93
OFFICIAL AND ORAL TRADITIONS ABOUT HONG KONG'S NEWEST GOD
GRAEME LANG AND LARS RAGVALD
Since the 1940's an ancient Taoist immortal now known as 'Wong Tai Sin' has become one of the most popular gods in Hong Kong. In researching the social history of the god's major temple in Kowloon, (see Lang and Ragvald, 1988) we encountered two types of stories about the god and his temple. The first type, the official history published by the group which manages the temple, is grounded in certain obscure classical texts. The second type of story is the oral traditions circulating among believers. We were surprised to discover cases where there was little or no connection between official and oral accounts. Two cases are described to illustrate how motifs of story elements from other sources had been drawn into the oral versions. We will also try to explain the occasional wide disparities between official and oral accounts.
2
In the first case, the authors were interviewing an elderly Cantonese lady to probe her knowledge of the history of the major Wong Tai Sin temple in Kowloon. She had seemed likely to be a good subject. Like the founders of the temple she was formerly in the herbal medicine business, and had operated a shop in Guangzhou (Canton) before moving to Kowloon, where she lived for a time near the Wong Tai Sin temple. She related to us that the original statue of Wong Tai Sin had been miraculously washed into the Pearl River during a natural disaster which severely damaged the temple in Guangdong. The statue was swept down the river to Hong Kong, and then miraculously recovered from the sea and made the object of worship. This oral legend is quite different from the official account published by the organization which has managed the temple since 1921. This official account holds that the original image of the god was a picture, rather than a statue; that it was brought down from Guangdong by the founders of the temple in 1915 and placed in a small shrine on Hong Kong Island, and that it was subsequently transported to Kowloon when the temple was moved there in 1921. There is no statue of the god at the modern temple. This official account was written by persons
93
OFFICIAL AND ORAL TRADITIONS ABOUT HONG KONG'S NEWEST GOD
GRAEME LANG AND LARS RAGVALD
Since the 1940's an ancient Taoist immortal now known as Wong Tai Sin' has become one of the most popular gods in Hong Kong. In researching the social history of the god's major temple in Kowloon, (see Lang and Ragvald, 1988) we encountered two types of stories about the god and his temple. The first type, the official history published by the group which manages the temple, is grounded in certain obscure classical texts. The second type of story is the oral traditions circulating among believers. We were surprised to discover cases where there was little or no connection between official and oral accounts. Two cases are described to illustrate how motifs of story elements from other sources had been drawn into the oral versions. We will also try to explain the occasional wide disparities between official and oral accounts.
2
In the first case, the authors were interviewing an elderly Can- tonese lady to probe her knowledge of the history of the major Wong Tai Sin temple in Kowloon.' She had seemed likely to be a good subject. Like the founders of the temple she was formerly in the herbal medicine business, and had operated a shop in Guang- zhou (Canton) before moving to Kowloon, where she lived for a time near the Wong Tai Sin temple. She related to us that the original statue of Wong Tai Sin had been miraculously washed into the Pearl River during a natural disaster which severely dam- aged the temple in Guangdong.* The statue was swept down the river to Hong Kong, and then miraculously recovered from the sea and made the object of worship. This oral legend is quite different from the official account published by the organization which has managed the temple since 1921. This official account holds that the original image of the god was a picture, rather than a statue; that it was brought down from Guangdong by the founders of the temple in 1915 and placed in a small shrine on Hong Kong Island, and that it was subsequently transported to Kowloon when the temple was moved there in 1921. There is no statue of the god at the modern temple. This official account was written by persons
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.