Who Are the Elderly Women Under the Canal Road Flyover Beating Stuff with Their Shoes?

These ladies are doing what’s called da siu yan (打小人), “villain hitting” or “beating the petty person.” It’s a piece of folk magic that’s intended to curse its recipient. 

See, we’re in the middle of the ging zat period of the Chinese calendar, the “Awakening of Insects.” This period, which started this year on March 5, doesn’t just signify the beginning of Spring: It’s also the most popular time of year for villain hitting. How does it work? Well, every villain hitter has a different ritual, but here’s a rough idea. 

You approach your chosen villain hitter and perform the necessary prayers and obeisances to the deities, most often Guanyin and the Monkey King. You write your own name on a red sheet of talismanic fulu paper, then the name of your cursee on a white fulu. If you want to curse general villains in your life—competitors, people who bitch about you, those who stand on the left on MTR escalators—leave it blank.

This is when the venerable old lady in front of you grasps a women’s shoe and goes to town on the white fulu, cursing the villain as she thwacks the paper until it tears and breaks. Next comes a sacrifice to appease Baak Fu, the white tiger deity who represents peace and virtue. Baak Fu is represented by a yellow paper tiger, and the hitter will rub pork fat into the tiger’s mouth to gum up its jaws, so it won’t be able to hurt you. Meanwhile the villainous fulu is tucked inside the tiger to fill it up, and then both are set alight.