RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 CHINESE EMIGRATION AND THE DECK PASSENGER TRADE 89 making their first venture abroad in those years were joining relatives or friends, and had been able to borrow enough on future earnings to ensure a comfortable passage. There were always a few unfortunates, however, who, in their anxiety to escape from the poverty and misery of their native village, had borrowed their passage money from money lenders or their tongs at ruinous rates of interest. Conditions for most of this century were certainly vastly changed from the middle decades of the 19th century. Prospective passengers lived in boarding houses in Amoy or Swatow when waiting for a ship, and the ship's compradore often had a financial interest in these boarding houses or worked in close co-operation with their owners. As there was keen competition in the 20th century emigrant trades, not only between different shipping companies, but under the compradore system — between different ships in the same company, the prospective passengers were well treated in the boarding houses, which bore little resemblance to the barracoons of the 'bad old days'. Beside the China coasters, overseas ships on the Far Eastern run also took part in the emigrant trade, especially to the Straits and Bangkok, as this could be fitted into their wayport schedule; and even the large and luxurious Canadian Pacific liners were not above carrying a few hundred deck passengers from time to time. Ben Line steamers, too, sometimes called at Amoy and Swatow and took up to two hundred deck passengers to the Straits or Bangkok or vice versa, but on many overseas ships the passengers had to supply and cook their own food, and sleep on wooden planks laid over steel decks. The overseas ships were not normally so well suited for deck passengers as the regular coast ships, and by the First World War the latter had captured the cream of the trade. In the South-east Asian trades south-bound traffic normally exceeded north-bound, but not to a disproportionate extent. Many overseas Chinese returned home, either for a holiday or to retire, and north-bound ships were especially busy just before Chinese New Year, and south-bound just after this important festival. These north-bound ships, where many passengers were carrying the savings of a few years or even of a lifetime, were the most tempting for pirates, and were specially equipped to deal ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 82 HELGA WERLE dissolved in 1964 when because of lack of business the old leader got so desperate that he threw his puppets literally into a rubbish-bin. The third group Tung-i still exists under the leadership of Wu Mu-sen and Ch'en Yung-ming. Their puppets are older and much larger than those of the Hsin-shun-hsiang troupe, and are very seldom used now. When Wang Chiao-tsou died his eldest son Hsi-ch'in continued the Hsin-shun-hsiang Troupe. He usually plays the Yeh-hu, for which he is very renowned, in the opera-orchestras. This is a two-stringed violin of which the sound box is made of a coconut shell. Five of the seven brothers and sisters Hsi-ch'in, Hsi-tang, Hsi-yü, Hsi-ch'ing and Hsi-hsien are all versatile musicians or singers, joining in the puppet or opera performances. There are also six artists of the older generation with 30-40 years' experience performing with them. They are Li Chen-chiang, Huang Shun-ch'i, Ma Chen-huan, Chang Chung-liang, Li Han-t'an and Chiu Hsüeh-ching. During a typhoon in 1960 Hsi-ch'in's squatter hut was flooded and most of his puppets were destroyed. He travelled to Ch'aochow to replace them, but he could not find any old ones. Fortunately, he found an old-puppet-maker who made a new set which he took to Hong Kong, and it is used now by his troupe and also by the Tung-i Troupe. Today, there are about sixty puppet-bodies and eighty puppet-heads, belonging to these two troupes, the Hsin-shun-hsiang and the Tung-i. They give no more than seven performances a year between them. They are still called by Ch'aochow associations to perform at the festival of the T'ien-kung Chi on the 5th day of the first month, the festival of Po-kung Fu-te Ta-yeh on the 29th day of the third month and to the ceremony of Hsieh-shen (thanking the gods) in the 12th month. Although the name of either of the groups invited to perform appears on top of the curtain, the puppets, puppeteers, musical instruments and musicians are mostly the same. The fee is handed to the leader of the troupe who, together with the leader of the orchestra, keeps a larger share. The rest is distributed equally among all the other performers, puppeteers and musicians. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 104 FREDRIKKE S. SCOLLARD Archaeological excavations to date have failed to uncover any flambe wares in Yangjiang Xian of the above-described type. In 1955, excavations instead indicated that pottery produced in Yangjiang Xian in the Song period (A.D. 960-1279), belonged to the green celadon tradition. Furthermore, even more recent discoveries in the vicinity of Shiwan town in Nanhai Xian at a location called Ji Shi (†), Northern Song (A.D. 960-1127) “dragon kilns” (i.e. sloping tunnel-like kilns) are found built on top of earlier Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-906) "mantou kilns” (i.e. round bun-shaped kilns). (Figures 1 & 2.) In association with the Northern Song kilns have been discovered shards with an early type of blue flambe glaze. As the date of these shards is much earlier than the Southern migration of the Honan potters in the Southern Song period, the discoveries raise the possibility that this blue flambe glaze was an indigenous development and not stimulated by influx of Northern potters and techniques. Combined with the earlier excavation in Yangjiang Xian, where no flambe glaze of the Song period was found, archaeologists in Guangdong now seriously question the historical connection of Shiwan village in Yangjiang Xian with the present Shiwan village in Nanhai Xian. In addition to the above discoveries, archaeological finds reveal a succession of kilns from the Tang site of Ji Shi (*) to the present day village of Shiwan as, over the centuries, the potters moved down the river closer and closer to Fushan municipality (†) which by the Ming and Qing periods (A.D. 1368-1912) had developed into an important commercial and handicraft centre. As it developed, Fushan was no elite or scholastic art centre, but rather an unpretentious city of craftsmen with the pervasive idea that beautiful things could be made from waste materials. The town is said at one time to have had a population of over 300,000 which supported over 240 different types of business. The artists were famed for their skill in turning commonplace and useless materials into godlike creations. Clay and papier mache were moulded to look like old pottery, copper and jade; sesame seeds created figurines; silkworm cocoons made decorative flowers and grass. Every year at the time of the autumn festival, a competition was held in Fushan in which people vied to make the best "autumn colours" (i.e. paper handicrafts), not for the purpose of gaining fame or making money, but rather simply for the enjoyment of the people.* Page 120 Page 121 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 182 NOTES 1 For historical developments of Taoism, see Ch'en, 1963; Stein, 1979: 53-82; and for a fuller discussion of Jiao-shi, see Saso, 1972: 32-83, Liu, 1974, and Keuper, 1977: 79-94. "They hold Jiao-shi in either Cantonese or Fukien dialects and in general, Cantonese-speaking dao-shi provide Jiao-shi to Cantonese-speaking communities and Fukienese-speaking dao-shi to Fukienese-speaking communities. * The two dao-shi groups who conducted Jiao-shi at these two locations are among the few practicing Taoist groups in Hong Kong. Dao-shi who performed Jiao-shi in Fanling were Cantonese-speaking and in Cheung-chau, Fukienese-speaking. 