NO. 2 FOLK RELIGION IN SOUTHWEST CHINA — GRAHAM 207 



Thirteen temples that had been confiscated or purchased had been 

 altered into private residences for wealthy and powerful families. 

 All idols and priests had been removed, and they were no longer 

 places of worship. 



Thirteen temples, mostly large ones, were used as factories. They 

 were generally in bad repair, and the machines and materials littered 

 up the rooms. Throughout the day there was the noise of machines 

 and the workers, and they were thus not suitable places of worship. 



In China the teashop is a popular social rendezvous. There a 

 person can, for the payment of a small sum, sit for an hour or more 

 and talk with friends while drinking tea that has been purified by 

 boiling. Many temples were used as teashops, most of which paid 

 rentals, but the chatting of friends did not create a suitable atmos- 

 phere for worship. 



Eleventh in order were the temples occupied by stores or shops. 

 All the stores are located in the front of the temples, near the main 

 entrance. Such temples often left their idols in the rear to be wor- 

 shiped, but near the entrances the temples did not at all resemble 

 places of worship. 



Six temples, generally small ones, were occupied by fire brigades. 

 Five were used as rice markets ; in these the atmosphere of quiet wor- 

 ship was changed to that of a noisy market. Three were used as 

 lumber markets and carpenter shops, with accompanying noise and 

 litter. Three were occupied by river-tax ofiices, where taxes were col- 

 lected on boats and their contents. 



During the years 1937 to 1948 the national government of China 

 encouraged cooperatives as a means of supplying goods that could 

 not be imported because of the Japanese blockade. Three temples 

 were used by the cooperatives, which treated with respect the priests, 

 the idols, and the worshipers. 



Three large temples were occupied by military schools; all the 

 priests and idols were removed, and there was no worship. Two 

 were used as Buddhist theological schools ; here books were translated 

 and written, scholars came to study and to improve their knowledge 

 of Buddhism, and pupils were taught. Two large temples were used 

 as dispensaries, two as theaters, two as hotels, two as ricksha stations 

 or headquarters, and two small temples had been made into public 

 toilets. One temple each was used by a military band, a youth organi- 

 zation, a school for teaching Chinese medicine, a cat and dog market, 

 a vegetable garden, and a fire lane. In many of these temples there 

 was no longer any worship. 



