h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is a very interesting Entry. My first reaction is that a very brief mention of Lao Tzu http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/lao.html might be worthwhile. I am only an ignorant westerner, but his book was my first introduction to the concept of Tao.

You mention that two Christian religions are acceptable to the government, could you name them? I thought all religion was outlawed under communism. What about the teachings of Confucius in modern China? I do not want to take the focus from the Temple itself, but these were a few of my first thoughts after reading, thank you for posting this!

F S

There is a strong and growing political movement in Hong Kong which states that "Hong Kong is not China", so for the nest couple of years at least the religious laws of China are irrelevant. However, specific cults like Falun Gong are outlawed but most mainstream Christian churches are allowed in China, although the Chinese rulers reserve the right to dis/approve catholic archbishops, for example.
Information on other religions isn't really necessary to a specific Taoist temple and would make the article unwieldy. Also, as I have implied above, the situation is changing rapidly.

Hi Florida Sailor

You're right, I should probably mention Lao Tzu and his book of poems.

Religion was banned in Mainland China, but they've relaxed somewhat. You can practise but you're not allowed try and convert anybody to your religion, and it must be one of the approved religions. At the moment there are only five approved ones, but that could change if any of these organisations said something which the Chinese government didn't like.

The two approved branches of Christianity are Roman Catholicism and the Three-Self Church, which appears to be some sort of a Protestant version of Christianity. The Three-Self seems to be wholly contained within China, which is something the government likes. They're a bit wary of Roman Catholicism because they don't like the idea of Chinese citizens being controlled by the ruler of another country, the Pope.

Confucianism doesn't appear to be an organised religion in China although I've no doubt many people adhere to its beliefs.

In Hong Kong things are different - Hong Kong still uses English law rather than Chinese, and ignores as many of the official dictats from Mainland China as it thinks it can get away with. So people are free to follow any religion they like, except the ones that the Beijing Government thinks are trying to undermine it, such as Falun Gong.

It's probably better if I remove the references to the People's Republic of China from this, given Hong Kong's ambiguous situation.

My section on Taoism now starts with:

Taoism is a philosophy or religion which is very popular in China. It is said to have been founded by Lao Tzu, a philosopher from the 6th century BC. Whether Lao Tzu himself existed, his book of poems Tao Te Ching, which sets out many of the beliefs of Taoism, is at least as old as the 2nd century BC. The Chinese word Tao, often spelt Dao1, means 'Way'.

This mentions Lao Tzu and omits any reference to the offical Beijing government views on religion.

Good solution. My fb is filled with the police crackdown last night. Not a good start to the year of the monkey.

Haven't heard any reports yet from my daughter who is in Hong Kong for the new year celebrations.

My main informant (20 minute phone call) wasn't even on the "right" island. She was probably well out of it also.

Very good

When writing about a temple or other 'holy' site it is too easy to get distracted by other religions.



F S