4 Exact instrumentation varies according to the practice of different regions; for example, Fukienese-speaking Taoist team performing at the Cheung-chau Bun Festival employs an er-hu in addition to the melodic instrument suo-na. Ch'en Guo-fu, 1963, mentions that the instrumentation of Jiao-shi music in the Jiang-nan area is quite similar to that of the Shi-fan-luo-go of that area which consists of the melodic instruments of di, xiao, sheng, er-hu, xian-zi, yun-luo, pi-pa and percussion instruments. 6 It goes without saying that changes of the pitches in the original pattern will result in rhythmic changes as well; they are viewed nevertheless as pitch-variants. In rhythm-variant, the pitches remain relatively stable while rhythmic details change. • Based on the examples which I have analysed, it seems that the rhythm-variants are rarely used and even if they are used, they are often accompanied by some kind of pitch-variant (e.g.,). + Only the vocal part is included in the transcription. The er-hu part plays the same melody an octave higher. The percussion instruments of luo and po, played by the Taoist priest himself in this case, repeat the following pattern throughout: luo ро 33 XX- -X333 *This structure makes it possible for the suo-na players to prolong their playing whenever necessary by repeating the middle part several more times before going on to motif k. • The similar use of instrumentation and seating arrangement, and melodic and rhythmic motives in Jiao-shi music and regional opera of the same locality are two ready examples. Chen, 1963, describes Taoists performing Kun-ju excerpts during Jiao-shi. See also Note 4. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v References Cited 183 Ch'en Kuo-fu 1963 Tao-tsang yüan-lin k'ao. Peking: Chung hua Press. Keupers, John 1977 "A Description of the Fa-ch'ang Ritual as Practiced by the Lü Shan Taoists of Northern Taiwan," in Michael Saso and David W. Chappel, eds., Buddhist and Taoist Studies (Hawaii: The University Press of Hawaii). Liu Chih-wan 1974 Chung-kuo min-chien hsin-yang lun-chi. Academia Sinica Special Monograph no. 22. Taipei: Academia Sinica. Saso, R. Michael 1972 Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal. Pullman: Washington State University Press. Stein, Rolf A. 1979 “Religious Taoism and Popular Religion from the Second to Seventh Centuries", in Holmes Welch and Anna Seidel, eds., Facets of Taoism: Essays in Chinese Religion (New Haven: Yale University Press). APPENDIX 1983 Cheung Chan Bun Festival 長洲一九八三年(癸亥年)建太平清醮 Date: May 16-20, 1983. Place: Playground in front of the Bai-di temple A. Taoist Team: five Fukienese-speaking dao-shi, with Wei Guo-xin as the head dao-shi; five musicians, also Fukienese-speaking. May 16 13:00 Greeting the Gods 20:00 First operatic performance begins on temporary stage adjacent to the Taoist altar. May 17 1:00 Beginning of Jiao-shi Residents of Cheung-chau begin the three-day fast Operatic performances continue, afternoon and evening shows. May 18 Operatic performance continues, two shows per day. 12:00 Offering to the Gods 15:00 Dotting of eye May 19 12:00 Vegetarian diet ends. May 20 10:00 Divide the Buns 14:00 First day of Procession 第一天會景巡遊 Operatic performance continues, two shows per day. 14:00 Second day of Procession Operatic performance continues, two shows per day. Fast ends. May 21-22 Operatic performance. Beginning on May 17 and ending on May 22, Jiao-shi were conducted in three sessions each day, generally in the morning, afternoon, and evening. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 238 CHOI CHI CHEUNG Gunma Prefecture and the Shikoku group mentioned above. ii) When they or their parents first emigrated to Japan they first stopped at Kobe. Some of them even chose the Kobe Chinese Cemetery as their final resting place (see below). iii) They have a special relationship with the 'Newly Dead' and/or a family with a ‘Newly Dead' (see case IV below). By the time of the festival there were a total of 13 ‘Newly Deads' (Shinn-bon or Hattsu-bon in Japanese), four of them did not live in Kobe: (Table 3). Case I: Hokkienese who lived in Himeji, brother of Case VI who lived in Kobe. Case II: Hokkienese who lived in Yokohama. He lived in Kobe for five years when he first came to Japan. Before he died, he chose to be buried in Kobe. Case IV: Cantonese who lived in Yokohama. She was a house servant and her boss was also a Cantonese. She did not marry and had no family. However, she had relatives living in Kobe. She was buried in Kobe. Case IX: Cantonese from Yokohama. His wife, a Cantonese, was born and lived in Kobe before she married. She called herself a Kobe woman (A) and her husband a Yokohama man (A). Some of the Cantonese told me that in the past the Cantonese were in charge of the festival. The reason they passed the charge of the festival into the hands of the Hokkienese is because the latter are more cooperative and consolidated, and, nowadays only the Hokkienese know how to make paper figures and the Ming-che." However, during the festival, the Cantonese paid more attention to the religious activities, but the Hokkienese were more active in social functions. The committee was made up of voluntary Hokkienese, and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 244 CHOI CHI CHEUNG Spring of 1662 the General gave him land in Uji to build the Temple. See “Fu Chin Hsien Chih Shu Lieh” (B) vol. 12, p. 14 (no date). 24 See a copy of the contract for a house in the underworld in the Appendix to this article. 25 26 Kulp, D.H., Country Life in South China, pp. 145-148. The Figure-maker of the Kyoto Chinese Ghost Festival is, however, a Japanese. 27 Several Japanese worked in the Kitchen, and two took care of the incense inside the Tao Ch'ang and other odd jobs like carrying things to burn etc. 28 See the document printed in the Appendix from the introduction to the Pang. 29 30 Plate 29. For the tablet in the "Ancestral Hall" see the drawing in the Appendix to this article. For the Ming-che see Plate 30. 31 Plate 31. 32 33 As shown, for instance in DK-NR. Plate 32. 34 See letter printed in the Appendix. 35 Personal interview, Oct. 13, 1982. 36 According to Li, in 1878, 357 Chinese lived in Kobe, 223 of them from Kwangtong and Kwangsi (Liang Kwang); 84 from Kiangsu, Chekiang, and Anhuai (Sankiang); and 50 from Hokkien. See Li Ta-shen, Shen-hu Ta-ban di Hau-chiao, May 15, 1943 (in the collection of the History Museum of the Kobe Chinese). Refer also to So Shi-sai, Fuku Sei no Pooru Unn, p. 12 ff. (unpublished thesis). 37 Kobe Chinese News, Sept. 10, 1977. Kansai Chinese News, Aug. 25, 1978; Sept. 25, 1979; Sept. 1, 1981; Oct. 1, 1982. Until 1978, it was reported that the worshippers were mainly Hokkienese. But, from 1979 it was changed to "Chinese worshippers from various places of Japan”. 38 On the one hand, the festival adopted elements that belong to the Japanese, such as: the interpretation of the ritual of Lantern Floating, the Japanese being the mediators, and Japanese was the medium for interdialect group communication. On the other hand, if compared with the Ghost Festival in Uji, Kyoto, the latter is a purely Hokkienese festival. The organizers were Hokkienese, and so were the worshippers. Moreover, the Hokkienese themselves, not the Japanese priests performed the Reporting ritual at the Kyoto festival; there, Hokkienese, not Japanese, was the language for communication. Because of the primary identification or origins, the festival in Kyoto serves more social functions that do not appear in the Kobe festival, e.g. entan (to talk and arrange for marriage). The Ghost Festival in Kyoto is thus one of the 3 main yearly gatherings of the Hokkienese in Japan. