174
K7
1960s, as members of the Chou lineage moved away from the village after an epidemic which lasted for a year and struck many family members in the 1950s. Now few of the younger generation of the Chous are Catholic. Although the Catholic Church has moved its base from the western border to the core area of Tung Chung, including such villages as Mok Ka, Shek Lau Po, upper and lower Ling Pei, Ma Wan Chung, etc. and even set up a kindergarten at upper Ling Pei in 1971, only two to three villagers have been converted in the last twenty years.
88
In the 1960s, Protestant missions established their foothold in Tung Chung, but they were no more successful than the Catholic Church. Even though villagers sent their children to a church kindergarten at Wong Nai Uk E, few were baptized. After twenty years of missionary work in Tung Chung, the Protestant Church finally withdrew and the school was suspended. In spite of the tolerant character of Chinese folk religion, which, for instance, can always coexist with Buddhism, Christianity failed to gain a firm footing in this circle of the Houwang worship. As for the small number of Christians in Tung Chung, they do seem to have incorporated the Houwang worship into their belief quite well. As admitted by the only Christian in lower Ling Pei, she also believed in the Houwang and was impressed by his efficacy. Even after some of the Chous at San Tau became Catholic converts and refrained from ancestor worship, they were still worshippers of the Houwang and money donors in support of the god's feast day festival, apparently in order to be accepted by the Tung Chung community as legitimate members.
In terms of symbolic, cultural, and social meanings, the Houwang worship stands at the core of the territorial and communal ideology of being and belonging. This local cult, which grew out of the sentiments surrounding a historical legend, gradually produced a set of elaborate rituals and the distinctive customs of a living community. Its renewal mechanism through ritual cycle and the villagers' universal desire for communal welfare under the protection of the god have contributed to the continuance of the cult. This deep-rooted tradition has proved able to adapt to social, economic, and political changes since the War. The cult persists, as it has managed continuously to enlist supporting resources, even as its patrons changed in conjunction with the shift of local business centres. It survives tenaciously even after a considerable