A Comparative Study On Government Management Of Folk Religion Temples In The Regions Of Fujian, Hong Kong And Taiwan

Folk religion has been commonly prevalent in the regions of Fujian, Hong Kong and Taiwan since ancient times. The number of followers and temples has both greatly exceeds the sum of the five major religions in China, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Catholicism, Islam. Under such circumstance, the management of folk religion becomes a hot issue of social affair management for the governments of these three regions. As a grass-rooted religion, folk religion is not only attached with the religious attribute which spiritually satisfies its followers, but also has the social attribute, forming the loose ritual organization to indirectly participate in the local social affair. When it comes to the management of folk religion in these three regions, the governments should take its religious and social attributes into account. They should standardize the management of folk religion. On the other hand, they can not hurt the religious enthusiasm of followers. As a result, the management of folk religion becomes a difficult issue for the governments in these regions.Due to the different historical destiny and social situation in the regions of Fujian, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the governments show great differences in the management of folk religion temples. Employed with the theory of political science, management and economics, this thesis summarizes the government management modes of folk religion temples in the regions of Fujian, Hong Kong and Changhua City in Taiwan as follows:guided by the principle that state-centered selective management system, Fujian government carry out pilot management in the folk religion places; taking the legal bureaucratic system as its mode, Hong Kong Chinese Temple Committee focuses on the property management of temples; the Temple Administration of Changhua City builds a public management mode to take over the management of folk religion temples, and focuses on developing the public value of temples. The management of folk religion temples in these three religions has their advantages as well as disadvantages. Taking the theoretical models of folk religion management of the governments and their actual effects into consideration, this thesis respectively analyzes the governmental management of folk religion in these regions and then put forward some suggestions on the folk religion management for Fujian government at the level of legal, management mechanism and temple management.