The first place I went to was Luen Wo Market. According to the guidebook... Covering one square block, this maze of tiny passageways is lined with stalls. Here you can buy such delights as salted eggs, fringed black hats (typical Hakka headgear), goldfish, bean curd and herbs. According to Louisse, this is an old styled market, one of the few remaining. These markets are really dark and cramped. They also seem quite dirty, not to mention a bit smelly. I wouldn't be surprised if there are hundreds of rats around! But then again there would be bait...
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top left : the hall is very dark. the
chickens are quite smelly.
top right : a small store selling incense
left : a butcher chops up a small white pig. right : Loisse and I in front of the small fish section bottom left : an old man rests bottom right : right outside the market, all you see is red |
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Louisse had to leave, but before she did, she gave me instructions on how
to proceed to the rest of the places I wanted to go to at Sheung Shui.
Anyway, I took a bus to Sheung Shui. I was planning to go to Liu Man Shek
Tong Ancestral Hall. To get there I had to go to a small village. The
village was actually filled with many ancestral halls but many of them were
really deterioriating. Also, I could hear a lot of mahjong sounds coming
from them. Not many of the people I asked could show me the way. However
the older people seemed to know. Built in 1751, the Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall is one of Hong Kong's finest preserved monuments, providing a vivid impression of the clan's power in the 18th century. The 14th century Liu clan came from the Fujian province to settle across the river in Sheung Shui, the area where the clan presently resides. In 1751 the main ancestral hall was built to mark the rising power and wealth of the clan at that time. There are 3 halls, 2 courtyards with a garden in front. The hall is beautifully embellished with wood carvings, mural paintings and plaster mouldings of auspicious motifs and pictures. The roof ridge is richly decorated with ceramic figures. Restoration to the ancestral hall was undertaken by Liu Clan and additional funding from the government in 1985. Major repairs began in 1994. This ancestral hall was gazetted a historical building on January 18, 1985. left : construction in a village |
 left : the front of the ancestral hall. There are 3 halls and 2 courtyards.
right : many ancestral tablets can be found at the far end of |
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As I passed a small park close to the Sheung Shui KCR station, I saw a lot of people doing some sort of ritual. At first I thought they were just like praying to the gods or something like that, but then I saw that they were doing some pretty strange things. What they were doing, translated into English, is "Hit Small Person." Each person here would first set up his or her personal space. For example, a paper tiger would be placed down along with fruits which have incense sticking out of them. A piece of paper with a drawing of a person would be taken out. And then finally, the person doing the ritual would mumble something as he/she takes a shoe and hit the piece of paper. Fianlly the piece of paper would be burned. I didn't really know what was going on. There were many old ladies but the person who attracted the most attention was a middle-aged man who hitting the piece of paper very furiously and sort of yelling. That paper was absolutely into shreds. I did not know exactly what to make of all this until I asked my friend another time. She told me that this is done to put a curse on someone! The paper tigers are put out, symbolic of the papers mauling the person. Wow, old ladies must really have a lot of grudges! I think I may have made some people nervous waving a camera around.
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top : a lot of people are involved in this ritual. There is a lot of plastic bags,
vegetable, fruits, and ashes littered all over the place. bottom : the whole lady is in the middle of the ritual. She is carrying a really big shoe! I think she may have been a bit disturbed that I'm taking a photo of her. |
| After changing buses several times I got off at an intersection in the middle of nowhere. Louisse said I could take the bus up to Lok Ma Chau but I decided to walk up there. Lok Ma Chau is famous for its good vantage point to catch a glimpse of the remarkable skyline of Shenzhen. I can't imagine that there was nothing here twenty years ago! In this past Lok Ma Chau Lookout Point was bustling with tourists because it was not possible to enter China. However these days not many people come here. My friend Yoshi has always recommended me to come here. China looks so close, yet so far away... |
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