Banned on the mainland, the Mormons are targeting the Chinese community here. Kenneth Howe meets the door-to-door deity salesmen and discovers that Confucius has already been converted
CONFUCIUS, WORSHIPPED by millions across Asia as a religion unto himself, has been converted to a creed born on American soil less than 200 years ago: Mormonism. Although the most influential and respected philosopher in Chinese history died in 479 BC, this is but a minor snag for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose Mormon members conduct proxy baptisms for the dead, to ensure non-Mormon ancestors an opportunity for salvation.
Valencia Yu-Yan Hung, 46, a Mormon since she was eight-years-old growing up in the New Territories, has piles of parchments comprising 72 generations that she says trace her lineage to the sage.
She immersed herself on behalf of her ancestors, including Confucius, acting out a cornerstone of the belief known as the 'eternal family'. One thousand spirits done, 10,000 to go. 'There's too many,' says the receptionist, now living in Sydney. What would Confucius say? Hung explains that deceased initiates have the right to decline the offer of salvation but believes Confucius will follow his heart and accept. But, she adds: 'Maybe he will not accept; he believes in God but not our God.'
More than 20,000 Hong Kongers have converted since the Mormon church was established here in 1949, despite the mainland having banned the religion. With Asia representing half of the world's population, Hong Kong has been decreed the regional proselytising starting point. In June, the church made what local leaders believe is its largest foreign investment when it purchased property at 116 Gloucester Road, Wan Chai, though the church refuses to disclose how much it cost. The planned 25-storey building 'will be the finest building the church has ever constructed outside of Utah [the church's headquarters]', says Asian president Cree Kofford. 'This will be the [Asian] hub,' says Jay Fellows, Asian director of public affairs.
Brent Hardy, president of the Hong Kong temple in Kowloon Tong, recalls serving as a missionary here in 1956. It was 10 years before the Book of Mormon would be translated in Chinese, but, as a sixth-generation Mormon, the then 22-year-old's zeal compensated. 'Hong Kong was not a happy place,' says the 66-year-old. It was a time when thousands of refugees abandoned communist China and were reduced to living on rooftops, or four families to an apartment. 'Refugees were looking for something - there was a spiritual vacuum.' In three years, he and his ecclesiastical peers had recorded 1,700 converts. But materialism has since become the new religion. 'There isn't that spiritual longing here anymore,' Hardy laments.