[Buddha-l] curious

[Erik Hoogcarspel]

it is, but the statues and the painting scrolls are still circulating. 
This summer I saw quite a few small statues and portraits of Cixi 
(dowager) and Pu-Yi at the Shanghai antique market. According to the 
vendors some even from Guangxu (it's difficult to see the difference). 
The vendors explained that these came from old people dying and 
clearings of attics. A probable cause for the availibility of the 
statues could also be that many temples were just locked and that some 
of them now have been cleared because of the need for building sites. 
Buddhism is in the rise, because of the new rich. Even  feng shui, which 
was considered utter nonsense in the Mao- and Dengperiod is back again.

JKirkpatrick schreef:
> Hi Erik,
>
> I'm surprised at closing of temples as I'd thought I heard
> somewhere that Buddhism was on the rise again in China since it's
> low during the cul. rev.
> But paintings of the imperial family? that's a big surprise since
> the government still claims to be a communist system. You mean
> the Manchu Dowager Empress and relatives? 
>
> JK
> =
Erik

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