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instruments.
Two native Cantonese speakers remarked at the ceremony that they each understood only about 10 per cent of what the priests were chanting. Thus, it was not always easy to follow exactly what was going on. This helps keep the priestly profession a closed shop. Priests are paid not only for performing ceremonies but also for knowing how to perform them.
Note (see Plate 1) the five tun fu pots used to guard and protect each direction of the Chinese compass (including centre), with one talisman in each. These were later lined up in front of the matshed. After 'heaven and earth were made ready' messages to the respective gods were written on each strip of split bamboo (each about 75 centimetres long and four centimetres wide) after each strip, and the brush, had been purified by prayer and incense. The red paper horse at the front of the matshed acted as an emissary for letters, pleas and charms dispatched to heaven (Stevens: 1997, 121). The horse was constantly being blown over in the wind and one wondered, unless it could be anchored down in a secure way (which it never was), whether its magical powers would be affected. Anyway, few seemed concerned. During much of the ceremony ordinary villagers came in ones and twos and burnt joss sticks in front of Tai Wong Ye and his four henchmen.
The ceremony in the matshed lasted about one hour. After this was over we were bussed to an expanse of open ground not far from Lin Fa Tei (Lotus Ground), a 10-minute drive away. From here, we could see where the new railway tunnel's northern portal will be situated. A further ceremony took place not far from this spot, again officiated over by the same Taoist priests and attended by the same village elders, committee representatives, and government officials (see Plates 4 and 5). There was more chanting, more joss sticks and paper offerings were burned, and medium-sized roast pigs (brought from the ceremony inside the matshed) were presented up to the gods. Rice wine was again sprinkled on the ground for purification.
It was pointed out by a villager, who had lived in Britain for over 30 years and spoke fair English, that over 1000 village graves and burial urns had been moved to make way for the new tunnel. A small river had been filled in. In spite of the landscape having been considerably