Han Jiang Ancestral Temple

This guide to the Han Jiang Ancestral Temple in Penang Island opens in 1855, when six penniless Teochew migrants pooled their money for a single lodging room on Beach Street, the seed of the courtyard temple that rose on this Chulia Street plot by 1870. It follows the temple through the altar raised to the Supreme Lord of the North Pole and the triple-door entrance built to guard a high-ranking god, then on to a later restoration effort by the migrants' descendants, who raised money at a single fund-raising dinner and flew in craftsmen from China to relay every tile by hand. Look closely at the outer gate, added around 1890 once the community had grown prosperous.