logo
Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small' rice donation

Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small' rice donation

A monk at a sacred temple who rejected an offering of rice from an elderly couple because it was too small has sparked widespread public outrage.
On June 26, an elderly couple respectfully placed a bag of rice on the offering table inside a temple on Mount Wutai, one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in China.
The religious venue is located at the headwaters of the Qingshui River in Shanxi province, northern China.
However, the couple were harshly condemned by a monk in a yellow robe, who accused them of 'causing trouble' and even claimed that their rice 'smelled bad'.
The monk holds up the couple's bag of rice as he accuses them of not being 'sincere'. Photo: Douyin
The monk scolded them: 'How dare you make a wish with just a bag of rice? If your heart is not sincere, what Buddha are you worshipping?'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

How Hong Kong's master builder Rocco Yim left his mark on the city
How Hong Kong's master builder Rocco Yim left his mark on the city

South China Morning Post

time4 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

How Hong Kong's master builder Rocco Yim left his mark on the city

The man considered Hong Kong's emperor of architecture – the city's own master builder, its home-sprung fountainhead – is talking about his new book. The original title he'd chosen was Learning from Hong Kong? 'The question mark is important because that means I'm not being too conceited or self-centred,' says Rocco Yim Sen-kee. Framed within the screen of a video call from his office, he has the look of an earnest monk. 'The idea that people could learn from Hong Kong in the art of architecture and urban design seemed to me preposterous.' Thames & Hudson, the book's publisher, thought otherwise. It felt there was, as Yim puts it, 'no need to be apologetic'; and the final title is the more emphatic Looking to Hong Kong – The Architecture of Rocco Design. Through 25 projects it showcases, as the press release puts it, 'the work of the man single-handedly most responsible for the city's modern architectural form'. These include the HKSAR Government Headquarters in Admiralty, the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Hotel Icon in Tsim Sha Tsui East, Wesleyan House in Wan Chai and Chinese University's Art Museum New Annex, as well as several commissions – such as the Guangdong Museum and the Bao'an Cultural Complex – on the mainland. A model of Rocco Yim's Bamboo Pavilion (2000) which was shown in Berlin in 2000. Photo: Jocelyn Tam Still, the first sentence of his introductory essay, which is called 'Looking to Hong Kong?' – querying punctuation included – revisits his initial hesitation that Hong Kong might have architectural lessons to offer. It retains that word 'preposterous'. The second sentence reads: 'After all, this is a city that has a tradition of standing aloof from any form of academic discourse on the subject.' He's on record as saying that when he was an architecture student at the University of Hong Kong in the 1970s, it was the easiest faculty to get into, no high marks were required and 80 per cent of his classmates had no idea what architecture really meant. Really, he'd wanted to be an artist. Even his English name, with its faint echo of rococo, turns out to have been accidental rather than predestined. 'Rocco was the nickname my parents chose for me when I was still a baby,' he says, grinning. 'I was told it resembles the mumbling noises I made before I could actually speak.' Upon such an unpromising foundation, he has built his practice. I'm more curious about places, objects, things of beauty, than people Rocco Yim

China's kindergartens grapple with economic impact of plunge in prospective pupils
China's kindergartens grapple with economic impact of plunge in prospective pupils

South China Morning Post

time16 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

China's kindergartens grapple with economic impact of plunge in prospective pupils

The government-affiliated kindergarten that Lily Wang works for in northeastern China used to be reserved for the children of officials, but China's plunging birth rate means it is having to cast its net wider nowadays. 'The leadership has shifted its approach, enlarging the enrolment base and learning from the southern regions by adopting group-based management,' said Wang, a senior teacher at the kindergarten in Harbin, Heilongjiang's provincial capital. It began recruiting pupils from the general populace in autumn last year. While it still gives priority to officials' children when reviewing applications, Wang said it felt as though even more pupils came from other backgrounds this year. With fewer children being born in China, the country's kindergartens are struggling to find a path to survival. Solutions range from enrolling pupils from a wider range of backgrounds to offering other services that make use of teachers' skills. China's population fell for the first time in 60 years in 2022 , with 9.56 million babies born that year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The number of births fell further in 2023 before rebounding slightly last year – due in part to the Year of the Dragon being regarded as auspicious. There were 253,300 kindergartens operating in China last year, down about 38,400 – or just over 13 per cent – from 2020. The number of children enrolled in them, which peaked at 48.18 million in 2020, was down 25.5 per cent at 35.84 million.

Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small' rice donation
Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small' rice donation

South China Morning Post

time20 hours ago

  • South China Morning Post

Public outrage as China monk berates elderly couple for ‘too small' rice donation

A monk at a sacred temple who rejected an offering of rice from an elderly couple because it was too small has sparked widespread public outrage. On June 26, an elderly couple respectfully placed a bag of rice on the offering table inside a temple on Mount Wutai, one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in China. The religious venue is located at the headwaters of the Qingshui River in Shanxi province, northern China. However, the couple were harshly condemned by a monk in a yellow robe, who accused them of 'causing trouble' and even claimed that their rice 'smelled bad'. The monk holds up the couple's bag of rice as he accuses them of not being 'sincere'. Photo: Douyin The monk scolded them: 'How dare you make a wish with just a bag of rice? If your heart is not sincere, what Buddha are you worshipping?'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store