Folk Beliefs and Customs

Ⅹ-85Folk CustomsHong Kong, ChinaBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Wong Tai Sin belief of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region originated in the Jinhua region of Zhejiang Province and was transmitted from the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province. It is a folk belief activity formed around the veneration of the immortal Huang Chuping (Wong Tai Sin). From the Eastern Jin dynasty down to 1949, he was revered in the Jinhua region of Zhejiang as a Daoist immortal, a god who healed illness, and the controller of clear and rainy weather, giving rise to a traditional belief in immortals. Around the Ming-Qing transition, the Wong Tai Sin belief spread into Lingnan; in the late Qing it circulated through many parts of Guangdong, and around 1901 to 1915 it was transmitted to Hong Kong. The Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong, founded in 1921, inherited the Daoist lineage of the Lingnan Wong Tai Sin belief, reflecting the influence of mainland traditional culture on Hong Kong culture. With the development of Hong Kong's economy, the Wong Tai Sin belief has taken deeper root and flourished more luxuriantly, as can be seen from the naming of the district in which the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple is located as Wong Tai Sin District in 1969. This principle of faith was established by the Lingnan Wong Tai Sin belief of the late Qing, and the Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple in Hong Kong has always observed it.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Wong Tai Sin is the Daoist immortal Huang Chuping, whose deeds are recorded in Ge Hong's Biographies of Immortals (Shenxian Zhuan) of the Eastern Jin dynasty. The Wong Tai Sin belief penetrates every aspect of Hong Kong people's lives. Many citizens enshrine an image of Master Wong Tai Sin at home to protect their households, and some hang his image before the windshield of their cars, praying for safe travel. Even the police station in Wong Tai Sin District has installed an image in his honor, and temples enshrining his image in other districts are by no means few. Private groups devoted to belief in Master Wong Tai Sin are scattered throughout Hong Kong. The year-end thanksgiving to the deity (huanshen), the first incense stick of the new year (touzhuxiang), and the birthday of the Great Immortal on the twenty-third day of the eighth lunar month have become important annual customs of Hong Kong. In recent years, Sik Sik Yuen has promoted a number of large-scale religious and cultural activities, such as grand offerings, blessing ceremonies, and temple fairs, which have been widely accepted by the public. In its early years and for decades thereafter, even when funds were tight, it persisted in providing free medical treatment and medicine, and donated to public charitable funds for education and temple repairs. The Wong Tai Sin belief of Hong Kong is a traditional faith passed down through generations in Hong Kong, with a long history and a broad popular base. It reflects the good nature and helpfulness of the Chinese people and their pursuit of a harmonious society, and plays a positive role in purifying hearts, promoting good customs, and harmonizing communities.

The first incense of the new year

The first incense after new year, offered after midnight and taken home on a stick to watch over the household for the year.

The birthday and blessing rite

Several days of rites with large public offerings, fortune drawing and vows fulfilled crowd the temple steps.

Returning the deity at year end

At year end offerings are cleared, the image is returned to its shrine and household images are put away until the new year.

Medicine and charity

Free consultation on the first and fifteenth, donations for schools and temples, now spanning medicine, education and elderly care.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Wong Tai Sin belief is distributed in Hong Kong in a typical temple-community pattern: the area of East Kowloon where Sik Sik Yuen is located is the hall with the most thriving incense, and the first incense stick of the new year, the year-end thanksgiving, and the birthday of the Great Immortal on the twenty-third day of the eighth month are fixed on the calendar year after year, with local residents queuing up early in the morning. Hong Kong people bring the belief into daily life, hanging the immortal's image in their cars and setting small incense burners at shop doors, while police stations and schools each set aside a place for his image; private veneration groups scattered throughout Hong Kong register under the name of charitable halls, and at festivals they join together to hold lantern fairs and zhai-jiao offering rites. The reach of the belief also extends back along the merchant routes heading south to the counties of the Pearl River Delta, and for villagers from various counties arriving in Hong Kong, the first matter is mostly to burn incense at Sik Sik Yuen, relying on it for settling their households, seeking wealth, and inquiring after illness. The old rule of universal relief and exhortation to goodness makes the temple responsible not only for incense offerings but also for free medical treatment, charity schools, and care for the elderly, and the relief lists posted at its gate are the Hong Kong people's most concrete trust in this temple.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

"Universal relief and exhortation to goodness" (puji quanshan) is the core value of the Wong Tai Sin belief. Today it has developed into a diversified, comprehensive religious charity encompassing medical care, education, care for the elderly, and relief for those in distress.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

Wu Jishan 05-3019
Xu Shunwei 05-3020
Huang Guanghui 05-3021
Chen Jikun 05-3022
Sinapinchu 05-3023
Liu Shimei 05-3024
Zhang Qingming 05-3025
Zheng Quanguang 05-3026
Ye Da 05-3027
Li Yaohui
Luo Shengzong

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Folk Beliefs and Customs (Hong Kong, China) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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