Cathay large Christian population, while the Jesuits in China had not found any Christians there. In retrospect, the Central Asian Muslim informants' idea of the Ming China being a heavily Christian country may be explained by numerous similarities between Christian and Buddhist ecclesiastical rituals – from having sumptuous statuary and ecclesiastical robes to Gregorian chant – which would make the two religions appear externally similar to a Muslim merchant. This may also have been the genesis of the Prester John myth. To resolve the China-Cathay controversy, the India Jesuits sent a Portuguese lay brother, Bento de Góis on an overland expedition
Cathay Organisation lanes at SAFRA Yishun and 22 lanes at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Cathay Bowl became, at that time, Singapore's largest bowling centre operations with 8 bowling centres and a total of 178 lanes. To promote the sport, the Cathay Bowling Academy was established with structured training programmes by qualified bowling coaches. Also in 2001, Cathay opened two Mega Pavilion Cinemas in Penang; a four-screen cineplex at Prangin Mall and 5-screen cineplex at Island Plaza. In 2002, Cathay Bowl opened 24 lanes at THE CHEVRONS club while Cathay Cineplexes introduced its drive-thru ticketing kiosk at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, a self-service automated ticketing