page_title: Religion in Hong Kong
section_title: Chinese folk religion
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Hong Kong / Chinese folk religion
caption_attribution_description: 中文（香港）‎: 深水埗關帝廟
context_page_description: Religion in Hong Kong is characterized by a multi-faith diversity of beliefs and practices.
  Most of the Hong Kong people of Chinese descent practice Chinese folk religion—which may include Confucian and Taoist doctrines and ritual traditions—or Buddhism, mostly of the Chinese variety.
  According to official statistics for the year 2016 among the Hong Kong people who belong to an organised religion there are: over 1 million Buddhists, over 1 million Taoists, 480,000 Protestants, 379,000 Catholics, 300,000 Muslims, 100,000 Hindus, 12,000 Sikhs, and other smaller communities. Hong Kong had a population of 7.34 million in mid-2016.
  The great majority of the population mostly follow Chinese traditional religions, which include the worship of local gods and ancestors. Also, in many cases people avoid declaring their religious affiliation in surveys. Traditional Chinese religions were not encouraged during the British rule over Hong Kong, which favoured Christianity. With the end of British colonial rule and the return of sovereignty over the city-state to China, there is a renewal of Buddhist and Chinese folk religions.
context_section_description: Chinese folk religion, also named Shenism, was the indigenous religion of the Han Chinese. Its focus is the worship of the shen (神 "expressions", "gods"), that are the generative powers of nature, also including, in the human sphere, ancestors and progenitors of families or lineages, and divine heroes that made a significant imprinting in the history of the Chinese civilisation.
  Traditionally Hong Kong Chinese practised Daoist or folk religion, along with some Buddhist practices and ancestor worship. In recent decades urban residential areas seldom have neighborhood temples. Bosco argues that modern postindustrial life styles do not comport well with traditional practices. Many residents fail to recognize their practices as religious. Instead they regard many traditional practices and rituals, such as neighborhood processions, as part of the unremarkable heritage representing traditional Hong Kong culture. Consequently, religion is often overlooked in Hong Kong. One result, says Bosco, is that diversity and tolerance are the characteristics that most mark the Hong Kong religious landscape.
caption: A small shrine to Guan Yu in Sham Shui Po.
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