214
and general merchant, who came to Hong Kong with his brothers when young. As the eldest, he controlled the family finances and the distribution of work. The second brother went on to Australia, and then returned to Hong Kong. The third brother was a small ship-builder, running his own sampan construction business near the old Kowloon City pier. The fourth brother was a policeman. The eldest Chan's son, my informant, succeeded him as manager of the temple on his death in 1925.
During these years the temple's following had been steadily growing. It is reported that in the younger Chan's time, and before, over twenty villages of central and east Kowloon2 took a regular part in the religious celebrations conducted at the two temples. This represents a striking difference from the days, a century before, when the Goddess of Mercy shrine and temple were the private concerns of the small and unimportant Chu family of Tai Hom,
3
This statement of interest is substantiated by the practices described to me by elders of villages in the area. Two managers, styled chik li (1) were provided by each village. Each year, some weeks before the main Kwun Yam festival, the chief manager called them together for a discussion as to whether the usual arrangements would be made. These consisted of chantings by nam mo lo (), the staging of the customary puppet shows for the four days and five nights usual in this region, and a dinner held in front of the temple the day after the festival. Upon agreement to proceed as usual, each village was allocated one or more subscription books, and the chik li or their helpers collected funds from those among their fellow villagers who wished to take part in the dinner and the general celebrations.
The chik li were not elected by the villagers: they seldom if ever were in the villages of this region. They came from among that body of working elders who managed the affairs of each village. They were either the elders themselves, or persons deputed by them. The Chairman of the body of chik li was selected through a procedure basically the same as that described for other temples and shrines in the Hong Kong region. All the village chik li gathered at the temple at a fixed day and hour. The divining blocks were cast an agreed number of times and the
3