With the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, a huge number of refugees flooded into Hong Kong, among whom were many Buddhist monks. A majority of the monks came from Manchuria, North China and South China, and their ages ranged from septuagenarians or above and teenage. Their educational backgrounds and monastic experiences also varied. Some of them subsequently settled in Hong Kong, including Masters Tan Xu, Ding Xi, Yong Xing and Ti Jing, who belonged to the Tiantai School. Some, such as Xu Yun and Ju Zan, decided to return to mainland China. Still others headed for Taiwan, like Masters Yin Shun, Yan Pei, Shu Ming, Dao An, Le Guan and Tai Cang, or for America, such as Masters Le Du, Du Lung and Min Zhi. People once argued that, after 1949, Hong Kong had become a bridge dividing the world of darkness and that of light. This article seeks to retrace the paths of these refugee monks between 1945 and 1949, their living conditions while staying in Hong Kong, and how their final destinations impacted the development of local Buddhism in Taiwan, Southeast Asia and North America. This research also seeks to provide a clearer landscape about Buddhism in Hong Kong around 1949.
