Berkley Center

Despite its status as China’s Special Administrative Region (SAR), Hong Kong comes with a separate set of rules. I recall the medley of difficulties I faced in Shanghai last summer, which included passing over “the great firewall of China” and attending church. In Hong Kong, not having a Facebook account is completely unheard of; people blog without restraint; freedom of speech is a basic human right, which if tampered with, would probably create uproar. The fact that its “mother country” restricts this right pushes Hongkongers to take full advantage of their unique position.

In Hong Kong, religious institutions do not need to be authorized by the government nor censored for their theological commitments, beliefs, and teachings. Ironically, this religious freedom is not something that most Hongkongers care to exercise. This is due to the fact that many Hongkongers do not identify with a religion. According to the State Department’s figures on Hong Kong’s religious demographics, only 43 percent are religiously affiliated, meaning that more than half of Hong Kong’s residents are not religious.

Let’s take a closer look at the breakdown of Hong Kong’s religious population. Based on my conversations with several locals and members of the church I attended, I’ve gathered that the religion is segmented across age groups. The eldest strata of society are usually Buddhist. Others practice Confucian or Daoist ideals, though most people no longer practice them as a religion.

Members of Hong Kong’s older generation adhere more closely to traditional Chinese thought and thus take it on as a religion. Those in their mid-40s to late-50s are mostly Protestant and Catholic. This isn’t so surprising considering the fact that most of them would have gone to Catholic or Protestant primary and secondary schools founded by missionaries. An overwhelming number of young Hongkongers are newly emerging atheists. There are also a plethora of other religions practiced by expats and immigrants from South Asian. As result, there are also substantial Muslim and Hindu populations in Hong Kong.

There are, of course, many factors to consider when examining the rise of atheism among the youth. Perhaps it’s not even a phenomenon specific to Hong Kong when one looks to the increasing number of atheists around the world. These figures, however, should not overshadow the fact that many Hongkongers actively practice religion. Although a relative minority, these believers have played an influential role in different spheres of society, from education to welfare to public policy.

For example, Daoist and Buddhist organizations often collect money to contribute to charitable purposes such as welfare, educational, and medical needs. It’s common to be approached by members of these organizations while walking the streets of Hong Kong. It’s typically elderly people who actively participate in these street campaigning programs. Followers of Confucianism are heavily involved in the education sector and have established multiple Confucian schools across the country. There are 283 Catholic schools in the diocese of Hong Kong, most of which are aided by the Catholic Board of Education; nearly 220,000 students attend these Church-sponsored schools. Catholics also support several clinics, family centers, hostels, and rehabilitation centers. Perhaps what is most surprising is the fact that almost 95 percent of the people who take advantage of these services are non-Catholics.

Looking at the demographic statistics alone, one may easily conclude that people without a religious affiliation outnumber those who identify with a religion. One may suppose that these figures are the result of secularization and Westernization. One may even infer that religion is slowly slipping away and fading into the backdrop of Hong Kong’s social fabric.

Despite the decreasing number of religious adherents, however, religion of all kinds is deeply embedded in everyday life. Social welfare is something that Hong Kong’s government has never been very proactive about. Thus, as religious groups serve as the welfare arm of the country, they become essentially impossible to ignore. Because of its defense of religious freedom, religion is a pervasive component of Hong Kong’s welfare and social society.