GENERAL - RELIGION
Catholic parishes with public churches on Hong Kong island and in Kowloon, and about twenty churches in different parts of the New Territories. The Church also administers over 76 schools, some with an English programme of studies, others with a Chinese curriculum.
The work of the Roman Catholic Church is carried on by priests of many nationalities some engaged in parish work, others working in schools and at the University. There are about 400 nuns belonging to various religious orders engaged in charitable and educational work in hospitals, schools and homes for orphans, blind girls, cripples and the aged. Many of the principal missions have their Far Eastern administrative headquarters in the Colony. There are a number of important Catholic seminaries on Hong Kong island.
Buddhist activities in the Colony have expanded in recent years. Free schools, free medical centres and other social welfare work have been sponsored by the Buddhist community. The branch of Buddhism chiefly followed is the Mahayana. Today, there are in Hong Kong about ten Buddhist Monasteries and over two hundred Buddhist "Ching Suts", i.e. hermitages, mostly situated on the mainland and Lantao Island. There are no large Taoist Monasteries.
The non-Chinese Muslims in Hong Kong are Pakistanis and Indians and number about 1,500. There are about 5,000 Chinese Muslims. The first mosque was built in 1850 on the present mosque site in Shelley Street; the existing construction dates from 1915 when the original mosque was entirely rebuilt. In 1870, the Muslims founded their own cemetery in Happy Valley, their dead having until then been buried in the Breezy Point area above the Western district of Victoria. A second mosque was built in 1896, in Nathan Road, Kowloon, but in 1902 it was transferred to the care of the military authorities for use by Indian troops.
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