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 83 the right direction. At that time the Shek O men worked as seamen and their farm land was idle. The newcomers did vegetable gardening and fishing, renting farm land from Shek O people. To explain why the locals accepted the newcomers, Mr. Lau said that the local population was only some 300 at that time. The newcomers had built their houses on Crown land, which Mr. Lau said was ba-wong-dei, i.e. land which was claimed by the exertion of physical presence in force. Besides the predominately Western residents of the “villas”, there were newcomers from the cities too. One woman who started a brief conversation with me when preparing among others the final offerings to the ghosts told me that her husband who worked in an accounting firm moved to Shek O some 20 years ago in his forties because he liked the place. Among the newcomers was also a Tanka family. Shek O has a temple for Tin Hau, who was the main god of the jiu celebration. According to Professor Tanaka Issei, the oldest dated object found in the temple was a bin-ngaak inscription dated the eighteenth year of Gwong-seui (1893).* Immediately to the left of the Tin Hau temple is a Residents' Association which organized an annual celebration in honour of Tin Hau. Third in the row of houses is the Man San Sports Association. I remember that the primary school is also named Man San, and at one of the shops or tea-houses near the bus stop, there was a poster announcing the results of football matches organized by the Man San Sports Association. According to Mr. Wong, the Shek O Residents Association takes care of local public affairs, relaying messages from the Hong Kong Government. It liaises with the South District Office and the Chai Wan district police headquarters. I saw a poster inviting entries for a South District Festival competition, with "forms available from the Shek O Association” added in handwriting. The officers of the association also organize the annual opera performances in honour of Tin Hau. Mr. Lau saw the association as essentially a development of the village office (heung-gung-so) of pre-War times. The association has almost 2,000 members, although some of the Shek O residents do not join. Mr. Lau could ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 100 CHAN WING HOI NOTES Besides "three-day jius", there are more elaborate “five day jiu” celebrations in the New Territories. The annual ritual takes place typically in Chiu Chau, Wai Chau and Hoklo settlements to make offerings to uncared-for dead spirits. 1 The oldest dated object in the Tin Hau Temple, which housed the main god of the festival, was about one hundred years old. I shall refer to this again later. 6 There could have been more than one "chairman". Probably part of the golf club, or otherwise a similar establishment. Tanaka Issei 田仲一成, Chugoku saishi engeki kenkyū 中国祭祀演劇研究 (Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo 1981) p. 891. 7 The Fuk-Wai-Chiu immigrants had their own gods and their operas in the Tin Hau festival. According to Tanaka, eleven or twelve gods other than Tin Hau were sacrificed to (op. cit., pp. 891-3). One of them, the Daai Wong Paak Gung of Naam Bin Chyn, is attributed by Tanaka to the Hoklo residents. Tanaka also points out that the Fuk-Wai-Chiu members of the organizing committee were alone responsible for a special part of the festival, that is, the performance of Wai Chau and Chiu Chau operas. 8 Piu-sik are usually carried on frames at a height far above that of the audience in a parade. Because of the rain during the procession this time they stood in a lorry instead. About half of the gods sacrificed to in the Tin Hau Festival, including the Fuk-Wai-Chiu deity mentioned above, were not found among the spirit tablets in the jiu festival. 10 "Picking green". In this case the two lions competed in capturing a bank note hanging near the entrance to the house. Glossary Choi Paak Lai 蔡伯勵 choi-cheng 採靑 Dai Wong (Ye) 大王(爺) ba-wong-dei 霸王地 Chiu Chau 潮洲 baai-chaam 拜懺 Baak Mou Seung 白無常 Baak-gung 伯公 Bak Dai 北帝 Bao'an 寶安 bui 杯 bin-ngaak 匾額 Chai Wan 柴灣 Chan Wa 陳華 Cheung Chau 長洲 Daai Si (Wong) 大士(王) daai-gat 大吉 diu-lau 碉樓 Dongguan 東莞 fa-laam 花籃 fa-paai 花牌 Faaigou jeungdaai ... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 269 tions, was the senior military official at Kowloon City. The scroll has been kept by a member of the Wong Wai Chak Tong (**) of Cheung Chau, who has looked after the shrine for the past twenty years or more. He had it from the previous keeper in return for keeping the scroll and other objects — there is a table inscribed lo tang pang and for erecting the matshed. He gets all the oil and incense money given by worshippers during the three days of the first month in the lunar year that the matshed is in position. It is not put up at any other time. A fuller account, with an illustration of the scroll, is at pp 311-318 of the RAS Journal, Vol 15 (1975). The street associations are interesting. The Pak She Association has office premises, from which it provides services and amenities for residents of the street. It takes part in the procession (chut wui i) for the Bun Festival, the major religious activity of the year in which all the leading associations take part. It also has a recognised annual part in the organisation of the festival. As stated above, the Chung Hing group has no premises, but uses the Tin Hau Temple (AGB) in that street for its meetings. It takes an annual part in the chut wui for the Bun Festival, and forms part of the organizing group like the Pak She Association. The Tai San Street people have no premises and take no part in the procession but have this curious connection with the lo tang pang. The Hing Lung Street people have association premises put up about 1960 when I was D.O. on a piece of vacant ground. They are connected with the procession for the Bun Festival but not the organisation of the festival itself. Some of the associations celebrate the lantern festival on other days during this period, probably because of the difficulties in securing accommodation in the few restaurants large enough to take the numbers of people involved. I was told that the dates do not vary and have been followed for many years. Hong Kong, 1987 NOTES James Hayes The day of my visit was also the 15th day of the lunar new year (hsin-hai year), the proper date for celebrating the Feast of Lanterns. For information on this festival see Juliet Bredon and Igor Mitrophanow's The Moon Year, A Record of ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 287 A duck and chicken wholesaler, one of the 73 managers for this year and a resident for over forty years, added that, in pre-war days, lion dancers from other districts would come uninvited to join the procession and compete for the money. This was the general practice in urban Hong Kong, and greatly contributed to both the excitement and the squabbles. The annual celebrations were made more colourful, and noisier and more bustling still, by the presence of groups of worshippers who came in a body to worship at the temporary shrine and competed for the lucky crackers or pau (ki) which were fired from a bamboo gun. They exploded in the air to shower the worshippers with lucky papers, for which youths struggled to obtain for their homes. There was a money value attached to the first and subsequent numbers in the series, which increased the competitiveness of the occasion and added to its general roughness. A prosperous merchant might offer $500 for the first pau, the manager said. It is obvious that in all these types