Sikhism in Hong Kong is a minority religion (). There are around 12,000 Sikhs in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

as of 2016.Hong Kong: The Facts – Religion and Custom
HKSAR Government Home Affairs Bureau, May 2016.

History

In the colonial-era, Sikhs in China were most prominent in Hong Kong, with

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

following next. During the 1800s and 1900s, many Sikh

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

people were recruited from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

to work as officers for the

Hong Kong Police The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...

and

Shanghai Municipal Police The Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP; ) was the police force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control. Initially composed of ...

. A contingent of Sikh policemen arrived in Hong Kong in 1867. After the Indian police unit of the Shanghai Municipal Police force was disbanded in 1945, most of its former policemen were repatriated back to India or moved to Hong Kong or Singapore. After the advent of Communist rule in 1949, many Sikhs who had been employed as watchmen in mainland China departed for resettlement in Hong Kong, immigrated to

the West West is a cardinal direction or compass point. West or The West may also refer to: Geography and locations Global context * The Western world * Western culture and Western civilization in general * The Western Bloc, countries allied with NAT ...

, or returned to India. Most of the remaining Sikhs left Shanghai in 1973 after the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

in 1962, these fleeing Shanghai Sikhs shifted to Hong Kong. In contrast to the gurdwaras of mainland China, Hong Kong's gurdwaras still function normally. The modern

Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...

increasingly has admitted Sikh applicants to join the force, causing it to adjust its policies to allow the Sikh cadets to don a specially-provided turban as part of their uniform. There have been cases of native

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

Hongkongers Hongkongers (), Hong Kongers, Hong Kong citizens and Hong Kong people are demonyms that refer to a resident of Hong Kong, although they may also refer to others who were born and/or raised in the territory. The earliest inhabitants of Hon ...

converting to Sikhism.

Gurdwaras

Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple Khalsa Diwan Sikh Temple (), originally known as Sri Guru Singh Sabha, is a Gurdwara in the Wan Chai District of Hong Kong, on the junction of Queen's Road East and Stubbs Road, Hong Kong Island. It was re-opened on 8 September 2022 by Hong Ko ...

– located on Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai and classified as a Grade II Historic Building and managed by the Khalsa Diwan.

References

{{Asia topic, Sikhism in Religion in Hong Kong