Call for transparency in paying villagers for fung shui rituals
Decades-old policy that compensates New Territories residents disrupted by public works is steeped in tradition - but also ambiguity
The government practice of paying indigenous New Territories villagers damages to rectify their fung shui is unfair to other Hongkongers and should at least be made more transparent, observers have said in a debate on whether to retain the colonial-era claims system.
Some HK$10 million has been paid out of the city's coffers as " allowance" - money for performing rituals - over the past 10 fiscal years since 2004/05, involving 79 public works projects, Lands Department data compiled by the shows. The compensation forms part of the government's public works spending.
ceremonies are performed to worship spirits disturbed by the works and by the residents' relocation, according to Dr Patrick Hase, who studies history and folk life in the New Territories. Such rituals integrated practices in the Taoist religion and fung shui, he said.
"At the heart of the ceremony is worshipping the 'spirits of five directions', in particular, the earth gods," the scholar said.
"Five slips of wood are prepared, each with inscriptions on it, along with bowls filled with sand. The fung shui master is consulted on whether the fung shui is affected, and on the selection of the best time and best site to perform the ceremony - which is held to request the spirits to move to the new sites."
Hase said the allowance was a valuable policy because it honoured local traditions and appeased villagers. The payments were relatively small compared with the full works budgets, he added.
"If you are moving a village, you don't want riots and fights. HK$250,000 is quite cheap in this sense," he said, referring to the sum Ta Kwu Ling villagers, displaced by a new border crossing, received in September.
Dr Ng Mee-kam, a Chinese University professor of urban planning, found the policy unfair.
"If you believe fung shui exists, why does it exist only in the New Territories and not elsewhere? Why does it affect only indigenous villagers and not non-indigenous villagers?" she asked.
"From an ecological view, wind [fung] and water [shui] are important concepts in sustainable development. In theory, residents affected by works in other parts of Hong Kong should be eligible for these payouts as well.
"The practice was put in place during colonial times because foreigners had to respect local culture … By now, these allowances have become an established policy and it would be unrealistic to ask the government to scrap them overnight."
Ng said the policy "is not completely prone to corruption" because most village land was owned collectively and managed by clan organisations.
But the amounts granted to each village for every project should be made public along with the justifications behind the payments. "Otherwise, who knows if there are kickbacks?"
David Tse Kin-wah, a surveyor who is familiar with New Territories land matters and worked in the department in the 1980s and '90s, cited generous payouts Tsoi Yuen village residents got in 2009 after they protested against a high-speed railway that would cut through their homes. The case set a precedent, raising expectations for payouts, of which compensation for fung shui was just a small part, Tse said.
"It would be important for the government to follow some criteria when vetting the claims," he said. "It can draw up a list of the service charges of fung shui masters for comparison. This may also make the handling of these claims more transparent."
