Jui Tui Shrine in Phuket Town

The Jui Tui Shrine is Phuket’s most famous Chinese Taoist temple and is located in the centre of the historic Old Town area of Phuket Town.

About the Jui Tui Shrine

The Jui Tui Shrine is the main place of worship for Phuket’s large Chinese-Thai community. Large numbers of Chinese immigrants came to Phuket in the last half of the 19th Century to work in the island’s successful tin mining industry. Long before tourism Phuket was a prosperous part of Thailand due to tin mining and to a lesser extent the commercial cultivation of rubber. Phuket Town was, to a large extent, a town created by Chinese immigrants some of whom were very successful enabling them to build large mansions in the town centre, such as the Chinpracha House which is now open to visitors. Phuket’s tin mining industry began to collapse in the 1970s and the predominant industry on the island became tourism, nonetheless the now well established Chinese-Thai community continued to flourish in Phuket Town albeit without the huge wealth enjoyed by earlier generations.

The Jui Tui Shrine was established in its current location in 1911. An earlier shrine of the same name had previously existed in the town during the 19th Century located by a water wheel powering a rice mill. In 1911 the temple was very simple consisting of an open sided shrine building with a altar to Tean Hu Huan Soy, who is the Taoist god of the performing arts. Since then the temple has grown with the addition of an elaborate roof to the original shrine building, a perimeter wall and a large Chinese style entrance gate. In 2011 an impressive two storey red building, known as the ‘fire cracker’ house, became the latest new addition to the Jui Tui Shrine.

The Jui Tui Shrine is open daily from 08:00 to 20:30 and admission is free. Be mindful when you visit that the Jui Tui Shrine is an important place of worship for the local community. Many local families come to the temple to pray for their ancestors, many of whom have memorial plaques fixed to the walls of the shrine.

Location of the Jui Tui Shrine

• The Jui Tui Shrine is 33.8 km by road to the south of Phuket Airport.