Introduction : overlooked religions in Hong Kong

Much of what we know about religion in Hong Kong is connected to what may be considered historically central religious traditions that are entwined with an elite institutional hierarchy in the territory, namely Christianity and Buddhism. As a result, the rich mosaic of Hong Kong's religious life and history remains a widely overlooked landscape. In response to Homi Bhabha's influential call to locate culture in the “margins and boundaries of assumed authenticities” and following up on Dru Gladney's work, which explored a representation of China through its minority communities, this special issue of Asian Anthropology strives to present an account of Hong Kong through the overlooked and often dismissed relevance of religions as they exist in minority, migrant, and marginalized forms. This decentering engages with the people who are involved in such religions and religious practices, locally born ethnic minorities, foreign domestic workers, and devotees of practices sometimes viewed as feudal and out of step with the modern urbanity of the world city. What is the status of these religions? How do they affect the lives of people? And in turn how does the rhythm of Hong Kong life come to influence religious groups and practitioners? Ultimately, it is how religion is imagined in Hong Kong society that determines the quality of interaction.