.
The current King of Malaysia - then Sultan Ibrahim in 2012 visited this Ma Zor Keng Chinese temple built by his great, great grandfather in 1812 (Sultan Ibrahim, is the great-great-grandson of Sultan Sir Abu Bakar).
He spent about 25 minutes inside Lim Sz Chong Su temple (Ma Zor Keng). I was there around 7 am and the crowd were mainly Chinese who took turns to shake hands with Sultan Ibrahim. I too shook his hands twice without him realizing this in the huge crowd.
It was this temple around March or April (I can't remember) they had this yearly temple fair lasting about a week where this Chinese opera was performed - directly opposite the temple in Jalan Fatima (corner with Jalan Mohd Salleh) in Batu Pahat - where the adjacent current Silver Inn hotel is now situated.
During that temple festival, Jalan Fatimah was choked with people and chairs, crates, wooden boxes those crowd (including me) brought there into the road as "reserved seats" with their names written on them, and placed them on the road (Jalan Fatima) day and night for days for them to sit all day till night watching the Hokkien opera. The road was completely blocked with all those boxes, wooden crates as chairs. During the temple fair they will burn joss sticks, paper money, etc around the area, with hundreds of hawkers selling all kinds of food along Jalan Fatimah into Jalan Rahmat where my father's Cold Storage shop was. It was fun - at least for me as a small boy.
Some years I met a foreign tourist in Kota Tinggi, Johore who was on his way to Singapore. I told him about a temple fair that was going on in Batu Pahat. I asked him to follow me to Batu Pahat instead of going to Singapore. We both took a bus to Batu Pahat and brought him to a hotel to stay for the night. That night was was so fascinated with the Chinese opera that he must have taken hundreds if not thousands of photos of the opera and stayed well past midnight till the end of the show.
Those days the Chinese music for the opera was played by musicians at the back of the stage (unlike now, they use recorded music). I used to climb behind the stage to see the musicians play their traditional musical instruments and the Chinese opera actors and actresses painting their faces with very heavy makeup.
A few years ago I went back to Batu Pahat, and I was surprised the temple fair and the Chinese Hokkien opera was still held, but this time, there was hardly any more audience, only myself and just 2 or 3 more were watching in the morning, but I am unsure in the late evenings and at night. There was also completely no street hawker anymore, except just one usual morning one selling fried kway teow (stir-fried rice noodles) very cheaply in the lane behind who is always there in the morning whether or not there was any temple festival or Chinese opera
There are actually many kinds of Chinese operas according to the province and dialects of the Chinese people, and I shall write about their differences and cultural history separately later.
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