Religious and Cultural Identity In Other Countries

Batu Caves (Hindu) in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia

Every few years my family takes a trip to Malaysia to visit my mom's side of the family. Both pictures were taken in Kuala Lumpur in June 2015 during this trip. One of my favorite traits of Malaysia is that it is a melting pot of culture and that it has religious diversity and tolerance throughout the entire country. Although the most popular religion practiced is Islam there are large populations of Buddhists and Hindus as well. Thanks to this aspect of the country I was able to experience these religious and cultural sites all in one day.

Thean Hou Temple (Buddhist, Taoist and
Confucianist) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Batu Caves

The Batu Caves are a very popular tourist attraction in KL with an iconic 140 ft gold plated statue of the Hindu god Murugan. Although public, the site is still religious and visitors must comply with the dress code presented as a sign of respect in order to go up the 272 monkey infested steps and see the shrines within the cave. I made a poor move by wearing shorts this day and I had to buy a shawl to cover my legs (thank god for the USD to RM exchange rate for making it cheap) however it was worth it.

Although there is a minority population in China that practices Hinduism it is important to acknowledge that this population exists because at the end of the day it's what gives China, and any country, it's identity. Many people may believe China is only Buddhists or Confucianist because of a lack of knowledge, however similar to other countries there are multiple practicing religions.

The Thean Hou Temple

The Thean Hou Temple was built in Malaysia to allow the Chinese population cultural identity within Malaysia. The temple is dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu and is a popular public tourist attraction as well. Aspects of this temple that appealed to me were the statues representing each Chinese zodiac (I was born in 1999 which is the year of the rabbit, as seen in the picture) and the Chinese architecture. The Chinese zodiac is one of the most well known parts of the culture and that can apply to everyone regardless of culture and while exploring these statues my mom and my grandpa were arguing over what zodiac my mom should identify with. Inside of the temple there are prayer alters with statues of the goddesses and a paper fortune telling station open for everyone to experience (I personally still have mine from 4 years ago). Despite the religious aspects of the temple it has no dress code and would be best related to a community center, as they have tai chi and other forms of traditional Chinese exercise.

As I mentioned earlier, Malaysia is a melting pot of cultures. From visual observation, the majority of the population comes from other cultures and one of the most prominent one, aside from the Bumiputeras, is the Chinese. Throughout Malaysia you see Chinese architecture and symbols on signs and the side of the road and I believe that really reflects the spread of Chinese influence even from over 2000 miles away.


Majority of the information is from personal experience however I used the following Wikipedia pages to help develop my thoughts and fill gaps of information:
Batu Caves
Thean Hou Temple

My grandparents posing outside of the Thean Hou Temple.