Local traditions and culture in Hong Kong

If you happen to be in the vicinity of the IFC covered walkways in Central or Statue Square on a Sunday you cant help but notice the thousands of Filipino and Indonesian Maids spending their one day off per week outside.

Maids turn the parks and footpaths into open air coffee shops spending the day eating, chatting and playing cards with their colleagues. Temporary hair and beauty salons are sometimes set up.

Its a quirky sight and always puts a smile on my face, but it also reminds me of the affluence of Hong Kong that so many people can afford to employ maids. Its my understanding that many of these women live away from their own families and contribute to their own households financially.

Yes I do realise bonsai is Japanese, but these miniature trees are also very popular in Hong Kong, too. You can buy them pretty cheaply at Hong Kong Flower Market, Mong Kok. I used to own several but was notvery successful with them, so sadly they are no more. There is also always a wonderful display of them at the Hong Kong Garden Festival. I love the ones that are used to create an entire mini-landscape as in my photo here.

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In the SAR, the Hong Kong Dollar is used. This runs about 7.75 to 1 US dollar.

Bills go down to $10 each and coins will go up to $10.

The other unique thing about Hong Kong Dollars is the design is different depending upon which bank issued them for the same amount. IE, a $20 from HSBC will have one pattern and a $20 from Bank of China, another.

Food offerings are one of the most prominent and important rituals in Buddhism. Making the offerings to the gods and hungry ghosts is a meritorious act that reminds practitioners not to be greedy or selfish, and connects them with the spiritual world. The types of food offered vary, but most consist of items such as fruit, rice, or even flowers.

Hungry ghosts represent greed, thirst, and neediness which bind people to their sorrows and disappointments. By giving away something they crave, practitioners release themselves from their own sorrows and disappointments.

The rituals involved in making offerings of food vary. They can be as simple as silently leaving food on the altar accompanied by a bow, or involve chanting and full prostrations. At most Buddhist temples, the altars are piled with fruit and other food items, such as pictured here. The food is put to good use, as the temple's monks will eat the food, which also earns merit for the practitioner.

These large spirals hanging from the ceiling of the Man Mo Temple are incense cones. Buddhist and Taoist belief holds that the smoke purifies the surroundings, attracts the attention of the gods, and carries prayers to heaven. It is also believed that the smoke is food for the spirits of ancestors who had previously died. After an incense cone is ignited at the end, it burns for weeks, carrying the worshipper's prayers and wishes up to the gods in heaven and ensuring good fortune and prosperity.

Temples benefit financially from the sale of incense cones, each of which has a red tag with the name of the worshipper who made a donation to the temple.

Those who cannot afford a large incense cone can light individual incense sticks, which they wave over their heads during prayer to attract the attention of the gods. Once the prayers are completed, the incense sticks are stuck into an urn placed before an altar where they eventually burn out.

The Man Mo Temple, located on Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan, Central, was built in 1847. It the largest and most important of several temples in Hong Kong dedicated to the gods of literature and martial arts. Man Cheong is the god of literature, and Mo, more appropriately called Kwan Yu, is the god of martial arts. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, scholars and students studying for the rigorous civil examinations prayed to these gods for success in their studies.

The Man Mo Temple is part of a complex with three components, including the Man Mo Temple itself (for the worship of Man Cheong and Kwan Yu), the Lit Shing Temple (for the worship of all heavenly gods), and Kung So, an assembly hall where community affairs and disputes were resolved. (In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many Chinese preferred to have disputes resolved in accordance with traditional Chinese and Confucian law rather than British law).

The interior of the Man Mo Temple is lavishly decorated in the traditional Chinese colors of red and gold, and contains altars, religious statues and artifacts, two nineteenth-century house-shaped chairs used to carry the two gods during festival processions, and incense cones. The centerpiece of the temple, however, is a statue of Man Cheong (dressed in a green robe and holding a writing brush) and a statue of Kwan Yu (dressed in red and holding a long sword).

A gift from the Chinese government marking the 1 July 1997 return of Hong Kong to the China.
Members of the Hong Kong Police Force, dressed in immaculate uniforms 11th and 21st of each month at 7:45am with the Police silver Band performing the national anthem and background music, conduct an impressive flag-raising ceremony at the square.

1 Expo Drive, Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island

MTR Wan Chai stn exit A5 then follow the signs to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Thanks John that is very encouraging. The only drawback is that it will be at the Xmas period and the flights expensive. My friend has said I can stay for free and eat for free so I guess it will still be quite a cheap week