ENG-2019 — Page 396

21

Religion and Custom

associations. The diocese publishes two weekly newspapers: Kung Kao Po and the Sunday Examiner. Its Diocesan Audio-Visual Centre produces cultural and educational programmes for television broadcasting and DVD production.

Islam

Hong Kong has an estimated 300,000 Muslims, comprising 150,000 Indonesians, 50,000 Chinese, 30,000 Pakistanis and people from India, Malaysia, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere, according to the Incorporated Trustees of the Islamic Community Fund of Hong Kong.

All local Islamic activities are coordinated by the trustees, which form a charity managing all five mosques, two cemeteries and a kindergarten. They make funeral arrangements, announce the dates of festivals including Ramadan, and conduct inspections and issue certificates for halal food in Hong Kong and parts of the Mainland.

Local Chinese Muslims are represented mainly by the Chinese Muslim Cultural and Fraternal Association, which operates a college, two primary schools and two kindergartens.

The oldest mosque is the Jamia Masjid in Mid-Levels, built in 1849 and rebuilt in 1915 to cater for more than 400 worshippers. The eight-storey Masjid Ammar and Osman Ramju Sadick. Islamic Centre in Wan Chai, with a capacity of over 1,500, features a library, a clinic, an Islamic canteen and the Muslim Community Kindergarten among its many facilities. The Kowloon Masjid and Islamic Centre, with its distinctive white-marble finish, is a landmark in Tsim Sha Tsui and manifests the true identity of local Muslims. It has a capacity of 3,500 and sees nearly one million users yearly. Stanley Mosque is inside Stanley Prison, while Chai Wan Mosque is at Cape Collinson. The cemeteries are in Happy Valley and Cape Collinson.

Hinduism

Religious and social activities of the 100,000-strong Hindu community from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other south-east Asian countries are centred on the Hindu Temple in Happy Valley, which the Hindu Association of Hong Kong manages and maintains. Worshippers use the temple for meditation, spiritual lectures, yoga classes and other community activities, and to observe major festivals including Diwali, Dussehra, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Cheti Chand and Hanuman Jayanti. They also perform engagement and marriage ceremonies according to Hindu rites and the Marriage Ordinance. Other important services include administrating last rites, making arrangements for cremation and related rituals and maintaining the Hindu crematorium at Cape Collinson.

The temple holds devotional music sessions and religious discourses every Sunday morning, followed by a free community meal that is also served on Monday evenings.

Sikhism

Hong Kong's first Sikhs came from Punjab, India, as part of the British Armed Forces in the 19th century. In 1901, Sikh members of the British Army Regiment stationed in the city built the first Sikh temple, Sri Guru Singh Sabha, at Queen's Road East, Wan Chai. This temple was later

330