The Government today published a notice declaring Kwong Fook Tsz, in Sheung Wan, and the Main Building of Old Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital, in Sai Ying Pun and, as monuments.

Located on Western Street in Sai Ying Pun, Old Tsan Yuk Maternity Hospital was established by the Chinese Public Dispensaries Committee and opened in 1922 to provide maternity services for local Chinese women.

Following the hospital’s 1955 relocation to new premises on Hospital Road, the main block at the original site has been used as a community centre since 1961.

The red-brick building features a granite portico at its main entrance and an interior spiral staircase. It stands as a symbol of co-operation between Chinese community leaders and Western medical professionals in the early development of the city’s maternal health services.

Kwong Fook Tsz, also known as Pak Shing Temple, was built in 1895 with funds raised by Chinese elites.

The temple houses the soul tablets – or ancestral name plates – of Mainland Chinese workers who died in Hong Kong without having family members to perform burial rites for them here. It enshrines deities such as Ksitigarbha and Chai Kung.

In its early years, the temple also provided refuge and medical services for the destitute and elderly. It later contributed to the establishment of Tung Wah Hospital.

Kwong Fook Tsz has a “three-hall-one-bay” layout, and has two courtyards, making it rare among Hong Kong temples. The Shiwan ceramics on the ridge of the entrance hall are the most prominent external architectural feature.

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