Then & now: sex symbols
The fertility-related shrines and rock formations that dot Hong Kong hark back to a pre-Han Chinese era, writes Jason Wordie
Scattered throughout Hong Kong’s backstreets are shrines dedicated to the To Tei, or “Earth God”. But who is this deity and why is he so widely worshipped?
These shrines contain the very essence of Taoist belief, which, ultimately, is related to the Earth itself. Such veneration recognises that we are intimately connected to the planet we call home. Allied to that, it recognises that belief systems – like the people who devise them – change and pass with the passage of time. But the Earth – and all it symbolises – remains. That is worth remembering, perhaps, when we’re overtaken by a busy urban day; the roadside Earth God reminds us of what matters in life – and what does not.
The Earth God is generally represented by one of three objects: a statue of an old man with a staff and yellow robes; three characters; or a stone.
Stones are usually egg-shaped, though some are clearly phallic or primitive yoni-lingam designs. These Earth God variants are obviously fertility related, and are pre-Chinese in origin. Whisper it softly in today’s hypernationalist China, but 1,000 years ago, most people living in the sparsely populated Hong Kong region were not ethnically Chinese in the sense that would be generally understood today.
A few traces of these peoples remain; ancient stone carvings in Wong Chuk Hang, Big Wave Bay and Po Toi are officially protected. These were minority peoples such as the Miao and Yao (then the majority), who were progressively forced out into marginal areas. Gradually they were assimilated, culturally and ethnically, by generations of incoming Han Chinese colonists, who superimposed their own belief systems and symbolism on pre-existing sites.
Other fertility-related shrines became redesignated. The Tin Hau Temple in Lei Yue Mun is built around a vulva-shaped stone – the main altar is placed before it but if you peer behind, it becomes obvious what the original symbolism conveyed. Likewise with phallic-shaped stone clusters; Amah Rock, above Sha Tin, is a well-known example. Mong Fu Shek – “dreaming of husband stone”, in Cantonese – is about as graphically obvious as it comes and reflects the basic, realistic peasant attitude to sex and reproduction common the world over. Though perhaps, after a hard day’s labour in the fields, this term reflected more hopeful anticipation than nocturnal actuality.