Ancestral worshipping hidden behind plastic chairs
- 658 Maha Bandoola Road
- Open daily 8am-8pm
A hidden gem!
When you step into the Summit Plastic store on Maha Bandoola Road, look behind the stacked plastic chairs and you see this is not just another shop. You’re in a Cantonese clan house, the oldest one in Yangon. A clan is a sort of association, a migrants’ home away from home, where they could come to eat, sleep, help or just hang out.
Every year the Ling Yang family comes back to worship their ancestors, we move the plastic chairs away for them.
Ancestral tablets
The clan houses also serve as a place to commemorate the deceased who could not be brought back to the ‘motherland’. Here the tablets to honour the ancestral spirits are stacked behind some plastic chairs. “Every year the Ling Yang family comes back to worship, we move the plastic chairs away for them” says Mary the shop’s manager.
Nice to know
Walk up the stairs to find a prayer hall. Here members of the Ling Yang Association meet, play chess, recite poetry and celebrate traditional Chinese festivals.