#CNY2025: Slithering into Prosperity at Miri's Historic Tua Pek Kong Temple

The 110-year-old Tua Pek Kong Temple in Miri transforms into a vibrant epicenter of celebration during the Chinese New Year period, as thousands of devotees flock to the temple to welcome the Year of the Wood Snake, filling the air with the fragrant smoke of burning joss sticks and the warm glow of red lanterns. The temple's legendary status, earned from surviving Japanese bombings during World War II, combined with its imposing 7-meter statue of Tua Pek Kong - the largest in Southeast Asia - creates an atmosphere of profound reverence, while worshippers crowd around the God of Prosperity altar seeking blessings for abundance and good fortune, their prayers echoing amongst the twelve zodiac statues that now adorn the temple grounds, with special attention paid to the Snake zodiac statue symbolizing the incoming year's divine guardian.