Shing Wong Temple [c.1844-1877]
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The land on which the Shing Wong Temple was built was included within Inland Lot 91. The lot was sold by Government at a public land auction in 1852. It was bought by Floriano Antonio Rangel, a Portugese bookkeeper in the employ of Jardine Matheson and Company. Rangel owned the entire block bounded by Hollywood Road to the north, Staunton Street to the south, Aberdeen Street to the east, and what became known as Wong Shing Street to the west. In the interior of the block he erected some fifty inexpensive Chinese houses. The complex was variously called Rangel's Row, Rangel's Alley, or Kow Kong Lane. Surrounded by these humble Chinese dwellings stood the Shing Wong Temple. It was somewhat more pretentious than the Tai Wong Kung Temple on Queen's Road East. In the 1865 Rates Schedule, the latter is valued at $120. The Shing Wong Temple's assessed value was $240. But it was considerably less impressive in size and value than the nearby Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road which was assessed at $1,320. By 1876, however, the relative assessed value of the three temples had changed. The Queen's Road East temple property was rated at $144, a $24 increase over the 1865 value. The Man Mo Temple was rated at $20 less than its 1865 assessment. The Shing Wong Temple was rated at double its value in 1865. This suggests that sometime between 1865 and 1876 a major renovation of the Temple had been made.
In January 1877, the Government advertised for sale at public auction the "materials, bricks, stones, tiles, doors, windows, joists, floors, etc. of buildings on Inland Lots 55, 93, 91 and 91 A.—known as Rangel's Estate". Among the properties was "the Joss House, No. 10 Shing Wong Street". Soon after, the wreckers moved in and the temple was no more. So passed what was presumably the first community project of the Chinese population of urban Hong Kong.
Source: Notes on Chinese Temples in Hong Kong. Carl T Smith RASHK Vol 13 1973 p133 - 134.
More on the history of the site called Rangel's Labyrinth here
