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DOUGLAS W. SPARKS
Another example was an attempt, again several years ago, initially promoted by several very prominent Teochiu elites, to use some of the money donated for the three-day Hungry Ghost Festival for charitable purposes. Total expenditures on each of these 58 festivals range from HK$150,000 to more than HK$200,000. The minimum total annual expenditure is at least HK$9,000,000. The attempt was unsuccessful in that the organizers were unable to convince local-level leaders to set aside part of the collected funds for a general fund for certain charitable purposes.
There is considerable diversity among Teochiu leaders in attitudes toward this particular festival which, as a three-day public ritual, is largely performed by Teochiu (though many non-Teochiu families also make individual offerings to the hungry ghosts on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month). Some leaders regard the festival as a “superstitious” waste of money, and this attitude was one of the motivations behind the attempt to siphon donated funds into charitable purposes. This example illustrates the lack of agreement among Teochiu organizations and leaders at different levels concerning attitudes toward religious beliefs and ritual in general and this important Teochiu festival in particular. It is important in that it is the ritual focus of a number of locally organized informal groups and is considered by many Teochiu and non-Teochiu as the cultural symbol par excellence of Teochiu ethnic viability. Although it is possible to argue that this huge expenditure is a waste of money and effort, it is my belief that local-level leaders would not be able to generate sufficient enthusiasm for the donation of money and physical labor for purposes other than those which non-elite would choose to participate in. The festival organizations are largely autonomous and locally organized informal groups which would not exert such effort for goals originating at higher levels within the Teochiu community.
If Teochiu organizations are not tightly inter-linked by formal mechanisms, they are of course interconnected by personal networks. These are the threads tying together the Teochiu community and literally run up and down socio-economic levels and have contact points with the formal organizations. Ego-centric networks also cross-cut ethnic boundaries, a reflection of numerous friendship, commercial, and political ties across ethnic categories. There is of course considerable variation in the extent to which ego-centric networks include non-Teochiu linkages.