female goddesses called the Queen of Heaven, the Goddess of the Earth, and Goddess of Childbirth are housed; which is said to represent, on a miniature scale, the island of Potalaka (as Mount Putuo), where there is a large shrine dedicated to Guanyin in the China Sea. People compared this shrine to the Amitabha Buddha's Western Paradise and started calling it the "Kek Lok Si" (Jile Si in Mandarin). There are also many other shrine chambers, which have stately statues, all gilded, of the Buddhas, bodhisattvas, saintly lohans, guardian spirits, and Heavenly (or Diamond) Kings of Pure Land Buddhism. The consular representative of China in Penang reported the grandeur of the temple to the Qing imperial government. Following this, the Guangxu Emperor invited Beow Lean to Beijing in 1904 and bestowed on him 70,000 volumes (or 7,000, according to other sources) of the "psalms and other sacred works of Buddhism" and also presented him edicts anointing him the "dignity of the Chief Priest of Penang" and also declaring "the Chinese temple at Air Itam as the head of all Chinese temples in Penang". On the abbot's return to Penang, a royal procession, carrying the edict in a rattan chair and the scriptures in pony-driven carts, was organised leading to the temple complex. Prominent Chinese dignitaries of Penang in their royal mandarin attire accompanied the abbot in the procession. In 1930, the seven-storey main pagoda of the temple, the "Ban Po Thar" (, "Pagoda of the Ten Thousand Buddhas"), a structure, was completed. This pagoda combines a Chinese octagonal base with a middle tier of Thai design, and a Burmese crown (spiral dome); reflecting the temple's amalgam of both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. It represents syncretism of the ethnic and religious diversity in the country. There is a large statue of Buddha donated by King Bhumibol of Thailand deified here. King Rama VI of Thailand laid the foundation for the pagoda, so it is also named "Rama Pagoda". In 2002, a bronze statue of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, was completed and opened to the public. It replaced the previous white plaster Kuan Yin statue which was damaged due to a fire a few years earlier. The bronze statue is located on the hillside above the pagoda. The statue is complemented with a three-tiered roof pavilion (with 16 columns made of bronze supporting the pavilion), which was completed in 2009. It