Hakka and Religious Power

["AJLIU@PROFSP1" <AJLIU@PB1.PacBell.COM>]

Are Hakka people gifted with regious or cult power?

Recent headlines in Taiwan are related to Hakka:

1. Song CheeLee (7 powers) group.  Song looks like a Hoklo from
   Southern Taiwan.  He was said to have virtual bodies and had been
   worshiped by thousands and collecting millions of donations.  But
   his partners are from ChuTong, a Hakka town east of Hsinchu (New
   Bamboo).  They faked Song's holy photo in a darkroom in ChuTong.
   They showed Hakka accent in TV interview.  Police suspected that
   Song was just a figure head controlled by the gang from ChuTong.
   This group even had former Vice Presidential candidate of DPP,
   the major opposition party, as its legal counsel.

2. Abbot MiaoTian (Wonderful Heaven) of ShiZhi, Taipei, was accused
   of fraud.  He made a fortune by selling spaces for ash jar in his
   to-be-built pagoda and accepting donation and gift.  The secretary
   general of this organization, Mr. Yang, also spoke in Hakka accent
   on TV.

3. ChingHaiWuShangShi (Master of Clear Sea and No One Higher) is a
   Chinese woman originally form Viet Nam.  She was first a nun but
   later withdrew from the Buddhist Association of Taiwan, grew long
   hair and wore modern dresses of her own design.  She claimed making
   money from selling her designer fashion.  Her Hakka connection so
   far is that her monastery is located in ShiHu Hsiang of MiaoLi
   County.

Following may be just coincidence:

4. Abbot WeiJue was on news ealier because young nuns' family claimed
   their daughters were tricked involuntarily.  When visiting their
   new TienHsiang Pagoda in WanLi, suburb of Taipei, several nuns I
   talked to happened to be Hakka.

Anothe older example:

5. Hong XiuQuan of Taiping Tianguo in late 19th century.
   He proclaimed himself kid brother of Jesus.  He and members
   of his core group were all Hakka.

A contemporary example:

6. Catholic Cardinal Hu ZhengZhong of Hong Kong.  Don't know
   the spelling of his official English name, probably 'Woo'
   as in common Cantonese spelling.  His family was from Wu
   Hua County in MeiXian area.  He worked as a bishop for
   many years in MiaoLi, Taiwan, where Hakka is the big
   majority.

AL
e-mail: ajliu@pacbell.com