Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi

This guide to the Leong San Tong Khoo Kongsi in Penang Island follows the Khoo clan, traders from a village in southern China who by 1894 decided their ancestors deserved a grander home. It describes how they shipped in master craftsmen from Fujian and spent years carving timber beams and glazing roof ridges, raising a hall so ornate that neighbors began comparing it to an emperor's palace. You'll hear why that comparison mattered in old Chinese belief, and what the clan was doing on the eve of Chinese New Year, 1901, when everything changed. Look up at the roof ridge and count how many dragons and phoenixes you can find in the painted porcelain.