The only five faiths that are legal in China today are Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Islam, and Protestantism. Due to the incident happened at the Tiananmen Square in 1989, the Chinese lost their confidence towards the government. In an effort to rebuild their confidence, the government began to revive temples that were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in 1960s to 1970s. The government wants to bring unity back between the Chinese and the government by allowing the citizens to practice religions in order to create a harmonious society. There are different types of religious organizations or churches that exist in China’s society. However, the government still controls over religion and keeps it under surveillance. In The Gods Come Home, the Kuan Yin Festival attracted a large group of Buddhists to Mount Putou. Wong Ling is a tour guide that leads the pilgrims to seek blessing from Kuan Yin. Miss Wong helped to organize a flood of pilgrims to get to the top of Mount Putou, one of the holiest place, to worship Kuan Yin. A pilgrim named Xio Cho wanted to receive the blessing from Kuan Yin to improve her health. The pilgrims need to travel one thousand steps in order to reach their destination. At the foot of the mountain, many police was there to marshal the people. Government was …show more content…
The monks do not want to accept any funds from the government to operate the temple. The monks think if they accept any assistance from the government, then that means the temple also accepts the government’s control. The monks decide to sustain themselves by running different kind of business, such as, restaurants and souvenir shops. These stores generate enough profits for the temple because Shanghai is a big city where many wealthy and middle class people live. Since the temple did not take any of the offers from the government, the government has no rights to control over the Shanghai Jade