Temples and tourists
Today we took a visit to the main financial center of Hong Kong which is a 5 minute tram ride away and known as the 'central district'. Our little trip was to go and explore a temple which is very popular and well known called the "Man Mo Temple". It is a temple which is devoted to two of the most popular gods, the god of war (Kwan Yu) and the god of literature (Man Cheung).
One of the first things that hits you when you visit the temple is that it seems so out of place. Having been built in 1847 it is smack bang in the middle of a busy financial district side road, Hong Kong has been built up around it, but the temple has not budged an inch.
Before you walk into the temple itself you are met with its lion-type guards glowering down at you. Apparently there is always two, one male and one female.
With the upcoming Chinese New Year, the temple itself was packed. You walk in and the first thing that strikes you is the smell of the incense. There must have been thousands of burning sticks placed everywhere round the temple, some the size of cigars. The smoke stung your eyes and made them start to water, there were giant fans trying to pump out the smoke as it rose to the ceiling, but there was simply not enough fans to cope with the amount of burning taking place. Women barged past with huge bunches of flowers and knelt before the god of war and the god of literature, then placed the flowers on a table before their statues. There was also an abundance of food. Fruit and vegetables were laid out on the table, as well as entire cooked meals, bakery goods and meat. The belief is that the gods and ghosts can consume the food through its essence, so eventually it gets thrown away intact, but has still provided sustenance to the gods. It was not the normal quiet state of affairs which some temples have been that we have visited, it was loud, bustling and a hive of activity with people whacking gongs... and in one room a man offering to tell your fortune. (for a price of course)
What annoyed me the most was the tourists though. Now i am aware of my tourist status, and it was others like me that I had no problem with. What really made me frustrated and ashamed was the amount of visitors taking pictures inside the temple, in particular of the shrine itself. I watched as one Chinese woman was trying to pray and actually got shunted by a Gwei Lo English woman trying to get a good shot of some candles. As far as I'm concerned it was the height of rudenenss and made me want to shove the camera somewhere rather rude. Whilst there was no sign saying you could not take photos, its common sense that you just need to show a little respect when you are allowed in a temple of a religion that you are not a part of.
Right, my rant is now over and I am going out for some much needed dinner. Night x
Bx
One of the first things that hits you when you visit the temple is that it seems so out of place. Having been built in 1847 it is smack bang in the middle of a busy financial district side road, Hong Kong has been built up around it, but the temple has not budged an inch.
Before you walk into the temple itself you are met with its lion-type guards glowering down at you. Apparently there is always two, one male and one female.
With the upcoming Chinese New Year, the temple itself was packed. You walk in and the first thing that strikes you is the smell of the incense. There must have been thousands of burning sticks placed everywhere round the temple, some the size of cigars. The smoke stung your eyes and made them start to water, there were giant fans trying to pump out the smoke as it rose to the ceiling, but there was simply not enough fans to cope with the amount of burning taking place. Women barged past with huge bunches of flowers and knelt before the god of war and the god of literature, then placed the flowers on a table before their statues. There was also an abundance of food. Fruit and vegetables were laid out on the table, as well as entire cooked meals, bakery goods and meat. The belief is that the gods and ghosts can consume the food through its essence, so eventually it gets thrown away intact, but has still provided sustenance to the gods. It was not the normal quiet state of affairs which some temples have been that we have visited, it was loud, bustling and a hive of activity with people whacking gongs... and in one room a man offering to tell your fortune. (for a price of course)
What annoyed me the most was the tourists though. Now i am aware of my tourist status, and it was others like me that I had no problem with. What really made me frustrated and ashamed was the amount of visitors taking pictures inside the temple, in particular of the shrine itself. I watched as one Chinese woman was trying to pray and actually got shunted by a Gwei Lo English woman trying to get a good shot of some candles. As far as I'm concerned it was the height of rudenenss and made me want to shove the camera somewhere rather rude. Whilst there was no sign saying you could not take photos, its common sense that you just need to show a little respect when you are allowed in a temple of a religion that you are not a part of.
Right, my rant is now over and I am going out for some much needed dinner. Night x
Bx
posted by robynandben at 4:44 PM
3 Comments:
Add it to the list of visits and we promise not to take any pics, not that we have a camera yet, flight with BA still looks good, keep fingers crossed 5 days to go !! Hope you have had a few drinks and a better undisturbed night x x
Hmmm...So it was busy eh? Me thinks, when the government start letting off rockets get down the god of war temple quick!
Love
Dad/Dave xx
we saw the same sort of disrecpect in Rome. Nuns praying by Pope JP's tomb were ignored in favour of loud tourists with cameras the size of a small nation.
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