Temple Bells, Chinese diaspora

Joss House bells of the 19th century and early 20th century were made in Foshan and are found in many places around the Chinese diaspora.

Temple Bells, Chinese diaspora

Image Courtesy of: Chinese in Northwest America Committee

Made of cast iron the durability of Joss House bells makes them a good marker of the distribution of southern Chinese around the world. To the ten or more surviving temple bells of Australia can be added another eleven in North America as well as numerous bells in HK and around South East Asia. In a similar style these bells were all made in one of several foundries in the city of Foshan.

Temple Bells, Chinese diaspora

Image Courtesy of: Chinese in Northwest America Committee

Images:

Tam Kung Temple, Victoria, BC 卑斯省域多利谭公庙, Bell 1887

Tin How/Tian Hou temple, San Francisco, Bell 1874

Ning Yang Huiguan, Singapore, Bell 1837

See:

Chinese in Northwest America Committee

Claudine Salmon, "Transnational Networks as Reflected in Epigraphy: the Case of Chinese Buddhist Bells in Southeast Asia," in Tan Chee-Beng et al., Chinese Overseas, Chinese U. of Hong Kong, 2007.

Zhu Peijian, A Preliminary Study on Iron Bells in Foshan during the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Temple Bells, Chinese diaspora

Image Courtesy of: Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum

Temple Bells, Chinese diaspora

Image Courtesy of: Xiamen Overseas Chinese Museum

Temples bells of the Chinese diaspora predate European Australia. This bell was made in 1779.