of activity during the festival, excitement was at a high level, and tempers were hot. A propos of this, and as we were watching the boys holding up the front lion dancer on his pole, the vice-chairman said, “We won't put up with uncontrolled temper. If a lad can't keep it, he gets put out of the dance group”. In 1974, perhaps, it was easier to take this line than in earlier times, when competition was one of the highlights of these celebrations. By then, and as a direct result of the 1967 Disturbances, fire-crackers had been banned, and the processions round the streets to vie for the prizes dangling from shop fronts had been discontinued after the police ban. It was a quieter, and less boisterous event, at least in these respects, as a consequence of more crowded streets and increased vehicular traffic, which confined it to the playground and the restaurant in which the annual dinner was held to mark the occasion. The ground was packed with people, and could not have held more. This year, there were several women managers among the 73 selected for the event. I was told that men and women, without distinction or restriction, could be managers, and that this had ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 338 two less common gods. The villagers have very little to say about the gods per se. They have more to say about who is responsible for worshipping which god. For example, when I asked who Ngau-Wong was, the response was "Ngau-Wong is Ngau-Wong", and I could not get any further than that. But the informants have very interesting things to say about who worshipped the god. The Ngau-Wong of Naam-Bin was worshipped by an association known as Ngau-Wong Wui. The Wui was started by a group of cowherds who spent their time on the same hilltop during their work. They gambled using coins. They decided that each time a person won he would give a portion of the money to a fund. This money accumulated and with it farm land was bought to endow the association so that descendants of the members would get their share of pork in the annual celebration. The place is an ordinary stone on the hill top, which they did not worship until the association was started." There is another Ngau-Wong near Shui Mei, whose responsibility it is to worship the god. Before each jiu festival the ritual representatives of Shui Mei will fetch the god from his place on the top of a hill, and walk him back afterwards. The only story about the god a knowledgeable elder could tell me is that, in a previous jiu celebration, the person responsible for walking the god home neglected his duty. Without reaching the hilltop he went home. He got sick soon afterwards, and as if in possession revealed the anger of the god. Probably the most important thing about any god is its place in the social framework. 45 Neither Juk-Yun Nunnery nor San-Sin Fu, the two nunneries within Kam Tin, exists any more. Still extant is Miu-Gok Yun, which was built by the [Dang] Tung Fuk Tong. The tong was a charitable association which collected unburied human bones and buried them in a charity tomb (yi chung). "It was started to collect gam-taap bones that were not worshipped by anybody. Some of those containers would have been broken, and animals might eat them". The Tong also cares for the Temple for Dei-Jong Wong, whose role, similar to that of Daai-Si Wong in the Offering to Ghosts ritual in the jiu ritual, is to watch over the ghosts. The date and the circumstances in which the Tung Fuk Tong started is no longer remembered. There were Dangs who had shares in the association. They contributed towards buying some landed property as endowment to the Dei-Jong temple. The nunnery with an altar for the Buddha was built in 1936, before which time there were already some monks and nuns resident at the temple. They did not rebuild the temple ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 344 police. A cluster of smaller temporary structures were built to house the paper images of the Jade Emperor, the City God, the Daai-Si Wong and Baak Mou-Seung. The Daai-Si Wong, also known as Gwai-Wong (King of Ghosts) is a transformation of the goddess Gwun-Yam, who has a fierce appearance befitting his role in the ritual: to oversee the ghosts when they come for the offerings. The Baak Mou-Seung, literally the White Unpredictable, is one of the two Unpredictables, both members of the Underworld bureaucracy who take peoples' spirits when they are to die. Further away from the main paang was a larger structure for general gods, which was to house most of the gods invited from local temples and shrines. Decked out with many fa-paai banners from the villagers and outsiders, the main structure had several partitions. At the entrance in front were two huge paper images of two armed gods, who served as the supernatural guardians of the paang. Beside them were two horses with attendants, and a pair of lions. Furthest from the entrance was a stage divided into three sections, all facing the entrance. The middle one is the Taoist altar where the priests performed many of their rites. To the right was the altar for the Dang ancestors Hung-Yi and his two wives. On the left side was the puppet stage, on which plays were performed. On both sides of the central area of the paang were rooms for each of the five gu villages/groups of villages, plus Ying Lung Wai. On the same rows were two rooms for the guards for the festival site, one for guards drawn from the young men of Bak-Bin and the other from those of Naam-Bin. Nearer the front on the right side was a temporary altar for Gwun-Yam. On the left side was a large partition dedicated to four separate groups of paper images, many with pottery/ceramic heads. The area was known as the yau-saan, a place to harbour ghosts. Each of these groups was divided into three levels. Two large groups depicted the ten Kings of the Underworld on the topmost level. Under the Kings on the middle level were ten shops, each with signs indicating the business: barber's, brothel, sundry goods shop, pawnshop, second-hand clothing, department stores (two), tailors, porters, and “cool” drinks. On the lower levels were some devils, ghosts under torture in the Underworld, and many shoppers. The subjects of the two other groups were more difficult to identify. One of them was labelled Zizhu Lin, “Purple Bamboo Grove”, the place associated with the Goddess Gwun-Yam. She and her male and female attendants were recognizable among the images on the topmost ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 348 D. The Taoist Priests and Their Rites The Taoist priests who performed the rites in this festival were hired on a contract basis. More than ten of them were involved, among whom four were in a senior position. The oldest of the four, Mr. Lam Pui, born before 1910, was from the New Territories. Another, Mr. Jeung Hoi, was from a village just across the present Chinese border. Mr. Lam Choi was probably from the New Territories too. Both were born about 1920. These three had been active as ritual experts in the area since when they were young, and had been in leading positions at least in the last few decades. The four had all performed in the 1965 celebration of the Kam Tin jiu festival. The other senior priest, Mr. Chan Gau, was from Sa Jeng in the western area of Bao'an county. He had come to Hong Kong more than ten years ago and since then has worked in the New Territories. Mr. Leung Tung, though not a priest by profession, had been working with this group of priests as a musician, and had trained in an early stage of his career in ceremonial music bands in the Bak Bin villages. Chan Gau, Jeung Hoi and Lam Pui were the partners who undertook to provide the priestly services on this occasion, and the other