Wat Chalong History
Wat Chalong has played a major part in Phuket's history. During the 19th century the island was an important centre of industry because of the influx of wealth brought in through tin mining and many Chinese labourers flocked to the island as a result. Some formed secret societies and these 'Angyee' societies began to amass power.
When tin mine owners refused them the opium they had grown accustomed to they became incensed. A small group of Angyee seized the Provincial Hall, killing people in the process. Locals escaped to Wat Chalong and ran to the Abbot, warning him of the imminent danger. He stated that as he had been raised and educated at the temple he was not about to run away from it. Locals took heart from him and stayed there. As a Buddhist monk, Luang Poh Cham could not physically fight the Angyee but he rallied the people to fight back whenever the Chinese attacked. The fighting was fierce and the Chinese even breached the temple wall at one point and this breach can be seen at the temple to this day.
Time after time the locals fought back against the attackers and others, encouraged by their success, joined them. They pleaded with the Abbot for a religious talisman to bring them good luck and he gave them pieces of sanctified white cloth which they used as headbands. The Angyee dubbed them the 'Whitehead Troups.' The climax came when the Chinese labourers, drugged and stupefied by their opium, were attacked and destroyed by the locals.
King Rama V (1853-1910) was informed about this victory. He invited Luang Poh Cham to Bangkok in order to promote him to regional Abbot for Phuket and its surrounding provinces. This was when the king bestowed the royal title of Chaithararam on Wat Chalong.