How Have the Commercial Functions of Chinese Temples in Hong Kong Changed Since 1842?

THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

香港理工大学

CC1C07_20153_A: Chinese Customs and Rituals

Research Essay: How have the commercial functions of Chinese temples in Hong Kong changed since 1842?

CC1C07_20153_A: Chinese Customs and Rituals

How have the commercial functions of Chinese temples in Hong Kong changed since 1842?

1. Introduction

After the World War II, the world has observed the inauguration of changes in religions such as Buddhism and Taoism especially in the westernizing Chinese countries such as Hong Kong and Taiwan (Swatos & Olson, 2000). These traditional cultures and religions gave way to the advanced consumer societies which are more pragmatic for economic benefits. As the secularization of Hong Kong occurs through modernization and globalization over the years, religions and thus the Chinese temples lose its supremacy in the citizens’ social lives (Chen, 1995). People became more disengaged with Chinese temples as they procured higher purchasing power and indulged in the consumerism of international goods. Also, 2005 and 2006 Asia Barometer surveys have shown that 72.8% (Figure 1) of the citizens in Hong Kong have no religion affiliations (Reed, 2007) which imply that Chinese temples have been sparsely visited by the Hong Kong citizens. As a result, the commercial functions of Chinese temples had changed drastically as the temples no longer focused on local citizens but tourists’ patronization. The temples no longer serve as sites for temple fairs due to the presence of shopping kiosk in temple street and permanent shops built around the temples. Temples also significantly influence the business of the paper offerings shops based on the deities that are hosted in their temples.

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Figure 1: The percentage of respondents with no religion affiliations (Reed, 2007)

2.1 Shift of the commercial focus from local citizens to tourists

Before Hong Kong was surrendered to the British government in 1842, the local citizens’ entertainment came from various sources such as dragon dances and Chinese operas which were performed during the deities’ birthdays (Heritage Museum, Hong Kong Government). These mutual interactions and village gatherings helped to mold relationships between the villagers as everyone was excited and entertained by the performances. At the same time, the temples also played their social and religious functions well with these collective entertainments and helped to bring the community together. With the majority of the local community present at the temples during their leisure time, booths were set up to sell their goods such as snacks and clothing (Cooper, 2013) and the commercial functions of the temples in those days flourished.

However, as the world catches up with the technological advancements and after the abdication of Hong Kong to the British government in 1842 (Heritage Museum, Hong Kong Government), international forms of entertainments such football and amusement parks are introduced in Hong Kong. These forms of leisure become popular and leads to the transformation of communal entertainments to more individualistic leisure such as movie theaters and televisions (Heritage Museum, Hong Kong Government). These electronics create segregation and anonymity as the complete privatization of the electronics occurred (Sennett, 1978). At the same time, the citizens are less appreciative of the communal entertainments displayed in temples such as lion dances and opera theaters. Hence, the conventional methods to attract the local people to temples by using lion dances and operas (Cooper, 2013) are inefficient, and temples have no choice but to survive through the commerce with tourists instead.

        Hong Kong Tourism Board has been promoting Chinese temples as tourists’ attractions (Lau, Leung & Yuen, 2014), and one good example is the Kwan Tai Birthday in Man Mo Temple on 27 June 2016. Birthdays of deities were celebrated by the majority of the local Chinese citizens in the past, however, as shown from Figure 2A and 2B, most of the visitors were tourists. There were some locals that visited the temple and among these small numbers of locals, only the elders were praying as shown in Figure 3. These tourists were early at the temples, and some patronized the counters in the temples to purchase the joss offerings to burn and probably, kept as souvenirs as well. Furthermore, the fortune teller booth and the souvenir shop in the temple are obviously catered to the tourists as well, with the clear indications of the abilities to speak English (white box in Figure 4) and selling postcards and English names such as 蘭娜 (Lena) (top right in Figure 4). It was not surprising that this event has attracted tourists to a greater extent as most of the citizens were not religion-affiliated (Figure 1) and thus, such events were not of any concerns to them. Also, there are notices that are displayed in the temple to remind people, most likely the tourists, not to take photos of the workers and worshippers as shown in Figure 5. This implies that there are probably incidents when the workers and worshippers were disturbed by flashlights and photos. The easiest method to prevent such incidents is to forbid cameras in the temples, and yet, it is not implemented. One can infer that the tourists’ visits are critical for the temples’ commercial functions and forbidding cameras prevents tourists to take memory photos may lead the deterioration of the visits and thus, reduced incomes.  

Therefore, the commercial functions of temples which depend on local citizens to patronize in the past are overwhelmed by the complete individualistic entertainment and a high percentage of citizens that are free thinkers. These factors forced the temples to rely on the commerce with tourists to survive instead, which caused the temples to lose their prestige as sacred places since they are promoted as tourists’ attractions by the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

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Figure 2A (Left): Australian tourists were waiting for the lion dances to begin

Figure 2B (Right): Tourists were leaving after the lion dances were over

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Figure 3: An old woman was trying to pray to the Gods but was distracted by the tourists who were rushing towards the lion dances on her right

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Figure 4: Fortune teller booth and souvenir shop in Man Mo Temple

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Figure 5: Photo-taking guidelines in the temple

2.2 Transformation of temporary temple fairs and markets to permanent shops in Temple Street

Temporary temple fairs and markets were initially organized to celebrate the deities’ birthdays such as Tian Hou (天后) (Figure 6) and Mother Guanyin (Ward and Law, 2005). Temple fairs were set up in front of the temples, with stalls selling a wide variety of goods such as snacks, flowers, and candles. The type of goods also varied according to the four seasons and some fairs specialized in products that were associated with that season of the year (Cooper, 2013). For example, cosmetics and clothing would dominate the fairs during early winter. Also, the merchant shops at the temple markets were randomized with no associations or organizations. Most of the merchants would reserve their desired locations through some forms of associations with the temples where they set up their booths (Dong, 2003).

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