香港见解 - 清明节“线上祭拜”

清明节在香港是非常重要的传统节日。香港的清明节传统习俗与中国大陆相似，在香港扫墓被称作“拜山”。近年来香港特区政府倡导民众改变繁杂的传统祭扫形式，希望民众以鲜花或是网上追思的方式表达对怀念。早在2010年香港食环署开设了“无尽思念”网站，开设的目的主要是为供亲友们追思。亲属可为逝者开设专属纪念网页，写上逝者生平和纪念内容，上传照片和视频，还可个性化设置网页等。

不过政府推广的线上祭拜软件效果并不理想。截至2019年年底，“无尽思念”网站有约11,400名使用者，共约14,100个纪念网页。“无尽思念”app在2018年6月启用，政府花费了约 30 万元开发，但截止去年3月仅有3,800 人次下载。截止2020年3月31日，「无尽思念」app的累计下载次数也仅有6000次。

香港的线上祭拜服务近年来发展不顺利。在2020年限聚令下，政府禁止民众在公共场合超过四人的聚集，拜山也包括在内。有香港部分墓地提供「代客烧衣」，民众可以上网购买服务，找人代办送花烧香。去年香港不少商店代客烧衣的业务较往年多六成，当然也有不少港人对此类服务表示不能接受。大部分民众还留有较强的传统观念，清理墓地、亲自献花都需要线下祭拜。

除了政府推广的线上祭拜以外，2020年光明山普觉禅寺首次推出“线上祭祖”服务，让公众上网购买祭品配套，由寺院代为祭拜先人。“祭祖配套”内的祭品包括：两盏LED灯、一个发糕、一个“福包”、两个鲜橙、两个苹果，以及一束花。每个“祭祖配套”配套价格为48元。其实在早年光明山在清明期间推出“线上供佛”服务，而这次新设置的“线上祭祖”服务，主要也是为了防疫的需要所推出。

总而言之，上山扫墓的传统并不能在短时间内改变，也许疫情的影响会加速这个进程，但是更加关键的是如何去找到一个合适的线上祭祖方式让民众接受。

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Qingming Festival is a very important traditional festival in Hong Kong. Qingming Festival in Hongkong is similar to that in Chinese mainland. The tomb sweeping in Hongkong is called "worship mountain". In recent years, the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has advocated the public to change the complicated traditional forms of sacrifice and sweeping, hoping that the public can express their nostalgia by means of flowers or online reminiscence. As early as 2010, the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) launched the "Endless Thoughts" website, which main purpose is to provide online memorials for relatives and friends. Relatives can set up a dedicated commemorative webpage for the deceased, write down the life and commemorative contents of the deceased, upload photos and videos, and personalize the webpage.

However, the initiative by the government to promote online worshipping did not achieve their expectated results. By the end of 2019, the website has about 11400 users and 14100 commemorative pages. The "Endless Thoughts" app was launched in June 2018. The government spent about 300,000 yuan to develop it, but only 3,800 people downloaded it as of March last year. As of March 31, 2020, the cumulative number of downloads of "endless missing" app was only 6,000.

Online worship services in Hong Kong have not developed smoothly in recent years. Under the 2020 gathering restriction order, the government prohibits gatherings of more than four people in public places, including for worshipping. Some cemeteries in Hong Kong offer ritual services to burn burning clothes on behalf of customers. People can buy services online and find someone to send flowers and burn incense on their behalf. Last year, many stores in Hong Kong did 60% more business than in previous years. Of course, many people in Hong Kong expressed that they were unaccepting to such services. Most of the people still have a strong traditional concept, and cleaning up the cemetery, presenting flowers should be done in person.

In addition to the online worship promoted by the government, Pujie temple in Guangming mountain launched an "Online Ancestor Worship" service for the first time in 2020, allowing the public to purchase the offerings online, and the temple would worship the ancestors on behalf of them. The offerings in the "Online Ancestor Worship" included two LED lights, one cake, one fortune bag, two fresh oranges, two apples and a bunch of flowers. Each "Online Ancestor Worship" package was 48 yuan. In fact, in the early years, Guangming mountain launched the "Online Buddha Worship" service during the Qingming Festival, and the new "Online Ancestor worship" service was launched for the main purpose of epidemic prevention.

All in all, the tradition of tomb-sweeping can not be changed in a short time. The epidemic may have accelerated the use of such services, but more importantly is whether people will accept such online method of ancestor worship in the long run.