members of the team were hired to help. Besides the three-times daily Scripture chanting and small processions to make offerings at different spots, the priests performed about 20 rites in the festival. About ten of them were more elaborate and were considered to be the main ones. Each of the four senior priests took the leading role in different rites. Mr. Lam Pui, being the oldest and the most knowledgeable, acted as the high priest in most of the main rites, including the Opening Rite, the Purification of the Ritual Area, the Posting of the Placard, the Escort of the Holy Ones, and the Great Offering to Ghosts. Mr. Chan Gau, being younger and good at acrobatic feats, took care of the more martial rituals: the martial arts section of the Purification of the Ritual Area, and Going through the Gates of Life and Death, and headed the team for the Dipper Rite. Mr. Jeung Hoi acted as the main priest in some of the other important rites. Mr. Lam Choi, partly because he was not one of the partners, played secondary roles. The morning, noon-time, and afternoon Scripture chanting and offerings were performed by the more junior members of the team, as were the short concluding rites on the last day. 60 Although the rites differ one from another, there were many elements ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 364 They left the festival site, passing Tai Hong Wai and Ko Po, where those who took part were offered drinks. They next reached Ying Lung Wai, where they were met by the lion dance of the village, and treated to soft drinks. They first worshipped at the altar of the God of Earth and Grain of Ying Lung Wai, then the san-teng and the village gate. They proceeded to Tung Tau Tsuen, where they worshipped at the Tin-Hau Temple and then the Gwun-Yam Temple. No one came to meet them. But nearby two elderly ladies exchanged these remarks among themselves, "The two temples belong to Kam Tin fellows, they wanted to repair them, but Tung Tau Tsuen would not let them". They proceeded to the Old Market. First they worshipped at the market gate then at the Bak-Dai Temple, and then at the Daai-Wong Temple. Then they moved on to Nam Pin Wai, where they worshipped at the altar of the God of Earth and Grain, the san-teng and the village gate. A man in his fifties sitting under a tree cursed the Dangs when he saw the Ambulance which was in attendance in case anyone was overcome by the heat. He said, "Right. Let this Ambulance carry these Kam Tin fellows". At the nearby Sai Pin Wai they worshipped at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. There was a reception. They proceeded to a Lam Yi-Hing Tong” inside Sai Pin Wai, and then the village gate and an altar of the God of Earth and Grain. The procession finished with the Old Market and the surrounding villages, and went on to Yuen Long New Market. When they reached Sau Fu Street, they were offered soft drinks by people who had come from Kam Tin for that purpose. From there they walked back to the festival site at Kam Tin. F. The Procession with the King of Ghosts The procession with the King of Ghosts took place during the evening before the Great Offering to Ghosts. In the first stage the Bak-Bin villagers carried the huge image of the Daai-Si Wong through their villages. Their Naam-Bin counterparts waited near Kam Hing Wai to take over the paper image for the second part of the procession. These were 22 young men, many carrying long bamboo poles with metal ends ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 368 Sung, Hok-p'ang et. al. (1984), pp. 1-9. 1973 "Legends and stories of the New Territories: Kam T'in', JHKBRAS xiii, 1973, pp. 28-40. 1974 "Legends and stories of the New Territories: Kam T'in", JHKBRAS xiv, 1974, pp. 160-185. Taga, Akigoro Tanaka, Issei 1982 Chugoku Sofu no Kenkyu, vol. 2, Tokyo. 1985 Tsui, Bartholomew Watson, Rubie S. Wolf, Arthur P. (ed.) A Chiu 亞潮(?) baai 拜 baai-san Baak Mou-Seung Ú Baak-Ging Baishe Zhuan Lineage and Theatre in China. Interdependence of Festival Organization, ritual, and theatre in the lineage society of South China, Tokyo. 1989 Village Festivals in China: Backgrounds of Local Theatres. Tokyo forthcoming "Daojiao Yili ya Jishen Kiju zhijian de Guanxi”, forthcoming "Taoist Ritual Books of the New Territories". 1985 Inequality Among Brothers: Class and Kinship in South China, Cambridge University Press. 1974 Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Stanford. GLOSSARY chiu-gaan chiu-dou * Chiu-Yip # chu 柱 Chuk Yuen 竹園 Chung E Chung Yeung 重陽 Chung-Saan U Bak Bin 北便 Bak Dai 北帝 bei 陂 bong 榜 Bou-Dak Chi #AM bui cha-gwo 茶果 Chan Gau 陳九 Chan 陳 chau-san + Chenghua 成化 cheun-ding T cheun-fu 巡撫 Cheung-Cheun Yun cheung-saam Chi-Naam Ching Ming U Ching-Lok Chung-Yut Я chyun 村 Daai-Si Wong ✰± Daai-Wong E daai-yan ★A daai-yau daam daam-jung da-jai 打仔 da-jiu 打醮 dan 躉 Dang 鄧 Dang Chung 鄧璁 Dao 道 da-saat Dei-Jong Wong E ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 374 which has been copied in an untitled manuscript in the possession of Mr. Dang Yu-Hing).36 Dang Kei-faan Genealogy in the Baker Collection of New Territories genealogies in the British Library. 37 The elder was Dang Wing-Sau, the head of the lineage. I do not know which generation he was in. See Taga (1982:92). 38 Translated in Sung (1974:177-179). 39 40 See table above and the genealogy in Kam Tin Historical Documents, vol. 1. Probably Dang Hei-Seui. See Sung (1974:166-168) and a genealogy of his segment included in Hugh Baker's Collection of Genealogies. 41 Patrick Hase has drawn my attention to the importance of the monastery as central to the establishment Hung-Yi's descendants in Kam Tin, just as Ling To nunnery is to the Dangs of Ha Tsuen. The monastery and the earlier temple are a major element in the fung-seui of the Pat Heung valley and Kam Tin. The rivers important to irrigation in the area all flow from the mountain on which the monastery stands. 42 41 44 I have not tried to find further information on this man in gazetteers. See Sung (1973:112-113) for the Hung Sing Temple. This was one of two stories. They were thought of as alternatives although there is no contradiction between them. I shall relate the other one later. 45 I was told that the Juk-Yun Am used to be at the present site of the Gwaan-Dai Temple of Shing Mun San Tsuen, and San-Sin Fu near Shui Mei. 46 Two items in Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 2 were probably intended for this very grave. These were among the papers of Dang Ting-sam from the year 1873. The first was a request for donations towards the establishment of a charitable grave. The second was intended for a stone inscription. There is strong evidence that the charitable grave was established before the British came, although many present-day Dangs believe that those buried in the grave were those who died fighting against the British. The jiu festival record for 1895 included the Dei-Jong Wong of Tung-Fuk Tong among the gods to be invited, and an elder in his nineties remembered seeing gam-taap jars for bones when he was very small. He deduced that those must have been the remains of people who died before 1898, because one had to wait for many years he suggested ten — until the bones could be extracted after a first burial. 47 A bin-ngaak (horizontal inscribed board) presented to the Buddhist altar at its completion included ten names who were believed to be the share-holders of the Tong. They were three Wan-Guk jiu descendants of Shui Mei: Baak-Cheung, Daat-Hung, and Jik-Hing; three brothers Yat-Wa, Seui-Chuen, Gam-Wa and two of their nephews, and Baak-Yi, all descendants of Wan-Gaan; and a Hin-Yiu of Kam Tin Shi. 48 Plus a inscribed stone on the ground saying Naam-mo O-Mei-To-Fat, set up to offset the bad influences that caused traffic accidents near the stone. 