Although chapter 5 of God in Chinatown was full of information about religious institutions in Chinatown, I found myself particularly interested in one of them. Guest’s description of the He Xian Jun Buddhist Temple and its founder, Master Lu, made me feel like something was a little off. Maybe I’m too much of a jaded New Yorker, but I find it hard to believe that Master Lu is being completely honest with his followers. He claims that he can talk to the deity He Xian Jun and that through this deity he is told to build a temple to help Chinese immigrants. Lu also claims that he can’t work in the back of a restaurant, a typical job for illegal immigrants, because He Xian Jun told him, “It’s too dirty. I can’t get close to your body… [because] of the meat smells” (Guest 131). Because he can’t work anywhere too dirty, Lu opens a temple, where he is able to live comfortably on the donations of his followers, and even has a “spacious new five-story home” in Fuqi. The most troubling thing about this scenario is how readily the Chinese immigrants described in this chapter accept Lu as a leader.
It’s not fair to say that Master Lu has not helped Chinese immigrants at all, because he has, or at least the temple he founded has anyway. Lu says that he doesn’t have money to loan to his followers, “but if the temple has some money we loan it to them. They pay it back as they are able” (132). The actual Temple itself also provides a place where Chinese immigrants, who are thrown into a completely new environment with different customs when they move to NYC, can meet with other immigrants and have a sense of community. But these two services seem like services that could have been provided to these immigrants at another temple, without the help of Master Lu. I can imagine that there is a language barrier that prevents Chinese immigrants from learning about other religious institutions that can help them. And for illegal immigrants especially, there aren’t a lot of places they can turn to, which makes Master Lu one of the only people to turn to for help. While reading this section, I got the feeling that these immigrants, trying to make a better life for themselves are so often overlooked or treated as business transactions, by the smugglers, people like Master Lu, and others who agree to let illegal immigrants work in horrid conditions for less than minimum wage. As we have learned from other readings, religion usually plays a big role in immigrants’ transition and adjustment to living in New York City, and religious institutions sometimes provide a platform for immigrants to voice their concerns and complaints (Galvez). In this case, however, Master Lu seems to be using illegal immigrants for his own benefit.
