Every overseas city with a Chinese community has temples. Guandi temples are most numerous, followed by Sansheng temples, Huaguang temples, Guanyin temples and Daoist temples.

Community associations have always grown up around temples. In early overseas Chinese communities, people would gather in temples for civic discussions after first worshipping the resident gods.

Overseas Chinese have long poured their longing for their homeland into these temples, and today these Guandi temples still hold great meaning for the older generations. In traditional China, no town lacked a temple devoted to Guandi. After traveling thousands of miles to settle in a strange land, these Chinese emigrants found that nothing soothed their homesickness more than praying to a familiar god.

The oldest Guandi Temple in Australia, which is located in south Melbourne, was built in 1856. Back then most Chinese immigrants to Australia came to prospect for gold, and they hoped to return to their homes in glory as soon as they struck it rich. This simple little temple they built to worship Guandi provided a place to gather and hold meetings. Therefore, they hung a sign that reads "Four-District Association House," which refers to the overseas Chinese associations of four areas of Guangdong Province: Taishan, Kaiping, Enping and Xinhui. Ten years later, in 1866, a number of these gold miners struck it rich, and in gratitude for Guandi's blessings, they chipped in to build a larger temple beside the original one. Today it still boasts a large congregation of devotees. There is also the Chee Kung Tong, another temple devoted to Guandi, near the goldfields.

A year ago I made a special trip to visit this old Guandi temple during a visit to Melbourne. Apart from paying homage to the deity, I also retraced the footsteps of overseas Chinese from a bygone era.

It was cloudy and drizzly on that day, and the old temple, surrounded by tall old trees, looked a little dilapidated-but solemn and stately all the same. Its old brick walls bore the marks of time. Yet, judging by its newly painted metal railings and little metal window grates, its Chinese worshippers still regard it with deep affection and have been taking good care of it. Ever since the first pigtailed Chinese laborers set foot in Australia 150 years ago, Guandi has been looking over them, and they have never ceased to return their love and gratitude.

The temple is furnished in a graceful ancient style. Incense smoke for over a hundred years has turned the furniture and ceiling black, giving the old brown phoebe wood an even more dignified patina. The walls of the great hall are covered with numerous calligraphic couplets and tablets carved in wood, which date back to 1850. A pair of long wooden carved tablets reads: "The courageous and magnificent one answers prayers and silently grants safe sailing across the sea to this strange land; loyal to the brilliant deity, we return home with found treasure." The couplet is a gold miner's prayer.

After they completed the new temple building, they wrote a couplet to commemorate the occasion: "The Han people today are like back then, the just emperor and his court remembered forever; the peach orchard today is like back then, the love of brotherhood deep forever." Another couplet reads: "The eternal hero is just and righteous, his kindness and charity benefit everyone." Among the numerous horizontal tablets, one has etched on it four Chinese characters in the ancient dazhuan calligraphic style: "Brilliant and just, like the days of Emperor Yao." These couplets and tablets stand both as works of art in themselves and also as records of the hopes and desires of overseas Chinese from a bygone era.

Guandi was venerated by these pioneers because in life he was a man of integrity who was faithful, affectionate and loyal to his friends. He thus embodied what overseas Chinese needed: to help and comfort each other like brothers.

Sydney, where I live, is the largest city in Australia, and it has the largest number of Chinese residents. Although Sydney's Guandi temple is not as old as Melbourne's, it enjoys a large number of devotees. It is near Chinatown in the downtown area, close to where there used to be Chinese produce markets. It is always jam-packed with Chinese who come to light incense on Chinese New Year's eve and during the Chinese New Year's vacation.

In the past, on ordinary days the men would push wooden carts here to hawk vegetables and fruit, and during New Year's and other festivals women would come out of the dark and cramped living quarters behind their shops in the market and walk with their friends to visit Guandi Temple with incense and freshly cooked food. Dressed in traditional Chinese costumes, they talked and laughed; and in the temple that filled with incense, they prayed, made wishes, told their stories and kowtowed to show their gratitude.... Outside the temple, the wind blew away the incense as the years passed and the Chinese propagated generation after generation.... Time passed and things changed, but the revered status of Guandi remains. Thus the couplet at the front door of the temple reads: "The righteous spirit lives long in heaven and on earth; the sincere heart traverses from past to present."

As the new year approaches, older members of my family go to the Guandi Temple to thank the deity for his blessings over the past year and to make prayers for the new year. It is a soothing annual ritual. I went to the temple with them this past year, smelling that familiar sandalwood incense smell and touching that old brass bell, that old carved couplet and that heavy old incense holder. Time goes by, and the kids of yesteryear are now adults, enjoying much better material circumstances than their ancestors. "Thank Guan Gong for his blessings that have brought a better and better life," said a mother, tenderly teaching her son to press his palms together to pay homage to the gods.

Over a century has passed, and the Guan Gong on the altar has seen how the Chinese crossed the ocean to come to Australia, how they were discriminated against and oppressed, how they survived the dark days of the White Australia policy, and now how the path in front of them grows brighter and brighter. I gazed upon the Guan Gong on the altar, still so awe-inspiring, with a pure spirit emanating from his eyes, the protector of all.

Australia's oldest Si Yi Huiguan or "Four-District Association House," located in south Melbourne, is devoted to Guandi.