49 Hoi-dang for a village did not always take place at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. In the Shui Mei case it took place at the Tin-Hau Temple. 50 The elders made it clear that gu here does not mean “shares". 51 The subjects for these paper images were specified in the contract made with the craftsmen. The contract was included in the general record for the festival and was copied from the previous ones. But neither the organizers nor the contractor seem to have paid much attention to the details of the prescription. 52 The object is probably more commonly known by the name dong 'an and is more often installed over the central area of the Taoist altar rather than in the backstage room. See ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 375 Ofuchi (1983). 5.1 These two kinds of embroidery were always found in major festivities and at temple altars. 54 Both are reproduced in the Dang Clan Association handbook in Huge Baker's collection of genealogies, with commentary. One of the Dangs I talked to had some doubt about the authenticity of the alleged painting of Song Wuizong. He observed that the calligraphy was not of the typical style of the emperor, the shou-zhen ti. 55 Although the wong-gu was a common ancestress, her relics were not public property. The painting of the eagle belonged to a wealthy leader of the Dangs of Kam Tin, and the other pieces to the Wan-Gaan jire segment or one of its members. 57 On this divination instrument, see Ahern (1981:45-47). Discussed in the next part of this report. SV For more information on Lam Pui and his family, see Tsui (1985). 60 The rite is locally found probably only in the Kam Tin jiu festival. The priests explain it by alluding to the legendary Baiguai Zhen battle formation of Zhuge Liang, a stateman and strategist in the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-265). I think it is probably more directly related to the gimen dunjia style of magic. 42 A handheld small metal idiophone with a handle. See Schipper (1974) for a thorough discussion of the Memorials in the Taiwan case, which is very close to the one I am describing. The Oral History Project collection and Osuchi (1983) include most of the manuals used in this festival. 64 The actual seating no longer observed the segregation of the sexes, although this used to be the practice. 65 The difficulty was due partly to the fact that there were more Naam Bin people than their Bik Bin counterparts, even when the Ying Lung Wai villagers were added to the latter. As I have mentioned already, the seating area was divided into two halves, one for Naam Bin and one for Bak Bin. This gave the Bak Bin chu more seats each. I learned from a different source that the elder left early on the day because he felt that some younger villagers were being hostile to him. 67 The informant explained that it was usual for the Village Representatives to keep their position until they die. Therefore, those who are interested in becoming one always fail, except in Shui Tau, where the villagers generally have more exposure to the outside world and re-elect their V.R. once every two years. 68 I saw another lady doing waan-san at Ying Lung Wai. In addition to the san-seng, she made offerings at the village gate as well, which I guess is the normal practice. The two men were elders/ritual representatives, neither was the head of the lineage, probably due to the lineage head's age. 70 Except in the case of Tin-Chyun San-Gwan, I have relied on the Daojiao Yuenliu, the priests' manual to which they often refer when asked to explain their tradition, for interpretation. There were some young ladies in the procession this time, which represented a recent development. 72 Ancestral tablets could be seen inside, but Mr. Dang Jik-Waai said that the place used to be a sun-teng, and was worshipped by the procession because of this. 73 In which case only the woman herself would suffer. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 28 membership of an alliance." III. Studies on Jiao Festivals in Hong Kong: the 1980s a. Trend 18 There are not as many studies of Jiao festivals in Hong Kong as in Taiwan. The earliest study in Hong Kong is probably Taylor's 1953 ethnographical essay on the Cheung Chau Jiao festival. The article was re-printed in every issue of the special annual bulletin for the Bun festival in Cheung Chau until the beginning of the 80s. The late Prof. B.E. Ward noticed very early the importance of the Jiao festival to the understanding of rural society. Her account of the festival itself, however, appeared only briefly in her introductory guide book on festivals in Hong Kong. Dr. James Hayes has also noticed the importance of the celebration during his studies on rural communities in the outlying islands and new towns in Kowloon. However, only some of the celebrations were given brief mention in his 1983 book. Mathias' study on the 1975 Kam Tin Jiao festival is probably the earliest comprehensive study of the festival. It is a pity, however, that it has not been published. Kani, Obuchi and Yoshihara are probably the earliest Japanese scholars to realize the significance of Jiao festivals in Hong Kong. Kani, in his study of boat people in Hong Kong regards the Jiao on Cheung Chau island as an event, like the Hungry Ghost Festival, to feed wandering ghosts. Obuchi, working with a Taoist priest, Mr. Chan Wah, studied the symbolic meanings of different Taoist rituals performed in the 1975 Shatin Jiao festival. Yoshihara in a section of his paper on religion in Hong Kong briefly described the 1977 Tai Wai, Sha Tin, event. Beginning in 1979, Tanaka and Segawa commenced active data collection on the festival. Tanaka began his extensive research in Hong Kong in 1979. At least 14 different Jiao festivals were recorded in his three books. Segawa joined the research later, from 1983 to 1985, and several articles have since been published in Japanese. 20 22 The nineteen eighties saw a growth in interest in Jiao festivals among local institutions and scholars. In 1980, students and lecturers of the History Department (Dr. D. Faure), the Sociology Department (the late Prof. B.E. Ward), the Anthropology Department (Dr. S.H. Wang) and the Music Department (the late Dr. B.C. Lu) of the Chinese University of Hong Kong [CUHK] began concurrent studies on Jiao ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 40 Dean. Kenneth “Revival of Religious Practices in Fujian: a Case Study in Pas. Julian F. (ed.) The Turning of the Tide: Religion in China Today (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society & Oxford Univ. Press, 1989), 72. 4 Mr. Pang Cheng-chuen (Peng Zheng-chuen), interviewed by author, Fanling, Dec. 30. 1990. P Dean. 54. A student of the University of Hong Kong told me on Feb. 3, 1991 that he saw, by chance, a Jiao festival in 1990. He could not recall the exact date and location. However, he was very sure, from the celebrating flower boards, that it was a Jiao festival. K Ibid., 776. Liu Zhi-wan, Taibeishi Songshan qi an jian jiao jidian, Institute of Ethnology Academia Sinica Monograph, no. 14, (Taipei: The Institute, 1967). Besides Liu, the research team from the Academia Sinica included Song Lung-fei and Xu Jia-ming. Song's paper concentrated on aspects of folk architecture and decoration while Xu focused on the economic and social aspects. See Song Lung-fei "Song-shan jian jiao jiao tan jianzhu di zhuan shi Yi shu" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 25 (1968): 157-217; Xu Jia-ming: "Songshan jian jiao yu shequ" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 25 (1968): 109-153. 