The Lingyinsi Temple in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province Photo: VCG

 
Two temples in East China are looking for new media editors to help them enhance young people's understanding and interest in temples and increase the reputation of the temples.

Founded more than 1,500 years ago, both the Lingyinsi and Fahuasi temples are located in Zhejiang Province. 

The Fahuasi Temple, located in the provincial capital of Hangzhou, announced on WeChat on Saturday that it was looking to recruit an editor to be in charge of making short videos on TikTok, known as Douyin in China.

The announcement said that applicants should have a bachelor’s degree or above, be under the age of 40 and be proficient in various video filming and editing programs.

If they are chosen, they will work Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 5 pm and earn 10,000 yuan ($1,424) a month.

Within a day, the temple received numerous resumes, according to a report from the Qianjiang Evening Daily.

Liu Biao, head of the new media center of the temple, told the Qianjiang Evening Daily that taking up the post does not mean having to become a monk and in fact working conditions are no different than those at most new media companies.

He noted that the position does not have any religious requirement, but that the temple prefers to hire people who are interested in or familiar with Buddhism.

“Short videos are a more suitable promotional channel for young people at present,” Liu said. 

“The reason why the temple is recruiting short video talent is to disseminate temples to young people and improve the temple’s reputation and popularity.”

The Lingyinsi Temple in Huzhou, whose founder was a monk from India, also published a notice at the end of June on its official WeChat account for two new media editors. The deadline for applications was June 16. 

Similar to the other temple, applicants do not need to take any religious vows. The job will see them write news releases and oversee the temple’s social media accounts on platforms such as Sina Weibo and WeChat.

The notice has been viewed more than 100,000 times on WeChat and many netizens commenting under the notice emphasized how much they wanted to get the job. 

“I have read most of the comments and feel that there will be fierce competition for the position,” a netizen wrote.

Global Times