In this retelling, Lin Guniang is depicted as living in the early to mid-19th century, dressed in a changshan (长衫). It is this adaptation that currently serves as the primary reference for the goddess in online resources, such as Ronni Pinsler’s entry on his website, “The Book of Xianshen”, 10 and Jave Wu’s blog, “International LSM Taoist Cultural Collegium”. In 1998, the Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (now Mediacorp) produced and aired the series Myths and Legends of Singapore (石叻坡传说), with the first episode titled “Lady of the Hill” (红山林姑娘), starring Fann Wong as Lin Guniang. The most widespread version of the goddess’s tale, however, comes from television. Supposedly, he went mad and killed himself by driving a nail into his own head. The caretaker also reveals the fate of Tan, the neighbour whose gossip caused her death. As the story goes, she helps anybody except those with the surname of Tan”. Soon a shrine was erected for her in the Henderson Road area. She committed suicide to prove her chastity and her spirit kept returning to help needy neighbours. A neighbour by the surname of Tan tried to seduce her, but she spurned him. She “lived around the turn of the century and was married to a sailor who was frequently at sea. Here, you will find the faithful paying their respects to dozens of Taoist and Mahayana Buddhist divinities: the bodhisattva Guanyin (Goddess of Mercy 观音), the god of war Guan Gong (关公), the monkey king Sun Wukong (孙悟空), the medicine deity Baosheng Dadi (保生大帝), the god of grains Wugu Dadi (五谷大帝), and the tiger spirit Huye (虎爷), to name a few.Ĭaretaker Huang Yahong (黄亚宏) of Zhen Long Gong. 7 Remove your shoes and ascend the steps to the main hall, still gleaming from its 2022 renovations. Hidden in the neighbourhood of Bukit Merah, between Gan Eng Seng Primary School and a forest of condemned seven-storey SIT (Singapore Improvement Trust) flats, you will find the dragon arch of Zhen Long Gong (Chin Leng Keng 真龙宫). 6 The Legends of Maiden Lim, the Mysteries of Maiden Lei Together, they have been dubbed by Taoist priest Jave Wu as “the three Immortal Maidens of Singapore”. Their names are Lin Guniang, Lei Niangniang and Huang Guniang. In this essay, we will look at three homegrown goddesses, all based in the heartland of Singapore’s south. 3 Photographer Ronni Pinsler has documented at least half a dozen more on his Facebook group “Local Gods & Their Legends” 4 and on his website, “The Book of Xian Shen”. By far the most famous is the German Girl of Pulau Ubin, also known as Nadu Guniang (拿督姑娘), recently written about by William L. The notion of a homegrown goddess may sound bizarre. Her legends and ritual traditions began not in China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, but on this very island. Lin Guniang – also known as Hongshan Lin Guniang (红山林姑娘), or Maiden Lim of Redhill – is an example of a uniquely Singaporean Taoist folk goddess. Today, even among Singapore heritage enthusiasts, her name is largely unknown. Yet somehow, over time, memory of the goddess has faded. Residents referred to the lower stretch of Henderson Road between Tiong Bahru Road and Alexandra Road as “Lim Kor Niu” and even nicknamed a nearby hawker stall “Lim Kor Niu Char Kway Teow”. The goddess was well-known in the neighbourhood. Alongside there was a storm drain with a stone bridge linking the site to the road. It stood beside a tree, with a joss stick holder and a table outside. You’d pass by, but you wouldn’t look.” 2 He recalled that the shrine was tiny, fitting six people at most, with wooden walls and a gabled roof made of zinc or attap. “People said the place was haunted,” my father told me. While he often passed by her shrine on Henderson Road, he never dared to gaze at her statue. 1 As a child living in Kampong Henderson, he knew her by her Hokkien name, Lim Kor Niu. In the 1960s, my father lived in mortal fear of the goddess Lin Guniang (林姑娘). The statues of Lin Guniang (front) and Lei Niangniang (back) at Zhen Long Gong, 2022.
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