4 Li Zian-zhang. "Daojiao jiaoyi di kaizhan yu xiandai di jiao” Sinological Researches 5 (1968): 261. Ibid., p. 201. Saso, Michael R., Taoism and the Rite of Cosmic Renewal (Washington: Washington State Univ. Press, 1972), 34. Law, Joan & B.E. Ward, Chinese Festivals (Hong Kong: South China Morning Post, 1982), 83. Okada, Yuzuru, Kiso Shakai (Tokyo: Kobundo, 1949). See Brim, John A. “Village Alliance Temples in Hong Kong" in Wolf. A.P. (ed.) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 1974), 93–103; and Suenari, Michio "Sonbyo to sonkyo: Taiwan Hakka shuraku no jirei kara” [Village temple and village boundary: a case study of the Hakka communities in Taiwan] Bunka Jinna Gaku [Cultural Anthropology] (1985) 2:255-260. 15 Ueno, Hiroko, "Taiwan nanbo no osho to sonraku: Tainanken hito saishiken no sonraku aida kankei" (Wang Jiao and villages in southern Taiwan: worshipping area and village relationship] Bunka Jinriú Gaku 5 (1988): 64-82. + Taylor, W.A. "The Spirit Festival" Bulletin of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival 1980 (Cheung Chau: n.p., 1980), 39-41. (reprinted from Wide World Magazine, Dec. 1953). The annual Cheung Chau Jiao festival is better known to westerners as the Bun festival because of the three tall "bun mountains" erected at the ritual area. The festival is the most studied Jiao festival in Hong Kong probably due to the fact that (1) the island is comparatively easy to get to, (2) it is celebrated every year and (3) it is widely publicized by the Hong Kong Tourist Information Bureau. Besides Tanaka's accounts (see note 36), see also Jonathan Chamberlain and Ian Lambot's photographic account. The Bun Festival of Cheung Chau (Hong Kong Studio Publications, 1990). דן I owe my interest in the Jiao festival to Prof. Ward who first introduced me to Jiao festivals in 1980. She then suggested that I participate in the Jiao festival in Kau Lau Wan. K Law & Ward, 83-84. Hayes, James W., The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies and Themes (Hong ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 41 Kong: Oxford Univ. Press, 1983), 156-160 & 163-164, on the Jiao festivals celebrated between 1964 and 1972 in Ma Tau Wai, Nga Tsin Wai, Tung Chung and Tai O. N Mathias, John R.G., Study of the Jiao: a Taoist Ritual in Kam Tin in the Hong Kong New Territories (unpublished D.Phil. thesis, Oxford University, 1977-78). #I Kani, Hiroaki, "Hồn Kôn Chugokujin no shukyo shiso no ichidan nitsuite" Shigaku 40, no. 2 & 3 (1967). 22 Obuchi, Ninji, “Hon Kon no tokyo girei" |Daoist ritual in Hong Kong] in Ikeda Sueri Hakase Koki Kinen Toyo Gaku Ronshu (Tokyo, 1980), 753-769. 27 Yoshihara, Katsuo. "Shukyo" [Religion] in Kani Hiroaki (ed.) Motto Shiritai Hon Kon (Tokyo: Kobundo, 1984), 184-191. 11 See note 37. 14 I have been told that Dr. Faure had a manuscript on the Jiao festival sent to a publisher in Hong Kong. However, due to whatever reasons, it has not yet been published. See also Hayes, 164, about Faure's book on Jiao festivals. 36 I was probably the only researcher who participated in the 1980 Kau Lau Wan Jiao festival when I was first introduced by the late Prof. B.E. Ward and Dr. S.H. Wang to the Jiao festival celebrated by the fishing village. In October the same year, Dr. Faure and I attended the Jiao festival at Pak Kong, Sai Kung. In November, the late Dr. Lu Bin-chuan of the Music Department of CUHK, Dr. Lu's student Mr. Chan Wing-Hoi and I attended the Jiao festival in Fanling. Dr. Faure, Prof. Ward and Prof. Tanaka also came. The Jiao festival of Fanling and that of other areas are mentioned here and there in Faure's 1986 book. In December 1980 students of CUHK under the guidance of Dr. Faure, Dr. Wang and Prof. Ward started an ethnographical research on the Jiao festival in Ho Chung, Sai Kung. A detailed report of daily rituals was written by Lee Lai-mui and Cheng Shui Kwan, two CUHK students majoring in History and minoring in Anthropology. The report was sent to interested scholars. Unfortunately it has never been published. Two students of the CUHK at that time should perhaps be mentioned here: Chan Wing-hoi, who specializes in music and computer, was employed by the History Museum of Hong Kong to study the Kam Tin Jiao festival in 1985, a report of which was published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29 (1989). Chan's master's thesis on folk music in Hong Kong also includes a chapter on the ritual music played by the Taoists at the Jiao festival. Chan also has an ethnography on the 1986 Shek O Jiao festival published in the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 26 (1986), 78-101. The master's thesis of Leung Chor-on, now Ph.D. candidate of Cambridge University, submitted to the Anthropology Department of the CUHK gives a good account of the ritual symbols of the festival. Chan, Leung and I held a seminar on Jiao festivals on Dec. 11, 1988 for the "Research Circle of the Regional Society of Southern China" focusing on musical, ritual and social aspects of the festival. 27 Locally published works besides those by Faure and my own are: - (a) Chamberlain, Jonathan, "Introduction” in Chamberlain J. and Iam Lambot The Bun Festival of Cheung Chau (Hong Kong: Studio Publication, 1990). This is largely a collection of photos. Chamberlain's introduction is very descriptive but no sources are quoted. (b) Chan Wing-hoi, “Observations at the Jiu [Jiao] festival of Shek O and Tai Long Wan, 1986" Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 26 (1986), 78-101. Chan recorded meticulously what he was told and observed about the 'settlement', the 'participants', the "ritual site", the "local gods" and the "events". (c) Xiao, Kuo-jian (Anthony K.K. Siu), Xianggang Xiandai Shehui [Pre-modern society of Hong Kong] (Hong Kong: Chung Wah, 1990), 86-97. Xiao attempts to illustrate three reasons why the communities in Hong Kong celebrate the Jiao. The first reason is to plead for fortune, to pay sacrifices to the gods, to drive away evils and to prevent 4 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 42 disasters. the second is for those who died because of plague. The final reason is to thank the benevolent governors Wang Lai-ren and Zhou You-de of the beginning of the Qing dynasty. In my opinion, all these reasons can be integrated into the first one. (d) Chan Wing-hoi "The Tangs of Kam Tin and their Jiu festival", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 29 (1989) 302-375, a rich and detailed account of the lineage, its temples and villages, and the festival which draws them together. Dr. Faure gradually switched his interest to the Pearl River Delta while Prof. Tanaka, as I was told, is now looking at Sichuan province. Talk on publishing a book on Hong Kong Jiao festivals has been going on for years by members of the "Research Circle of the Regional Society of Southern China''. In 1990, the editorial board of the society set up a schedule to compile a book focusing on the Jiao festival. It is expected that papers on various aspects will be completed by the end of April 1991. (Correspondence from the society dated 28.12.1990) Schipper, Kristofer M., "The Written Memorial in Taoist Ceremonies" in Wolf, Arthur P. (ed.) Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), 324, For example, according to Chan Wing-hoi, villagers of Shek O celebrated their 16th Jiao in 1986 (Chan, 78). The Dengs in Kam Tin claimed to have celebrated their Jiao since 1684 (Tanaka, 918). See for instance Basel Mission Archives, doct. Al-6, No. 51 (1869), and doct. Al-7, No. 51 (1870) and Der Evangelische Heidenbote, July 1867, in which a missionary describes how he was forced to go to the Magistrate to get his support before he could avoid having to pay his share of the Jiao expenses. All these cases are from Hsin An County. The Sha Tin poem will, it is hoped, shortly be published by Dr. P.H. Hase. These two series are part of the 15 series of historical documents collected by Dr. D. Faure and others in the New Territories. Copies of the collections are kept in the libraries of CUHK, Hong Kong University, Sha Tin Regional Council Library, and Institute of Oriental Culture, Tokyo University. 