Wealth God Temple @ Hangzhou in China

When I think of the temples for the god of wealth, I would always imagine them to be opulent, majestic, with walls painted in gold, and with treasures dotting all over the place.

Therefore, the above humble "abode" for the most popular deity amongst the Chinese looked seriously too plain, without many devotees, unlike the one we have in Singapore. It also didn't help that the location was not that convenient, and a bus cannot even drive in. 

With a width of 12 meters and a depth of 7 meters, this would be considered a small temple even for Singapore's standard. And according to the above, this temple was reconstructed at the original site after 1984, when the original structure was burnt down.

God of Wealth is not limited to just one god; there were five based on the directions east, west, north, south, central. And the one right in the middle would be the central god of wealth. 

What drew me were the walls that were covered with yellow pieces of rectangular paper. For a moment, I thought they were amulets but that's not applicable for a god of wealth temple since the gods were not known to dispel evil. 

A closer look revealed that they were literally bank notes, albeit the kind used in the ancient times, before the widespread use of currency notes we have nowadays. 

You can get those notes from the counter outside the temple at one piece for RMB 33, two pieces for RM 48 and three pieces at RM 68! From the above, I am assuming that by buying and pasting them in the temple, you could "rightfully" withdraw money from the gods. Interesting concept; we should bring these to Singapore! 

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