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names for temple business, many chik lei of this shrine (as in all the other cases detailed above) preferred to use their shop name. In such cases it was left to the owner of the shop to decide whether he, his wife, or an employee should attend any meetings and dinners held in connection with the selection of the principal leaders, or the arrangements for the celebrations and the squaring of accounts.
The leaders were chosen a year in advance, so that they had plenty of time to make the necessary arrangements. After settling the accounts, and posting them on the festival ground for all to see, the Chung Lei for that year would give a dinner party to consult the body of managers as to who would serve as Chung Lei for the following year. By that time the interested parties would have assessed their degree of interest and their financial position, and would be ready to name a sum. A decision would then be taken.
Not all the funds required to hire the nam mo to and the puppet troupe, and to erect the matshed stage, were provided by the principal and assistant Chung Lei, although it was expected that they would make good any unexpected deficiency. Parties of managers, in threes and fours, wearing large straw hats bearing prominent characters with the name of the committee, would canvass local residents. In return they would receive slips to paste or put up in their premises. One manager collected the money, another recorded the sums in a book and one gave the traditional form of receipt. Proceeding together in groups besides showing solidarity and evincing the genuineness of the proceedings was also a way of deterring frauds.
Taken from a number of different locations on Hong Kong Island, established early in its urban and suburban history, the accounts given above all serve to indicate the decentralized nature of their shrines and temples. Their importance for these local communities is underlined by the fact that they were provided by local initiative and managed by committees of local residents who organized and managed festival celebrations and protective rites on their behalf. These accounts also show the different ways in which the committees were renewed from year to year.