KEITH G. STEVENS
Temples and monasteries can be classified as follows:--
a. By religious belief-Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian and traditional folk religion,5
b. By the contents of the altars - deities, ancestral tablets or charms.
c. By their typological features such as the size and shape of their plans (square or rectangular); by their elevation into floors; by divisions and sub-divisions; whether free-standing or not; and whether the courtyard is enclosed or in front of the main building.
d. Whether residential or non-residential.
e. Whether permanent or temporary.
f. By ethnic grouping (regional traditional types),6
Within Hong Kong and Macau, there are about four hundred and fifty Buddhist, Daoist, and folk religion temples, Buddhist and Daoist monasteries and nunneries, and ancestral temples. A few pre-date the advent of the British and Portuguese whilst the majority, built since 1840, have been established as specialised temples with a specific deity on their altars well known for a unique function such as destroying demons, protecting seafarers, foretelling the future, protecting mothers during childbirth and children during childhood, and the like.
It is unfortunate, out of interest in such historic places, that neither Hong Kong nor Macau have the large national temple or temples at which the official state religion was worshipped. This is due to the fact that before the arrival of the British and Portuguese, neither territory contained a county town and were primitive rural areas. Nor are there in Hong Kong or Macau the large City God temples which in Imperial China were to be found in all provincial and county capitals.
Whereas the Chinese government in 1928 closed many temples throughout China during their campaign to suppress superstition,* the practices condemned by the Chinese authorities continued in Hong Kong and Macau where British and Portuguese administrators treated native susceptibilities with great caution. Hong Kong and Macau temples therefore, retained deities and practices which have probably long since disappeared on the Chinese mainland.
* described in some detail by C. B. Day in his Chinese Peasant Cults (Nanking Theological Seminary English Publications, 1938), pp. 190-195.
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KEITH G. STEVENS
Temples and monasteries can be classified as follows:--
a. By religious belief-Buddhist, Daoist, Confucian and tra-
ditional folk religion,5
b. By the contents of the altars - deities, ancestral tablets or
charms.
c. By their typological features such as the size and shape of their plans (square or rectangular); by their elevation into floors; by divisions and sub-divisions; whether free-standing or not; and whether the courtyard is enclosed or in front of the main building.
d. Whether residential or non-residential.
e. Whether permanent or temporary.
f. By ethnic grouping (regional traditional types),6
Within Hong Kong and Macau, there are about four hundred and fifty Buddhist, Daoist, and folk religion temples, Buddhist and Daoist monasteries and nunneries, and ancestral temples. A few pre-date the advent of the British and Portuguese whilst the majority, built since 1840, have been established as specialised temples with a specific deity on their altars well known for a unique function such as destroying demons, protecting seafarers, foretelling the future, protecting mothers during childbirth and children during childhood, and the like.
It is unfortunate, out of interest in such historic places, that neither Hong Kong nor Macau have the large national temple or temples at which the official state religion was worshipped. This is due to the fact that before the arrival of the British and Portu- guese, neither territory contained a county towns and were primitive rural areas. Nor are there in Hong Kong or Macau the large City God temples which in Imperial China were to be found in all pro- vincial and county capitals.
Whereas the Chinese government in 1928 closed many temples throughout China during their campaign to suppress superstition,* the practices condemned by the Chinese authorities continued in Hong Kong and Macau where British and Portuguese adminstra- tors treated native susceptibilities with greal caution. Hong Kong and Macau temples therefore, retained deities and practices which have probably long since disappeared on the Chinese mainland.
* described in some detail by C. B. Day in his Chinese Peasant Cults (Nanking Theological Seminary English Publications, 1938), pp. 190-195.
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