270
NOTES AND QUERIES
incense burners and vases placed before a scroll with an inscription honouring the deity.
In order to safeguard the claim that "the Hospital is not for the purpose of worshipping gods", the Rules stated that "No other gods shall be worshipped in order to prevent superstition, and no outsiders shall be allowed to come to the Hospital to worship the Patron Saint which is simply an insult to him".
The desire to give transcendent religious authority to the operation of the Hospital is clear from the provision that the Directors, the doctors, the Secretary, and the Steward, as well as all the servants of the Hospital, upon assuming their duties sign two declarations of loyalty and faithful service. One was burnt before the Patron Saint at the beginning of service, the other was burnt when the term of service was finished in order, as the Rule says "to show their purity”. It was a form of sacred oath.
Another aspect of the religious connections of Tung Wah was its close association with the Man Mo Temple. This temple on Hollywood Road was regarded as a civic centre for the Chinese community. As the Emperor observed the Spring and Autumn Rites on behalf of the nation at the altars in Peking, so the recognized leaders of the community in Hong Kong observed similar rites at the Man Mo Temple. The Tung Wah Directors still meet annually and observe them at the Temple.
The committee members of the Temple, the Kai Fong and the Tung Wah Hospital overlapped, most of the members at some time served on all of these Boards. It was natural therefore that the affairs of the Hospital were closely related to those of the Temple. In time this natural association was officially confirmed by the Man Mo Temple Ordinance, No. 10 of 1908, which placed the temple under the jurisdiction of the Tung Wah Committee. Representing this tradition is the figure of a god in the Museum's Collection which was placed on the roof of the Man Mo Temple during its construction or reconstruction.
Death and the burial of loved ones are usually associated with some form of religious belief. They are boundary experiences which tend to throw the mourner beyond his normal world. In the early years of its history, Tung Wah was regarded as the last resort of the dying by the local population, hence the mortality rate of its patients was extremely high. The Hospital saw its responsibility not only to provide care for the dying, but also to see that their remains
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270
NOTES AND QUERIES
incense burners and vases placed before a scroll with an inscrip- tion honouring the deity.
In order to safeguard the claim that "the Hospital is not for the purpose of worshipping gods", the Rules stated that "No other gods shall be worshipped in order to prevent superstition, and no outsiders shall be allowed to come to the Hospital to worship the Patron Saint which is simply an insult to him".
The desire to give transcendent religious authority to the opera- tion of the Hospital is clear from the provision that the Directors, the doctors, the Secretary, and the Steward, as well as all the ser- vants of the Hospital, upon assuming their duties sign two declara- tions of loyalty and faithful service. One was burnt before the Patron Saint at the beginning of service, the other was burnt when the term of service was finished in order, as the Rule says "to show their purity”. It was a form of sacred oath.
Another aspect of the religious connections of Tung Wah was its close association with the Man Mo Temple. This temple on Hollywood Road was regarded as a civic centre for the Chinese community. As the Emperor observed the Spring and Autumn Rites on behalf of the nation at the altars in Peking, so the recognized leaders of the community in Hong Kong observed similar rites at the Man Mo Temple. The Tung Wah Directors still meet annually and observe them at the Temple.
The committee members of the Temple, the Kai Fong and the Tung Wah Hospital overlapped, most of the members at some time served on all of these Boards. It was natural therefore that the affairs of the Hospital were closely related to those of the Temple. In time this natural association was officialy confirmed by the Man Mo Temple Ordinance, No. 10 of 1908, which placed the temple under the jurisdiction of the Tung Wah Committee. Representing this tradition is the figure of a god in the Museum's Collection which was placed on the roof of the Man Mo Temple during its construc- tion or reconstruction.
Death and the burial of loved ones are usually associated with some form of religious belief. They are boundary experiences which tend to throw the mourner beyond his normal world. In the early years of its history, Tung Wah was regarded as the last resort of the dying by the local population, hence the mortality rate of its patients was extremely high. The Hospital saw its responsibility not only to provide care for the dying, but also to see that their remains
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