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SCMP Reporter

Auspicious lucky stick Number 75 bodes well for city's future, forecasts soothsayer

It has been a long wait, but  an auspicious fortune stick was yesterday drawn for Hong Kong at the annual Lunar New Year ritual.

At the Che Kung Temple in Sha Tin, Heung Yee Kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat picked fortune stick No75, which indicates  the economy will grow and run smoothly in the Year of the Dog.

It had been five years since Hong Kong saw  such as auspicious stick, and was the third consecutive year that Mr Lau had drawn the fortune stick at the packed temple on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

Dressed in a red and gold gown, Mr Lau arrived at the altar with members of the Sha Tin Rural Committee at 9am. 'We can tell from the last two lines [of the omen] that ...  unemployment will definitely be low this year,' he said.

The temple's fortune-stick reader, Lui Tong, said it was a very good fortune stick and Hong Kong could look forward to  a better future. 'It says everything will be smooth. All local industries and sectors will be very prosperous.'

Mr Lau, who previously drew  less auspicious sticks, said he was satisfied with the  outcome.

Home Affairs Secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping  has not performed the ritual since drawing the worst possible number, 83, from 100 sticks in 2003. The omen proved accurate when Hong Kong was plagued by Sars, political wrangling and economic woes.

Yesterday, social and animal welfare groups flocked to Government House to pass on Lunar New Year wishes to Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen. Demonstrators gathered at the back gate,  where they were met by police and barricades. Mr Tsang did not meet them.

Members of the 108 Action Group, which organised a similar, larger demonstration last month, marched with 14 pet dogs and cats, dressed in auspicious colours and carrying a message urging the government to toughen penalties for cruelty to animals, following recent reports of animal abuse.

'Other than caring for his pet koi [carp], the chief executive should also care for other pets,' said the group's spokeswoman, Helena Chung Man-har.

Fifteen children and their parents from the Society for Community Organisation also marched, calling for improved welfare for low-income families.

Some children dressed as the Beijing Olympic Games mascots to highlight the difficulties they face in finding housing, education, employment, transport and medical care. The group sang songs and read poems about ways to free them from poverty.

Families also gathered yesterday to mark the Lunar New Year with lavish meals. Buyers flocked  to wet markets early in the day in search of fresh food. Stall owners said prices were up by between 10 and 50 per cent  but supplies still sold out quickly, particularly chicken, seafood and vegetables.



At long last, HK lands a stroke of good luck