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NOTES AND QUERIES
It is clear from these comments that the Government of Hong Kong at that time was uncertain of the religious affiliations of these halls and it is not possible therefore to say with certainty whether or not they were all sectarian or how many were of the Hsien-t'ien sect. Nevertheless, from the remarks made about the secretiveness of the promoters and managers as to their objects, one must assume that some at least belonged to the sects. It is particularly interesting to note the reference to the opinion of the Government of Kwangtung, and one may wonder how far traditional Chinese ideas of unorthodoxy influenced the ideas not only of the Chinese citizens commenting and who may have known more of their true nature, but also, more subtly, those of the British officer in charge of the District in which the vegetarian hall boom was being experienced. One can of course appreciate Kwangtung's feelings about this boom. Expulsion of sects from its territory would be of little avail if they were planning to set up establishments not far away and from where they hoped to conduct work for the millennium!
It is interesting, perhaps, to compare the situation here with that in Singapore about the same time, where it is clear from evidence collected by Marjorie Topley there was a similar boom in development. The Singapore Government was clearly unaware of the sectarian connexions of halls built at that time, and indeed is still unaware, as far as she knows, of such connexions with halls built also in the thirties when there was another boom associated with the influx of unattached working women from Kwangtung at that time. Presumably, these developments were too far away to concern the Government of China, or perhaps they were unaware of them also.
Today, in Hong Kong, the Hsien-t'ien sect of concern is a registered company, going under the name of the Sin Tin Taoism Association Ltd. (“Taoism” as used here comes from the term Tao used in the sect's name: Hsien-t'ien Tao, and should not be confused, as in fact it sometimes is, with the religious system of this name). It does not appear to be militant today in its search for its religious goals but, on the contrary, does much valuable charitable work. In 1943, during the Japanese Occupation, the Sin Tin Taoism Association raised money to provide a home for the aged, which it established at Tung Choi Street, Kowloon. In 1945,
142
NOTES AND QUERIES
It is clear from these comments that the Government of Hong Kong at that time was uncertain of the religious affiliations of these halls and it is not possible therefore to say with certainty whether or not they were all sectarian or how many were of the Hsien-l'ien sect. Nevertheless from the remarks made about the secretiveness of the promoters and managers as to their objects, one must assume that some at least belonged to the sects. It is particularly interesting to note the reference to the opinion of the Government of Kwangtung and one may wonder how far tradi- tional Chinese ideas of unorthodoxy influenced the ideas not only of the Chinese citizens commenting and who may have known more of their true nature, but also, more subtly, those of the British officer in charge of the District in which the vegetarian hall boom was being experienced. One can of course appeciate Kwang- tung's feelings about this boom. Expulsion of sects from its ter- ritory would be of little avail if they were planning to set up estab- lishments not far away and from where they hoped to conduct work for the millenium!
It is interesting, perhaps, to compare the situation here with that in Singapore about the same time, where it is clear from evi- dence collected by Marjorie Topley there was a similar boom in development. The Singapore Government was clearly unaware of the sectarian connexions of halls built at that time, and indeed is still unaware, as far as she knows, of such connexions with halls built also in the thirties when there was another boom associated with the influx of unattached working women from Kwangtung at that time. Presumably these developments were too far away to concern the Government of China or perhaps they were unaware of them also.
Today, in Hong Kong, the Hsien-t'ien sect of concern is a registered company, going under the name of the Sin Tin Taoism Association Ltd. (“Taoism” as used here comes from the term Tao used in the sect's name: Hsien-t'ien Tao, and should not be confused, as in fact it sometimes is, with the religious system of this name). It does not appear to be militant today in its search for its religious goals but, on the contrary, does much valuable charitable work. In 1943, during the Japanese Occupation the Sin Tin Taoism Association raised money to provide a home for the aged, which it established at Tung Choi Street, Kowloon. In 1945,
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