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RELIGION AND CUSTOM

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style has been enjoying great popularity. Dedicated to the Gods of Literary Attainment and Martial Valour, the Man Mo Temple in Hollywood Road on Hong Kong Island, run by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, a charitable organisation, is also very popular.

Traditional Festivals

There are five major festivals in the Chinese calendar, all of which are statutory public holidays. First and foremost is the Lunar New Year, when visits and gifts are exchanged between friends and relatives, and children receive 'lucky' money. The Ching Ming Festival in the springtime provides an opportunity to visit ancestral graves. The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth moon in early summer with dragon boat races and by eating cooked rice wrapped in lotus leaves. The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth moon, when gifts of mooncakes, fruit and wine are exchanged, and adults and children go into the parks and countryside at night, carrying colourful lanterns. The Chung Yeung Festival is on the ninth-day of the ninth moon, and is celebrated by large crowds climbing hills in remembrance of an ancient Chinese family's escape from plague and death by fleeing to the top of a high mountain. Family graves are also visited on this day.

Roman Catholic Community

The Roman Catholic Church has been present in Hong Kong since the territory's early days. The church was established as a Mission Prefecture in 1841 and as an Apostolic Vicariate in 1874. It became a diocese in 1946.

In 1969, Francis Chen-peng Hsu was installed as the first Chinese Bishop of the Hong Kong diocese, and he was succeeded in 1973 by Peter Wang-kei Lei. The present Bishop, John Baptist Cheng-chung Wu, was consecrated in 1975.

About 267 321 people, or five per cent of the population, are Catholics. They are served by 347 priests, 79 brothers, and 745 sisters. There are 60 parishes and 31 centres for Mass. The majority of the services and other religious activities are conducted in Chinese, with a few churches providing services in English.

The diocese has established its own administrative structure while maintaining tradi- tional links with the Pope and with other Catholic communities around the world. It uses the same scriptures and has similar ecclesial communions in the universal Church throughout the world, with which it maintains close fellowship. The assistant secretary- general of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conference has his office in Hong Kong.

Along with its apostolic work, one of the prime concerns of the diocese has been for the well-being of all the people of Hong Kong. In education, there are 291 Catholic schools and kindergartens which have about 308 075 pupils. There is the Catholic Board of Education to assist in this area. The medical and social services include six hospitals, 10 clinics, 16 social centres, 12 hostels, 10 homes for the aged, one home for the handicapped and many self-help clubs and associations. Caritas is the official social welfare arm of the church in Hong Kong.

These services are open to all people – indeed, 95 per cent of those who have benefited from the wide range of services provided by the diocese are not Catholics.

To reach people through the media, the diocese publishes two weekly newspapers, Kung Kao Po and The Sunday Examiner. In addition, the Diocesan Audio-Visual Centre produces tapes and films for use in schools and parishes and, overall, the Hong Kong Catholic Social Communications Office acts as an information and public relations channel for the diocese.