Thailand and Hong Kong Religious Differences

Comp ar the religion in Thai and Hong Kong Introduction Religion is a way to review the ethnical system of a country, it relates humanity to spirituality. Hong Kong and Thailand create a distinct history background, which interpret the big difference in daily cultural practices. This essay aims to get out a brief introduction of the religion in Thailand and Hong Kong and compares their differences and similarities. It will start from the history background and general information to the details of religious activities. General In Hong Kong, people are protected by the Basic Law, they have the religious freedom.There is a wide variety of religious aggroups such as Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and so on. With cl years of rule as a separate British colony, although most Hong Kong people are ethnically Chinese, Hong Kong has a unique local identity. Elements of traditional Chinese culture combining western in? uences have shaped Hong Kong as a city with mixed culture. Apart from the Chinese and British cultural in? uences, Hong Kong is a free trade port with people from different countries staying there which have a large variety of religion beliefs and ways of thought.According to a Gullup crownwork in 2010, 64% of Hong Kong residents are either agnostic or indifferent towards religion. Buddhism and Taoism are the major religious with more than 1 million Buddhists and about 1 million Taoists. The second large religious group is Christianity, it has been in Hong Kong since 1841. There are about 843,000 Christians in Hong Kong, most of them are Protestant or Roman Catholic. Temples and churches are omnipresent and ubiquitous on the streets, few of them have been there for more than 700 years ago.Although Hong Kong is literally no religion background, there are any(prenominal) public holidays related to religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Buddhas Birthday. Adherents hold special celebration or ceremonies on these occasions. Those major r eligious bodies have established schools, hospitals and provides social welfare facilities. Theomania is rare in Hong Kong, religion con? ict has never occurred so far. In Thailand, Buddhism has long been it national religion, about 95% of Thais are Buddhists of the Theravada tradition. In fact, there is no of? ial state religion in the Thai constitution, people are guaranteed to have religious freedom. However, Buddhism has spread widely in Thailand since tertiary century BC, it led the Buddhas teachings becoming very famous. There is no of? cial state religion in the Thai constitution, which guarantees religious freedom for all Thai citizens, though the king is required by law to be Buddhist. According to the last census (2000) 94. 6% of Thais are Buddhists of the Theravada tradition. Muslims are the second largest religious group in Thailand at 4. 6%.There are more than 600 temples in the HKSAR. 5 The history of close to of these temples can be traced back to more than 700 year s ago, while some others have been built in recent years. Notable temples include the Wong Tai Sin Temple located in the Wong Tai Sin District in Kowloon. This popular temple is dedicated to the Taoist deity, Wong Tai Sin. Besides that, the Chi Lin Nunnery in Diamond Hill is a group of temple structures in the savour Dynastys architectural style. It is now open to the public following the completion of its redevelopment in 2000.