Other Distinguished Sangha

There was already a thriving community with Chinese gambier plantations on Singapore island before raffles landed on it. Thereafter, British attracted Chinese immigrants, majority from southern China. These belong to different dialect groups and they set up their own associations and syncretic temples.

Generally, they practiced a mix of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. Most of these early temples were found around Chinatown. Many started as 'joss houses' which were attap huts and later rebuilt into bigger brick temples.

The earliest record of a Buddhist monk was found in a 1836 wooden tablet in Hand Sun Teng, built in 1828. In the 19th century, there were also resident monks in the syncretic temple for chanting and performing rites. In the early 20th century, several prominent Buddhist monks from China started to visit Singapore.