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burning of the temporary theatre, and the sudden deaths of the troupe or community members, were believed to be the outcome of either a violation of the taboo, or a bad performance of the ritual. Besides such disasters, harm of a moderate degree can also occur. This might include the sickness of troupe employees, the loss of an actor's voice, the forgetting of one's part and the commitment of some impossible mistakes during a performance. It has also been a custom that local people should stay away from the performance hall or hide themselves at home before the completion of the White Tiger ritual.
Within the Cantonese operatic troupes which perform in modern Hong Kong, the taboo of shutting one's mouth and keeping quiet is still strictly observed by the two actors, three percussionists and two to three backstage workers who happen to be assigned by the troupe owner to participate in the preparation and performance of the ritual. Such troupe members often avoid laughing and talking from the moment they arrive at the theatre until the ritual is held, even in areas other than the stage. The two actors always stay away from their friends and colleagues and do not talk to each other. Other employees of the troupe try to hide themselves in the dressing compartments of the backstage, or leave the stage area.
Another tradition connected with the White Tiger ritual concerns the entrance and exit space located between the backdrop and the back wing curtain on both sides of the frontstage. These two areas are called fu dou mun (the tiger's gate of passage) and are referred to as the Tiger Gates in the present paper. It is uncertain whether the White Tiger ritual is related to the Tiger Gates but another taboo requires the employees to enter the frontstage area through the gate at stage left and leave through the one on the other side before the completion of the White Tiger ritual.
As pointed out by Barbara E. Ward in her paper "Not Merely Players: Drama, Art and Ritual in Traditional China", to avoid the breaking of the taboo by outsiders who do not know it, troupe members do not welcome any visits onstage before the ritual is held. However, the present writer has observed that some backstage workers of a younger age often fail to follow the taboos. Some of them said that they did not believe in these taboos and dismissed them as old-fashioned superstitions.