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RELIGION AND CUSTOM
The Chinese as a whole observe five major festivals of the Chinese calendar. The first and the most important is the Lunar New Year. The customary exchanges of gifts and visits to relatives and friends are widely observed. During the Ching Ming Festival, which falls in spring, visits are paid to the graves of the family ancestors. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon of the lunar calendar and dragon boat races are held at different places throughout the Colony. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth moon, when gifts of mooncakes are exchanged among relatives and friends. The ninth day of the ninth moon is Chung Yeung, when large crowds climb Victoria Peak and other hills in imitation of a Chinese family of old who escaped death and misfortune by fleeing to the top of a high moun- tain. Visits to the graves of the family ancestors are also paid on this day as well as during the Ching Ming Festival.
The fact that Chinese may follow one or other of these ways or may combine them without any feeling of incongruity, has often made Christianity, with its exclusive aims, seem uncongenial to the Chinese spirit. Nevertheless, Christianity is rooted deeply and growing steadily in Hong Kong.
It dates back to the earliest days of the Colony, the first church being founded in 1842. Since that time, the Christian church has grown until today there are close to 500 churches and chapels, grouped together in some 60 denominations and sect groups. The number of Christians in Hong Kong is estimated at about 420,000 -slightly over 10 per cent of the total population. There is an annual increase in church membership of about four per cent. New churches and chapels are being established in new housing estates and satellite towns.
The great majority of the congregations in the Colony are Chinese speaking, mostly Cantonese and a few Mandarin, but about 16 churches hold services in English, German and Japanese to minister to the needs of the various communities. The major world denomina- tions are represented in the Adventists, Anglicans, Alliance, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals and Roman Catholics, while churches of a Presbyterian type are joined in the Church of Christ in China. In addition, there are a number of non-denominational churches.
The Protestant Churches are responsible for more than 225 primary schools, and over 100 middle schools and colleges in the Colony and the number is increasing nearly every year. They also sponsor a variety of service programmes, including hospitals,
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