About this place

The Kwan Ti Temple is a Chinese Taoist temple located in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur.

It is locally also known as the Kwong Siew Association Building because it was started by Chinese immigrants from the Kwong Foo and Siew Foo villages in the Provinces of Guangdong in Southern China.

This Temple/Association was built in 1888 and is now nearly 126 years old. Since it’s inception, the building has both been used as a place of worship as well as a community centre where the people could seek comfort and support from fellow countrymen as they begin their life in Kuala Lumpur.

The Kwong Siew Association places a very high emphasis on education and has been organizing Chinese language classes since 1927 and the classes are open to the public (see banner advertisement in the last picture). Only a very nominal fee is levied on the classes.

Worship is always central to man and in this Taoist Temple is the deity, Kwan Ti, the Chinese God of Justice. Kwan Ti was a very famous general during the Han Dynasty and his courage and bravery in the defense of truth and righteousness made him a deity among the Chinese community.

An interesting feature of this Temple are the replicas of General Kwan Ti’s sword and long-blade sword (see 2nd picture)which was brought over from China by the early immigrants.