31 Tanaka Chugoku no Sozoku to Engeki [Lineage and Theatre in China] (Tokyo Univ. Press 1985), 608. Jiao festivals celebrated by the powerful communities in Hong Kong like Kam Tin, Ha Tsuen, Lung Yeuk Tau etc., were all performed by the Zhengyi Taoist group, led first by the late Master Lin Pei and now by Master Chan Kau. Another Zhengyi Taoist group is led by Master Chan Wah. However, many Taoist priests work for both groups. There are also other Taoist groups who performed for the Jiao festivals, like a Cantonese group which performed for Ho Chung and a Heklo group for Cheung Chau. In 1983, four out of five Jiao festivals were performed by monastery Taoists. It is not clear whether it was because of tradition or out of economic reasons. A comparison of the two Taoist groups has yet to be made. 14 Choi Chi-cheung **Sho matsuri no jinmei risuto ni mirareru shinzoku ban'i” [Kinship as seen in the name lists of Jiao festival] Bunka Jinnú Gaku 5 (1988): 131, table L. 35 **Shinshi men" [Section of Believers] in Fanling Wenxian (Historical Literature of Fanling) vol. 8. This brief account records details of the arrangement of the Jiao area, including the contents of couplets, names of deities invited, location and direction of matshed stages, and the sacrifices prepared etc.. See n. 32 for the depositories of Fanling Wenxian. 36 See (1972) Lin Chuan [Lam Tsuen] Xiang Taiping Qingjiao huiyi jilubu in Dapu [Tai Po] Wenzian [Historical Literature of Tai Po] vol. 1. (see n. 32 for depositories) 37 Tanaka Issei's three books, all published by the Tokyo Univ. Press are: Chugoku Saishi Engeki Kenkyu [Ritual Theatres in China] (1981), Chugoku no Sozoku to Engeki [Lineage and Theatre in China) (1985), and Chugoku Kyoson Saishi Kenkyu: Chihogeki ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 169 RAS VISIT TO HUIZHOU Dan Waters On Saturday 15 November, 1997, 14 stalwart members of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch (RASHKB) set off by coach on a two-day visit to Huizhou (Waichau or Waichow) and the surrounding region in eastern Guangdong Province. Huizhou has a population of about 600,000, making it larger than Macau. In this part of Guangdong, where Westerners attract a certain amount of attention, we visited scenic spots like the West Lake (see Plate I), the Xizhou Pagoda and the Su Dongbo Well as well as his Monument (see Plate II).1 Su Dongbo was a leading poet and a member of the literati in Northern Song times. He was also concerned with the building of bridges, improving dams and constructing water supply schemes. Madam Wang (1062-96), his Concubine, was a native of Hangzhou. Su was disgraced and banished to Guangdong and subsequently to Hainan Island. Our RAS Group also visited one of the most famous Taoist temples (the Lu Dong Bin Temple) in Guangdong Province, situated at Loh Fau Shan. Lu Dong Bin is one of the Eight Immortals and a patron saint of the literati. He uses a fly whisk to sweep away the clouds and carries a magic sword associated with healing. On the following day (Sunday 16 November) the RAS Group drove to the unspoiled Nine Dragon Mountain (named 'Kowloon' like in Hong Kong) and its comparatively well-known Tam Kung Temple which was visited by a group of RASHKB members in November 1995. Research has previously been carried out and RAS visits have been made to various Tam Kung temples both in Hong Kong and in Macau, including during the Tam Kung Festival. Also, an illustrated lecture was given on the Hakka Boy Deity, Tam Kung, in 1996, to the RASHKB by Professor Anthony Siu and Geoffrey Roper. There is little point in repeating similar information here. One of the tasks that the RAS group set itself, in November 1997, was to find two buildings in Huizhou which were used by the British Army Aid Group (BAAG) during World War Two. Both sites were ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 19 eration to be found in wine. Then there is Journey to the West, which has been translated into English, where the Monkey King goes in search of immortality. We have Chinese opera and puppets (Liu, 1995:43-58). A great deal of mirth is to be found at Hong Kong festivals, whether it be at the Cheung Chau Bun Festival or the festival of the Hakka Boy God, Tam Kung. Then again, close friends of a bridegroom get a great deal of enjoyment from making fun of him on his wedding night. There is also considerable humour (funniness) in the countless everyday expressions of 'old one-hundred names' (the man in the street). Such sayings which can be described as 'words that work,' are as common in China as chopsticks. For example, inserting money in a car-parking meter is known as 'feeding the hungry tiger,' and, when one is 'booked,' the 'ticket' placed under the windscreen wiper of one's car by a traffic warden, is called naau yuk kon (4), which is slang meaning a thin slice of Chinese dried, sweet beef. There is also a great deal of humour in the vocabularies of merchants and con men, nicknames and clever allusions to everyday objects and curses (Bolton, 1997:299). To scold someone is also an art which onlookers often treat as entertainment. The art is for the person to stand there and give the other person face and let him or her have their say. Then, after remaining quiet, the other person steps in and lets the other party have it! The Chinese language abounds with expressions, many commonly used, which make you smile on the outside and laugh within. There are amusing adages such as: (a) Melon fields, under the pear tree. (Cantonese know, when this is said it means: don't bend down in a melon field or adjust your hat under a pear tree, or people may think you are stealing melons or pears. Thus, it implies, do not arouse suspicion.) (b) When a pretty woman marries an ugly man it is like sticking fresh flowers behind the ears of a donkey. (c) Local ginger is not hot. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1998 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/1g05n0794 142 and Zheng Lingguan Yuanshuai EA Xu Sun's festival is celebrated on the 1st of the eighth lunar month, though in a few of the temples a further minor festival is held on the 28th of the first lunar month. Apart from his title, Xu Zhenjun and his personal name, Xu Sun, he is also known as: Xu Xianzhen 許仙真 Xu Xian Zhenren 許仙真人 Xu Zhenren 許真人 Shengong Miaoji Zhenjun 神功妙濟真君 a Song dynasty title Jingming Zhongxiao Dao 凈明忠孝道 a Song or Yuan dynasty title Note: This deity should not be confused with another, Xu Jia, also known as Xu Zhenren A nor should either cult be confused with yet another local deity, Xu Tianjun. A further complication arises from the identification by some temple keepers in Singapore and Taiwan of Xu as the local Chaozhou community Military Earth God, Gantian Dadi. i Chinese Medical Deities: 1870 ii Sun Simiao, one of the Ten Celebrated Physicians renowned not only as a herbalist but as a diagnostician was also of Jiangxi province. iii Wu Ben, a herbalist of great renown born in a village near Xiamen in Fujian province. He is possibly better known by his title of Baosheng Dadi, the Great Emperor who Protects Life. iv Fitkin, Gretchen Mae: The Great River - The Story of a Voyage on the Yangtze Kiang: Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh: 1922 v Professor Liang is Head of the Department of History at the Jiangxi Normal University in Nanchang. ================================================================================