Nectar Gan
South China Morning Post 09 July, 2015
Religious
workers survive on just 500 yuan a month on average and are often
not entitled to any insurance or pension, survey
finds
Monks, priests and imams on the mainland earn an average of only
500 yuan (HK$630) a month, a quarter of them are not medically
insured, and 40 per cent have no old-age pension insurance, a study
has found.
Renmin University surveyed nearly 4,400 religious facilities in 31
province-level regions between 2013 and 2015.
The
results were published in the "China Religion Report 2015" on
Tuesday.
The
study found that the average monthly income of clergy in five major
religions on the mainland - Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism,
Protestantism and Islam - was 506 yuan.
Buddhist monks
earn on average as little as 397 yuan each month, in stark contrast
to many people's belief that they are generally well
paid.
"Recruitment
advertisements" allegedly from Buddhist temples and convents have
drawn much attention on mainland social media in recent years,
claiming to offer handsome salaries - ranging from a few thousand
to nearly 10,000 yuan a month - to monks and nuns.
But
many of the adverts were hoaxes, with temples denying ever having
posting such notices, according to media reports.
According to the
Renmin University survey, most clergy were aged between 30 and 60,
and one in 10 held a bachelor's degree.
Among the 4,382
heads of religious venues surveyed, the average age was 55, one in
five was a woman, and 15 per cent had some university
education.
Among
worshippers, more than half were aged below 60. Some 43 per cent
had only a primary school education or below, and only 5 per cent
held a bachelor's degree.
Places of
worship on the mainland were also becoming more integrated into
modern society.
Some
56 per cent of the venues surveyed held an organisation code
certificate - a legal code mark required for participation in all
social economic activities in the country.
About 47 per
cent of the religious venues had their own bank accounts, 10 per
cent used the internet to preach or publicise their religion, and
10 per cent used projectors or other media devices to carry out
their religious activities.
Meanwhile,
places of worship remained under tight government
control.
The
State Bureau of Religious Affairs paid almost four visits on
average to every venue each year, while the ruling Communist
Party's United Front Work Department - which is in charge of
coordinating ethnic minorities and religions - paid them close to
two visits a year.
Since 1977, the
year after the Cultural Revolution ended, 8 per cent of mainland
Protestant churches were shut down - much higher than the 3.8 per
cent average for the five major religions, the study
found.