TUESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1977
NEW BOOK OPENS UP TEMPLES ***** *
A NEW BOOK IN ENGLISH ON THE TEMPLES OF HONG KONG HAS JUST BEEN PUBLISHED AND IS AVAILABLE NOW FROM THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE AND LEADING BOOK SELLERS AT $20 PER COPY.
ENTITLED THIS IS HONG KONG: TEMPLES+, IT IS THE FIRST IN A NEW SERIES AND THE FIRST BOOK ABOUT TEMPLES FOR MANY YEARS TO BE PUBLISHED IN ENGLISH FOR NON-CHINESE READERS.
THE AUTHOR, JOYCE SAVIDGE, SPENT FIVE MONTHS VISITING TEMPLES ALL OVER HONG KONG, TALKING TO TEMPLE KEEPERS, PRIESTS AND WORSHIPPERS.
THERE ARE SOME 600 TEMPLES IN HONG KONG. HALF ARE BUDDHIST, ABOUT 200 ARE TAOIST AND THE REST ARE A MIXTURE OF BOTH. THESE LAST TEMPLES ARE THE ONES GENERALLY FREQUENTED BY THE PUBLIC. BUT EVEN SO, GETTING INFORMATION ABOUT THESE, OR ANY OTHER KIND OF TEMPLE, WAS NOT EASY.
+ I FOUND THAT INITIALLY CHINESE PEOPLE WERE VERY RELUCTANT TO TALK ABOUT THE IR BELIEFS+, SAID MRS. SAVIDGE. +I THINK THIS IS VERY SAD. I THINK THEY FEEL THAT WESTERNERS WILL THINK THEM OLD-FASHIONED OR SUPERSTITIOUS.
IT WAS DIFFICULT TO GET ANYTHING OUT OF THEM+.
ONCE SHE WENT INTO THE SUBJECT MORE DEEPLY, SAID MRS. SAV IDGE, SHE FOUND THAT THIS RELUCTANCE BEGAN TO LESSEN AND YOUNGER PEOPLE WERE MORE WILLING TO SPEAK ABOUT THE IR BELIEFS.
+ IN CONTRAST TO WESTERN FORMS OF WORSHIP I FOUND THERE WAS A DEFINITE INFORMALITY ABOUT TEMPLE WORSHIP. ANYBODY CAN GO IN AT ANY TIME, FIND A SPACE AND PRAY.+
DURING HER VISITS TO TEMPLES IN HONG KONG, KOWLOON, THE NEW TERRITORIES AND OUTLYING ISLANDS, MRS. SAVIDGE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY A PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE 123-PAGE BOOK IS PACKED WITH MORE THAN 130 COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS OF TEMPLES, GODS AND DEITIES,
IN HER RESEARCH SHE WAS GREATLY ASSISTED BY THE CHINESE TEMPLES COMMITTEE - IN PARTICULAR BY MR. LEUNG MAN-WAI WHO WAS, AT THE TIME THE BOOK WAS BEING WRITTEN, TREASURER, BUT HAS NOW RETIRED.
APART FROM HER VISITS MRS. SAVIDGE CARRIED OUT EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND IN THIS SHE WAS AIDED BY THE HOME AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT, TAOIST AND BUDDHIST ORGANISATIONS AND NUMEROUS MONASTERIES.
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