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September, 1987, they had not yet done this). Such a rebuttal would probably reduce to a trickle the number of people interested in visiting Luofu to see "the place where Huang Daxian became a saint." The Luofu temple might eventually be induced to specify more clearly the particular Taoist saint depicted in their Huang Daxian room, which would make it clear to many of the Hong Kong devotees that this is not their Huang Daxian. The merger of the two Huangs at Luofu might turn out to be only a very temporary confusion. However, we believe that we witnessed at Luofu a process which has happened a number of times in the history of religions: the merging of deities with similar characteristics.
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If this process ultimately fails at Luofu, it will be because of the unique conditions in Hong Kong: first, the Chinese-language media in Hong Kong are avid reporters of all events of interest to Hong Kong Chinese, and in the realm of religion, their reporting is virtually unfettered by any constraints from religious or political authorities; second, nearly all Chinese in Hong Kong are influenced directly or indirectly by these media; and third, a large organization such as the Sese Yuan will receive respectful treatment in these media, and hence their "proofs" that the Luofu Huang is not the Hong Kong Huang would be widely reported, and widely accepted. (The Sese Yuan would be able to mobilize various scholars to support their refutation of the claims of the Luofu temple). If the merging of the two Huangs is ultimately unsuccessful, it will be the result of these unique conditions. In other societies, where electronic media did not exist, where other media were not free, or not widely followed—as when most of the population have been rural and illiterate—and especially where no classical texts existed which might have clearly distinguished the gods, then there were few means of inhibiting the merging of the deities where the conditions for such mergings were favourable.
Conclusion
We have already suggested that the merging of the two Huangs at Mt. Luofu may not continue for very long. The continued existence of literary sources which clearly distinguish the two figures is particularly important. Also important is the ease with which the