Considering the Chinese population in New York is so vast, I found it interesting that there were no in depth studies of the religion of these people prior to guest’s work. I also found it interesting how many different Chinese religious institutions there are in the city. There are sixty-two institutions in total for one people. I also found it interesting how he showed how each wave of immigration is represented by a certain congregation. By looking at the people there guest mentioned when the people came to America and where from.
From what I can tell the focus of this chapter was the fuzhounese religious communities and he specifically spoke about three different places of worship one a Buddhist temple called he xian jun Buddhist temple and the other two are churches. One entitled the temple of the holy thanksgiving and the other called st josephs. I found it really cool how even though these communities are on two different continents, there still very connected. For example master lu sends money back to china to help build roads and build.a temple. Moreover, he goes back and visits and holds services for the people there. He also helps people who have just come to the country if the temple has money available. The temple of the holy thanksgiving also helps people when they first arrive. They have rooms within for people to stay temporarily. They also help their congregants find jobs around the country. Chinese food restaurants seem to be the most popular. These people are all illegals though which means that it benefits both the owners who get cheap labor and the illegals who get a job. Although this hurts real Americans who have legal citizenship, it helps these people who have come to a foreign country. It helps them make a live for themselves, as well as stay connected with those back in the mainland of China.
