ENG-1986 — Page 296

18

Religion and Custom

FOXX

HONG KONG people enjoy complete religious freedom, with different ethnic communities practising the world's major faiths. Buddhist monasteries and Taoist temples co-exist with Christian churches, mosques, and Hindu and Sikh temples. All major religious bodies have established schools which offer a general education besides religious instruction.

Buddhism and Taoism, the leading Chinese religions, maintain a strong hold on the population, especially among the older folk. Ancestral worship is also widely practised as advocated by Confucianism which, though not truly a religion, teaches a moral code based on human relations.

Buddhism and Taoism

Hong Kong has more than 360 Chinese temples. Some temples are centuries old and contain priceless antiques, some are of more recent construction, while others are housed inside multi-storey buildings and cater for the spiritual needs of smaller circles of city dwellers.

All temples are required to be registered under the Chinese Temples Ordinance. The Chinese Temples Committee manages some 40 public temples and the income, from donations by worshippers, is used for the preservation and restoration of not only public temples but also privately owned temples of historical value. Most of the large temples and monasteries are open to the public.

Each temple is dedicated to one or two deities enshrined in the main hall, with side halls housing subsidiary deities. Since Buddhism and Taoism, basically two different faiths, are often regarded as related in that they both involve sacred rites of traditional origins, Buddhist and Taoist deities may be honoured together within one temple. Leading deities include Buddha, Kwun Yum (the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy), and Lui Cho (a Taoist god).

There are also a diversity of deified mortals traditionally worshipped as a result of their performance of actual or mythical feats. Foremost among these is Tin Hau, the Queen of Heaven and Protectress of Seafarers, worshipped by the fishing population as well as others in the community, reflecting Hong Kong's high dependence on fishing and sea trade.

There are at least 24 Tin Hau Temples in Hong Kong, the most famous being the one in Joss House Bay, which is visited by tens of thousands of worshippers each year at Tin Hau Festival on the 23rd day of the third lunar month.

Other deified mortals include Kwan Tai, the God of War and Righteousness; Pak Tai, Lord of the North and Patron of Cheung Chau Island; Hung Shing, God of the South Seas and a weather prophet, and Wong Tai Sin, a Taoist deity, in whose honour a temple originally built 60 years ago in north-eastern Kowloon in traditional Chinese architectural style has been enjoying great popularity. Dedicated to the Gods of Literary Attainment and