The Occult in Hong Kong
What’s the deal with Hong Kong’s fortune telling obsession? With over a dozen common methods and countless practitioners working around the city’s temples, we sent our resident skeptic Sean Hebert to Yau Ma Tei to sort the silly from the sacrosanct. Photos by Chris Luk
The next time you’re walking a visitor down Temple Street’s Night Market, do yourself a favor and proceed past the plethora of purses, paintings, and plastic playthings. Keep walking (slowly) past the dildo vendors and Cantonese opera singers, too, and you’ll eventually reach the fortune telling stalls that line the gardens of Tin Hau Temple.
As a Kowlooner, I’ve walked down the Mystic Mile hundreds of times, but I’ve never stopped for a reading. It’s not for lack of curiosity, but rather, a surplus of frugality. I’m not religious and haven’t felt even remotely spiritual for years, and so it just seemed like a fun cultural experience for which I’d eventually shell out a few bucks to service my long, backpacker’s bucket list (which includes such other gems as “eating live octopus” and “getting mugged in Spanish”).
But the more I told expat friends about my plan to get my fortune read, the more I encountered odd reactions. “The Devil can only drag you to hell once you’ve let him into your house,” my friend Aaron warned. I was confused—he didn’t believe in it, did he? “It doesn’t matter if I do or not,” he replied. “I’ll dwell on what is said regardless, and it’ll come to influence my decisions. The supernatural seed is hard to
un-plant.”
While the West often regards fortune telling as a gimmick or scam, its roots in Chinese culture run deep, and it still remains an important practice in Hong Kong. Be it marriage, family, babies or business, reasonable adults regularly step into these stalls to pose pressing questions about where their life is leading them, and to seek advice on everything from ideal children’s names to the timing of corporate mergers.
It’s serious stuff.
So with Ghost Month behind and Hallowe’en ahead, it was time for me to get down and dirty with destiny. I walked down to Yau Ma Tei with an open wallet in hand (and open mind to match), eager to chat with any and all English-speaking vendors who would indulge me. I present my findings to you, with this forewarning: once entered, it’s impossible to know how deep this rabbit hole goes.
Fortune 1: The Bird Method
Fortune Teller Tse Po-loy.