Zoroastrian

[Ian_Lee]

In Jin Yong's novel 倚天屠龍記, Jin wrote about the "Fire Worshipping Sect" that was very popular during the last days of Yuan Dynasty. He even said that the founding of Ming Dynasty (whose character Ming stands for brightness is based on the combined characters of Sun and Moon) was actually a prolongation of this "Fire Worshipping Sect". And so and so.

So how true is that? I seldom heard about the Jinologist elaborating about this issue.

And even in Chinese history textbook, "Fire Worshipping Sect" is seldom mentioned.

Actually the formal name of the "Fire Worshipping Sect" is called Zoroastrian. It orginated from Northern Iran (Jin was correct about the 3 Persian female missionaries in the novel). And its believers are called Parsees.

I don't know if there are still any Parsees in Mainland China (I read somewhere that there were some in Pre-'49 Shanghai). But in HK, there used to be a Zoroastrian Church in my neighborhood until '80s. Now it has been rebuilt as the Zoroastrian Commercial Building which made every Parsee earn big bucks!

[skylee]

Zoroastrian Church - did you mean the 白頭教堂 on/near Leighton Road in Causeway Bay? I didn't realize that it had been pulled down. But information on the internet shows that there is still a prayer hall in the new building and the religion is still practised by Parsis in HK ("this community numbering approximately 200" according to a 2003 newsletter of the HK Royal Asiatic Society). And there is a Parsi cemetery in Happy Valley. Here is some information from a Macau website -

瑣羅亞斯德教

流行於古代波斯及中亞細亞一帶的宗教。相傳創教人就是瑣羅亞斯德(Zoroaster)。該教在中國史籍裡又名襖教、火襖教、拜火教、火教或波斯教等。於公元516～519年之間傳入中國，“襖”字乃中國古代對瑣羅亞斯德教所信奉諸神的統稱。大約在18世紀70年代，瑣羅亞斯德教在葡萄牙人的引領下，從印度西部海岸古里地區和孟買從海路傳入澳門和廣州，亦即自南宋以來該教在中國沉寂以後的再度傳入。直至19世紀40年代，瑣羅亞斯德教和它的教徒，曾在澳門活躍過，並對澳門的經濟、貿易等，起過一定的影響。目前澳門已無該教的活動，但1829年建立的瑣羅亞斯德墳場(位於松山，俗稱白頭墳場)則仍然保存著。該教的祭司皆以白布圍頭，穿白袍，所以又有“白頭教”之稱，澳門還有一條白頭馬路，亦與此教有關。

[Ian_Lee]

The Zoroastrian Church compound at Leighton Road has been brought down some years ago and now it becomes the Zoroastrian Commercial Building.

During my primary school days, I passed that church (it didn't look like a church to me in any sense) almost everyday. But not even once did I detect anybody/prayer going on inside.

I watched the Nova documentary last year. It talked about the Parsee Community in Mumbai which has dwindled to only 5-figure population. Since Parsees only allow inter-marriage, the problem surfaces because it is well-nigh impossible for them to look for spouse within such a small population.

Those Parsees in HK are actually two-times immigrants. First they migrated from Persia to India, then from India to HK.