The 2025 Chinese New Year starts on January 29 to celebrate the Year of the Snake. The 15-day celebration marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring and is celebrated by communities beyond China, including Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. Chinese New Year has influenced celebrations in other cultures, commonly referred to collectively as Lunar New Year, such as the Losar of Tibet, the Tết Nguyên Đán of Vietnam, the Seollal of Korea and the Shōgatsu of Japan.

　　In India, besides the annual celebrations held by Kolkata’s Chinese community, Mumbai’s iconic Kwan Kung temple is the hub for festivities at this time. Built in 1919, it is the only relic of the city’s Chinatown that once existed in the 1950s and 60s. Here’s what you need to know about the history and functions of the Kwan Kung temple.

　　A Place Of Serenity And Worship

　　The Kwan Kung temple is located in a two-storey house on a tiny lane in Mazagaon. Back in the early 1900s, Mazagaon was home to Mumbai’s thriving See Yup Koon community. Originally from Guangzhou, its people moved to India while working for the East India Company and settled in Mumbai as merchants, traders and sailors. In 1962, when the Sino-Indian War broke out, many of the city’s Chinese residents migrated back to their homeland. However, a few families decided to stay on in what had come to be known as Chinatown. Today, this place is known as Dockyard Road in Mazagaon.

　　Walking toward the wooden stairs that lead to the top of the temple, there is a mural of three deities—the Chinese gods of blessing, longevity and prosperity—dressed in yellow, purple and green robes. The temple itself is one large room with a red altar as its focal point. Above the altar is a painting of the Chinese god of justice, protection and courage and the temple's namesake, Kwan Kung.

　　Inside, there is also a statue of the mighty warrior god, Kwan Tai Kwon. On a small table in front are various offerings—paper money, gold and silver paper, incense, and envelopes filled with either rice or money. Worshippers at the site will also find fortune sticks called jiǎo bēi—small wooden sticks that are part of a fortune-telling practice dating back to the 3rd century.

　　There is also a huge board with files of bamboo sheets fixed under different numbers in Chinese script. Each number has a corresponding fortune card where people read their fortune every year. Following the prayers, the brass bell is rung three times before chocolates are offered as prasad.

　　A Caretaker From Two Cultures

　　The current caretaker of the temple is Mumbai-born and raised Albert Tham, whose family organises special events for Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, which can bring up to 500 visitors. Fluent in Hindi and Marathi, Tham and his mother spend long hours preparing the temple for the occasion, lighting lamps and arranging fruits and cakes as offerings to the gods. They have also made another temple dedicated to Guan Yin, a female deity revered for mercy, peace and wisdom, on the ground floor of the building. The community, formerly strong in numbers, has now shrunk to only a few hundred Chinese-Indian families living in Mumbai. However, the temple's importance to Mumbai's Chinese community also serves as another reminder—that families like Tham's have made Mumbai their home despite this.

　　The Information

　　Address: Dockyard, Wadi Bandar, Mazgaon, Mumbai 400010

　　Timings: 9AM-2PM