CHINA – building new temples to meet (Western) demands

In an article in the Financial Times, Patti Waldmeir describes China’s spiritual tourism boom. Western and local tourists are heading to the countryside to clear their mind and find enlightenment.

Daoism’s famous mountain, Wudangshan, saw a 20 per cent year-on-year rise in visitors in the first quarter of this year, while nearly 40 per cent more visitors travelled to Buddhism’s Jiuhuashan this lunar new year holiday than the last. The Buddhist island of Putuoshan in the East China Sea has seen such an explosion of tourism that in 2012 it announced plans for an IPO (though public outcry later forced the local government to clarify that religious sites would not be included).

Local governments are building new temples to meet the demands. A plethora of trips are available to escape the city, commune with nature and find quiet, forming a whole new industry of ‘back to the countryside’ tourism, which rises 12% year on year. These trips are increasingly popular with the middle-class Chinese as well as Western visitors.

Read the full article here.

Chinese temple, China, ca. 1900-1919, location unknown, Photo: Wikimedia Commons