佛教名山上市潮引发网民热议

China's four sacred Buddhist mountains have become hot topics in social media this week, but not because of religion.

中国四大佛教名山上周成为社交媒体热议的话题，不过这一次和宗教无关。

Or rather, it was because of religion and business.

或者更确切地说，这是因为宗教和商业绑到了一块儿。

Mount Putuo Tourism Development Co., founded by three local tourism companies based in Zhoushan of southern China, said on Saturday that it plans to go public in two years, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The company, which operates the tourism facilities around the mountain, aims to raise at least 7.5 billion yuan, or about $1.18 billion, Xinhua said.

据新华社报道，由浙江舟山三家当地旅游公司共同出资组建的普陀山旅游发展股份有限公司6月30日表示，该公司争取在两年内上市。新华社说，该公司运营着普陀山周围的旅游设施，它计划通过上市至少筹资人民币75亿元。

"The Buddhist associations and all the temples in this area will not be included into the listing project," Mao Jiantao, the company's general manager, told Xinhua. "Their operations will not be affected."

普陀山旅游发展股份有限公司总经理毛剑涛对新华社说，佛教协会、各大寺院仍然属于佛协系统，与上市主体是两条线，佛协原来怎么运作将来还怎么运作

"We think the tourism industry of Mount Putuo needs better marketing, and going public can help to boost its publicity," said Mr. Mao.

毛剑涛说，普陀山的旅游业也需要营销，上市可以扩大知名度。

Mount Putuo officials didn't respond to a request for comment.

普陀山负责人没有回复记者的置评请求。

Mount Putuo, which is about 20 miles from the coastline and is sometimes called "Buddhist heaven above sea," is considered one of China's four Buddhist mountains - the jingtu, or "pure lands," for Buddhists. It has several well-known Buddhist temples and is also among top-tier national scenic areas in China. Xinhua said it had five million visitors last year.

普陀山距大陆海岸线约有20英里（约合32公里），有时也被称作“海天佛国”，是中国四大佛教名山之一。佛教名山可谓是佛教净土。普陀山有多座知名的佛教寺庙，同时也是国家5A级旅游风景区。新华社说，去年其客流量超过500万人次。

It wouldn't be the first of the four mountains to be listed. Mount E'mei Tourism Development Co., based in western China's Sichuan province, went public in October 1997.

普陀山并非四大佛教名山中第一个考虑上市的。早在1997年10月，位于中国西部四川省的峨眉山旅游股份有限公司就已经成功上市。

The other two have ambitions to list as well. Officials in the news office of Mountain Wutai, another prominent Buddhist mountain in China's western Shanxi province, told Xinhua that their company had been preparing to go public since 2010 and would be listed before the end of this year. They plan to form a company called Mount Wutai Investment Co.

另外两座佛教名山也有上市的雄心。佛教名山五台山位于中国西部的山西省，五台山新闻办主任告诉新华社，2010年五台山开始筹备上市，预计2012年底前完成五台山上市前期准备工作。他们计划成立一家名叫五台山投资股份有限公司的企业。

Mount Jiuhua Tourism Development Co., which oversees Mount Jiuhua, in China's Anhui province, didn't succeed in its efforts of going public in 2004 and 2009. But it is trying for a third time, and its IPO application is now under consideration of the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

而管理九华山景区的安徽九华山旅游发展股份有限公司更是2004年以及2009年两次都未通过中国证券监督管理委员会发行审核委员会的上市审核。该公司目前正在进行第三次尝试。中国证监会目前正在考虑其首次公开募股(IPO)申请。

It's unclear how far these plans will go. Liu Wei, deputy director of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, said in a press conference last month that the agency would object to local tourism development firms that try to exploit religious resources. "Temples are non-profit organizations," he said in comment on the administration's website."Developing a market economy should have its boundaries and not go below the social bottom line."

上述上市方案能走多远目前尚不清楚。中国国家宗教事务局副司长刘威上个月在一次新闻发布会上说，如果当地旅游开发公司试图利用宗教资源，该局将持反对意见。他在宗教事务局官方网站上刊登的一篇文章中说，宗教活动场所是民间非营利组织，市场经济是有边界的，要符合社会底线。

Public reaction has been largely negative. "Without its religion reputation, how can Mountain Putuo attract visitors at all?" said the director of the recruitment office of a Buddhism college in Hangzhou, who goes by the Buddhist monastic name of Master Xinwu, on his verified Weibo account. Citing the Buddha associated with compassion, "I cannot imagine paying tribute to Kwan-yin in a listed company," he said.

中国公众大多对佛教名山上市持负面看法。杭州佛学院招生办的负责人心悟法师在他的新浪微博认证账户说，没有佛教内涵的名山，普陀山拿什么来吸引游客？在提到观音菩萨的时候，他的语气充满了感情。他说：没有想到，拜观音还要拜到股份公司去。

"China's Buddhist mountains have been involved in this commercialization wave one by one. We can expect to see the Taoism mountains be dragged into this wave soon," Yan Can, vice chairman of Buddhism Association of Henan Province in north China, said on his Weibo account. "It will be a moral tragedy for everyone."

中国河北省佛教协会副会长延参法师在新浪微博上说：佛教名山卷入这个经营大潮，可以想的到，不远的后来，道教的名山将无一幸免。他还指出，对每个人来说这都将是道德的悲哀。

"Religious places should never go public," says Xue Manzi, a prominent Chinese investor in his Weibo account. "Capital markets have developed for hundreds of years in western countries, but has anyone ever heard of a church going public?"

中国知名天使投资人薛蛮子说，宗教场所不应上市，西方资本市场发展了几百年，谁听说把教堂上市的事儿？