TY - JOUR
T1 - Hong kong citizens’ understanding of islam
T2 - The case of the sheung shui mosque development project
AU - Law, Lok Yin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, The Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The Hong Kong government consistently emphasizes how Hong Kong is a society marked by cultural pluralism, as all citizens can enjoy freedoms of religion and belief under the Basic Law. Reality is more complex than this. To fulfill the needs of increasing numbers of worshippers, several representatives of Hong Kong’s Muslim community suggested, in the early 2000s, the building of a new mosque in Sheung Shui, a rural area of the territory. However, social protests and governmental stonewalling created barriers for its building. In this article I suggest that the difficult development of a new mosque in Sheung Shui appears to be against the free and open religious policy espoused by the Hong Kong government. Through the lenses of Sheung Shui Mosque’s development, and making use of multiple sources (from local newspapers to government documents), this article aims to reassess Hong Kong citizens’ understanding of Hong Kong’s Muslim community as well as Hong Kong society’s concept of pluralism and multiculturalism.
AB - The Hong Kong government consistently emphasizes how Hong Kong is a society marked by cultural pluralism, as all citizens can enjoy freedoms of religion and belief under the Basic Law. Reality is more complex than this. To fulfill the needs of increasing numbers of worshippers, several representatives of Hong Kong’s Muslim community suggested, in the early 2000s, the building of a new mosque in Sheung Shui, a rural area of the territory. However, social protests and governmental stonewalling created barriers for its building. In this article I suggest that the difficult development of a new mosque in Sheung Shui appears to be against the free and open religious policy espoused by the Hong Kong government. Through the lenses of Sheung Shui Mosque’s development, and making use of multiple sources (from local newspapers to government documents), this article aims to reassess Hong Kong citizens’ understanding of Hong Kong’s Muslim community as well as Hong Kong society’s concept of pluralism and multiculturalism.
KW - Hong Kong
KW - Mosques
KW - Muslims
KW - Religious discrimination
KW - Sheung Shui
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84931040000&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/1683478X.2015.1025597
DO - 10.1080/1683478X.2015.1025597
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84931040000
SN - 1683-478X
VL - 14
SP - 57
EP - 66
JO - Asian Anthropology
JF - Asian Anthropology
IS - 1
ER -