RELIGION AND CUSTOM
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Religious studies are conducted in monasteries, nunneries and hermitages. Those at Sha Tin and Tsuen Wan are popular with people living on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon because of their nearness. But the best-known monasteries are situated in the more remote parts of the New Territories. The Buddhist Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island is renowned for its beautiful view of the sunrise, and many visitors go there at weekends and on holidays. Sightseers and devotees are also attracted to Ching Shan Tsz, Miu Fat Tsz and Tsing Chung Koon at Tuen Mun; Tung Po Tor and Yuen Yuen Hok Yuen at Tsuen Wan; and Sai Lam at Sha Tin. At Tao Fung Shan, near Sha Tin, there is a Christian study centre on Chinese religion and culture, where the work of the Christian Mission to Buddhists has been carried out for many years.
In the urban areas, Buddhist Ching She (places for spiritual cultivation), Fat Tong (Buddha halls) and To Yuen (places for Taoist worship) have been established in residential flats to cater for the spiritual needs of the city dwellers. Various Buddhist institutions hold gatherings where the sutras are expounded.
Traditional clan organisations continue to play an important part in the life of villagers in the New Territories. Many villages have an ancestral hall, the centre of both religious and secular activities, where ancestral tablets of the clan are kept and venerated. Animism is found in the form of shrines or simply joss sticks at the foot of certain rocks and trees within which spirits are believed to dwell. It is especially common among Hakka and Chiu Chow villagers.
There are five major festivals in the Chinese calendar. The first and most important is the Lunar New Year. Gifts and visits are exchanged among friends and relatives, and children receive 'lucky money'. During the Ching Ming Festival in spring, ancestral graves are visited. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon with dragon boat races and by eating cooked rice wrapped in lotus leaves. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth moon. Gifts of mooncakes, wine and fruit are exchanged, and adults and children go into the parks and countryside at night with colourful lanterns. The ninth day of the ninth moon is the Chung Yeung Festival, when large crowds climb various hills in remembrance of an ancient Chinese family's escape from plague and death by fleeing to the top of a high mountain. Family graves are also visited on that day.
Christian Community
The Christian community - Roman Catholic and Protestant - is estimated to number about 410,000 people. There are more than 50 Christian denominations and independent groups in Hong Kong.
Roman Catholic
In addition to its pastoral and apostolic work, the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong is engaged in a wide variety of activities in the fields of education, health care and social welfare. There are now 310 Catholic schools, with more than 274,000 students. Vocational education is being developed.
Catholic social and health services include 15 social centres emphasising vocational and adult education, six hospitals, 13 hostels for students and workers, a maternity home, 20 general clinics, six dental clinics, two mobile clinics, 17 day nurseries, three homes for the aged, two homes for the blind, and many self-help clubs and associations.
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During the year, the Church, through the agency Caritas Hong Kong, set up camp facilities for dealing with the influx of Vietnamese refugees. Other Catholic voluntary agencies also played an important part in caring for the refugees.