RELIGION
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As Confucian ancestral tablets will often be found in another part of the building, the three religions of China are frequently all accommodated under one roof. Most of the earlier residents of Hong Kong were fishermen, and a number of old temples are dedicated to Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven and the guardian deity of seafarers and fishermen, and to Kwun Yam, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. Perhaps the oldest, and certainly one of the most popular, of the Hong Kong temples is that dedicated to Tin Hau, at Causeway Bay. Other Tin Hau temples are found near the entrances to most fishing harbours. The Man Mo Temple in Hollywood Road, which is dedicated to the Gods of Literacy and Martial Valour, is equally famous and is under the control of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. In recent years by far the most popular Taoist temples have been the Wong Tai Sin Temple in New Kowloon and the Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin. All Chinese temples in Hong Kong, apart from those which are specifically exempted, must be registered with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs and come under the general control of the statutory Chinese Temples Committee. All revenue obtained from these temples is administered by this Committee, whose first obligation is to ensure that the temples are kept in a proper state of repair and to pay for the due observance of religious ceremonies and celebrations. Any surplus is transferred to the General Chinese Charities Fund, which distributes it to charitable organizations in accordance with their needs.
In the New Territories, where a traditional clan organization has been preserved to a much greater extent than in the urban areas, many villages have an ancestral hall where the ancestral tablets of the clan are kept and venerated. In such villages the inhabitants often all belong to the same clan and the hall is the centre of both the religious and the secular organization of the village.
The Chinese as a whole observe five major festivals of the Chinese Calendar. The first and the most important is the Lunar New Year, welcomed in Hong Kong in the traditional manner with a deafening barrage of firecrackers, for the free discharge of which general permission is granted for two days. It is a common belief that the mass discharge of firecrackers on this occasion will dispel evil spirits and bad luck and usher in a happy new year.