Beijing opposes listing of temples

BUDDHIST and Taoist temples had no right to go public and list shares on stock exchanges, a Chinese official has said of an issue that seems to have touched a nerve with the officially atheist government.

The listing of firms linked to heritage sites is not new in China’s threedecade-old capital markets, but attempts to list at least one religious site seem to have crossed a line.

Schemes to promote tourism at temples, or for temples to band together and list to raise funds, were wrong, Liu Wei, an official at the State Administration of Religious Affairs, told the Xinhua news agency this week.

Such plans “violate the legitimate rights of religious circles, damage the image of religion and hurt the feelings of the majority of religious people”, he told a conference on the management of religious sites.

Reports about the Shaolin Temple, famous for its kung fu monks, planning a listing sparked public outcry three years ago. Many Chinese are concerned that the Shaolin Temple, which has become a high-profile commercial entity in recent years, is becoming too money-minded.

Shanghai-listed Huangshan Tourism Development, for example, sells admission to Huangshan, or the Yellow Mountain, a world cultural and natural heritage site in the southern province of Anhui.

And the sale of entry tickets to the famed Emei Mountain in southwest China is a key income source for Shenzhen-listed Emei Shan Tourism.

China’s Communist government is officially atheist but the state recognises Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, and tolerates other religious activity within limits. – Reuters