World geopolitics and the birth of Ap Chau
The story of Ap Chau begins with the True Jesus Church (「真耶穌教會」). ♦ The True Jesus Church initiated its missionary efforts in mainland China at the start of the 20th century. Before the outbreak of World War II, missionaries founded churches and offered medical assistance in the Sha Tou Kok Market (Tung Wo Hui, 東和墟) […]
Yellow rice wine chicken
Yellow rice wine chicken is a popular dish in the Hakka culinary tradition. One might be familiar with red and white wine, but what about yellow rice wine? Historically, villagers in the New Territories used to produce their own wine using glutinous rice for personal consumption. Made from simple ingredients like glutinous rice, water and […]
Multipurpose temples: A Map of Deities in Sha Tau Kok (Part II)
In addition to worshiping, temples serve three additional purposes: 1. As a regular meeting place for village and village alliance discussions, negotiations and arbitrations, and as a symbol of unity. Some temples were only worshipped by one village originally, yet they evolved to become the core temple of the whole village alliance after the formation […]
A Map of Deities in Sha Tau Kok (Part I)
It is easy to encounter temples of different sizes in Hong Kong. This ranges from large-scale Tin Hau temples that occupy the space of a few shops on ground floors to shrines in shops. If you look closely, you see deities everywhere in the city. Part 1 – Religions Believers are free to worship different […]