September 2009

Mao being revealed as not having said ‘The Chinese people have finally stood up’ on the establishment of the People’s Republic of China did nothing to dampen the celebrations of China’s sixtieth anniversary that spilled over into Hong Kong. The celebrations even went as far as an institution supposedly above politics, the Taoist Wong Tai Sin Temple. This temple complex is one of the most impressive in Hong Kong with historians sometimes referring to its unscathed survival of the Japanese WWII occupation as miraculous.
   Wong Tai Sin himself was said to be a shepherd boy living in an isolated area of Zhejiang Province in China called Red Pine Hill. At the age of 15 he was taught by an immortal the ancient art of refining the mineral cinnabar into a drug that could cure all sickness. ‘Wong Tai Sin’ means ‘Great Immortal Wong.' The revival of Wong Tai Sin only happened at the end of the 19th century. Prior to 1911, the dynastic emperor mostly served as the divine religious symbol, often stretching the mandate of heaven into religious terms. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, a replacement faith symbol was needed. The Chinese herbalist Leung Renyan arrived in Hong Kong in 1915, bringing a portrait of Wong Tai Sin. He rented an apartment in Wanchai and opened a herbal medicine shop. Patients coming to his shop bought medicines and prayed at the Wong Tai Sin altar Leung kept. New of the efficacy of this arrangement soon spread and there was a great growth in popularity of Wong Tai Sin. After Leung’s shop was destroyed by fire in 1918, he claimed to have received a message from from Wong Tai Sin to build a new shrine 3,600 paces from a pier. Leung soon found this site at the bottom of Lion Rock Mountain near the then Chuk Yuen village. This became the site of the modern Wong Tai Sin Temple.
   Leung’s arrival in the city could not have been better and worshippers claim the subsequent success of the growth in modern society of Wong Tai Sin has been so exceptional, it is beyond pure coincidence.
   The temple today is a fascinating interweaving of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. Wong Tai Sin is attributed with an uncanny ability to heal the sick, and to predict the future. So many people come to perform a ritual of shaking a cup (chim) full of bamboo sticks to then hand a stick that falls out to a fortune teller for advice. People come for advice on all manner of xproblems and Wong Tai Sin even has a reputation for giving good horseracing tips.
   In the twenty sixth and twenty seventh of September the temple administrators held a temple carnival. It was held on the. The carnival was held to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China and the to-be-completed Taisui Yuenchen Hall.


Slide show of celebrations at Wong Tai Sin Temple, September 2009