ASIA/HONG KONG-The Trappist Cistercians of the Abbey of Our Lady of Joy have been in Hong Kong for 60 years

Hong Kong (Agenzia Fides) - The Trappists (Cistercians of the Strict Observance, O.C.S.O) of the Trappist Abbey Our Lady of Joy celebrated their 60 years of service in Hong Kong on July 2, with a Mass presided by the Administrator of the Abbey, Fr. Raphael Kang, and by the Vicar general of the diocese of Hong Kong, Fr. Pierre Lam Ming MEP. According to reports from the Kong Ko Bao (the Chinese version of the diocesan bulletin), many of the faithful in Hong Kong and Macao attended the celebration, during which the 50th anniversary of the monastic life of two Trappists was recalled.
On July 2, 1951, the surviving monks of the Monastery of Our Lady Comforter of Yang Jia Ping, in the province of He Bei, and the Monastery of Our Lady of Joy in Zheng Ding, always in Hi Bei, who managed to escape from the bloody Communist persecution, reached Hong Kong after much suffering, the loss of so many brothers and with nothing. Their legendary Abbot, Li Bo Lan, managed to obtain from the authorities of Hong Kong, the lost and uninhabited island of Landau, where the monks built, bare-handed, their convent. In later years they built a farm, began to breed cows and produce milk and biscuits, much appreciated by the people in Hong Kong. This place is still primarily a spiritual oasis for the people of Hong Kong, often slave to a fast-paced economic development. Today the Abbey has 9 Trappist priests, 7 brothers and a novice. (NZ) (Agenzia Fides 08/07/2011)