世德堂謝公司 Cheah Kongsi Temple — Attraction in George Town

One the oldest historical museum in Penang island. Love the old architecture of the building. Take you time to explore this place. They do a good job to maintain this historical place

Article :

Established in 1810, CHEAH KONGSI is one of the oldest Hokkien clan associations in George Town, Penang. Its members have their ancestral origins from Sek Tong Seah in the Sam Tor District of the Hai Teng County at Cheang Chew Prefecture, Fujian Province, China.

The first person to carry the Cheah surname was SIN PEK and the 36th generation descendent was XIE AUN (320-385A.D.), who was the premier of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. He was also known as GUANG HUI SHENG WANG. During the Tang Dynasty, two generals known as Teoh Soon and Khaw Wan from the Sek Tong Seah sacrificed their lives to defend Hwa Yang gate to stop the rebel invasion. The Tang emperor posthumously bestowed them the honorific title “Hock Haw” which means prosperous marquis. The Cheah clans worship HOCK HAW KONG as their patron deity.

Cheah Beng Him also known as Cheah Tong San who was the progenitor moved to Sek Tong Seah during the 13th century. He had two sons named Toh Beng and Toh Kee. Members of the present Cheah Kongsi are descendants of Toh Beng and Toh Kee.

The Cheah clan’s emblem is “Bao Shu” (or “Precious Tree” in english). Formerly known as Cheah Si Hock Haw Kong Kongsi, it was registered as SEH TEK TONG CHEAH KONGSI on 1st April 2011.

This eclectic building where the ancestral building stands today was built in 1858 and completed in 1873. The beautiful clan temple, featuring Straits and post independence architecture, is built on a 1,500sq meter ground acquired in 1828, accessible via an archway from Lebuh Armenian and a new main entrance from Lebuh Pantai now. The temple’s main prayer hall houses three altars located at the upper floor— Tua Pek Kong, Tai Sai Yeah(left) and their patron deities Hock Haw Kong(right) and Beng Him Kong tablets(centre)

Credit article by CHEAH...

No parking allowed for visitors and staffs are rude and unwelcoming.

Visited there on a Friday afternoon about 1.30am where the gate was wide opened. The area was extremely congested and hard to find any parking space, we drove our car in and a guard said no parking here while we clearly saw many cars were parked inside, then again we made a few attempts to find parking outside. Eventually we found a parking and walked in, and the guard said "It's not opened! Closed!" in a very rude manner, yet we saw many visitors walking around and even inside the building, honestly we don't understand why. If it's not opened, why they left the gate wide opened without any sign, if there's no parking, why we saw many cars were parked inside with a few empty slots, if it's closed, why we saw many visitors walking around... It made us so confused and disappointed.

The only thing good about it was the architecture of the building from what we could saw from outside.

Strange enough there're many banners of "Visit Truly Asia Malaysia 2020" displayed all over the fence, and shame enough they did not seem welcoming at all.. I hope this is not the culture of Malaysia they're promoting...

It's not free to get in here, by memory it's RM10 per person, so don't be a stinge and pay this place a visit anyway, because it's super nice inside. It is also a place to escape the hustle and bustle of Georgetown, it is an oasis.

The temple, like most temples in the area is quaint and pretty, and the garden outside is a good place to sit down a while if it's not too hot. But you're in Penang so unfortunately it's always hot. There's a chamber which overlooks the garden and a string of table with mahjong pieces. If you know the rules, you probably can spend all day playing here and lose all your disposable income.

You can just make fun of the tourists outside who are too stingey to pay to come in but still want to take a good photo of the temple with their expensive DSLR cameras from the fence. HAH. Losers.

But then the groundskeeper uncle was probably also making fun of me because I can't speak any of the Chinese dialects he tried on me, because I look like I'm supposed to speak Chinese. Next time I'm just going to pretend I'm deaf and wave my arms in mock...