Thou shalt not launch IPOs, China tells temples
SHANGHAI | Wed Jun 6, 2012 4:22am EDT
(Reuters) - Buddhist and Taoist temples have no right to go public and list shares on stock exchanges, a Chinese official was quoted in state media as saying of an issue that seems to have touched a nerve with the officially atheist government.
The listing of companies linked to world famous Chinese heritage sites is not new in the country's three-decade-old capital markets, but attempts to list at least one religious site have apparently crossed a line.
Schemes to promote tourism via temples, or even for temples to band together and go public to raise funds, were wrong, Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Wei, an official with the State Administration of Religious Affairs, on Wednesday as saying.
Such plans "violate the legitimate rights of religious circles, damage the image of religion and hurt the feelings of the majority of religious people", he said in remarks at a conference on the management of religious sites.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/06/us-china-temples-idUSBRE8550A520120606
