Kari Chong

The most surprising thing for me when I arrived at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) was the lack of diversity in religious organizations on campus. I had often heard of diversity of Hong Kong as an international city, and was caught off guard when I saw that this did not extend to its universities. Although there are Christian organizations on campus such as the "CUHK Campus Crusade for Christ", I miss the presence of the various religious organizations I feel at Georgetown. This was most apparent during Ramadan. Ramadan at Georgetown is relatively quiet and Leo's is still open during the day. However, if you are in the MSA (Muslim Students Association), a friend of the MSA, or you have been to one of the daily iftars hosted by a different GU club, the spirit of Ramadan can be felt. Here, however, there is no MSA. There is no organized jumah (Friday prayer or iftar dinner during Ramadan. The only time I have seen a hijab (yes, one hijab) on campus was when there was a lecture by a prominent Muslim speaker. So far, in a campus with a staff of 5,200, and undergraduate population of 10,000, and approximately 2,000 research postgraduate students, I have met a total of four Muslims, three who are postgraduates, and none of them are Hong Kong natives.

After spending two months in northwestern China and attending an international church in Beijing and mosques in Beijing, Xi'an, and Luoyang (Henan Province) I realized that Christianity and Islam seem to play a quiet but significant role in China. Although religion is not as "suppressed" as American media seems to portray, religion is usually a subject to be avoided and a faith that is practiced according to one's comfort level.