I recently made a trip to Hong Kong, the last one was four years ago. Things have changed quite a bit, particularly in the number of new high rise buildings being built, new bridges, new flyovers. China has taken over other countries as the top spot for visitors into Hong Kong for several years now, yet people told me that Chinese visitors to Hong Kong have recently dropped in favour of Japan and Korea. Hong Kong getting too expensive compared to its neighbouring Asian countries.
One afternoon I was sitting on a road fence under the Canal Road Bridge in Causeway Bay, watching with intense curiosity at an old lady sitting on a small stool on the pavement. She was busy and diligently hitting a piece of paper with an old lady’s slipper on a brick block, mumbling quite noisily and continuously as nuns would usually do in a Buddhist Temple. The scene was familiar to me as I had seen this activity known as “Villain Hitting” some fifty years ago at the same location. The old lady was a sort of “voodoo” whom the older generation women would pay a visit whenever they had a grudge against someone, be it their boss, their colleagues, their in-laws. What they had to do was to tell the old lady the name of the person they had a grudge with as well as some other pertinent information such as the person’s age, gender, place of work. The information was written on a piece of paper and the old lady would invoke some cursing words and then hit the paper with a slipper until the paper was almost shredded apart. This was supposed to inflict to the foe a curse bringing him or her bad luck, an illness, a demotion or loss of job. What a way to take revenge.
A “Voodoo” lady hard at work under the Canal Bridge Causeway Bay Hong Kong
What was different now and then was that in the past it was the older people who would seek this service. This time I saw more of the younger generation, young professional, pretty and modernly dressed office workers. Amazing that this traditional very Chinese superstitious belief still holds good today.
While I was sitting on the fence pondering how badly the proponent wanted revenge, a petite old lady dressed in a very traditional black shirt and pants, typical of a common poor woman in Hong Kong sat next to me.
A typical old lady in Hong Kong
“Oh my back hurts” she said. Her face was all wrinkled, very tanned from a very long time under the harsh sun and her hands coarse from hard work. She seemed eager to vent her feelings to anybody who was willing to listen.
“My back only started to hurt this year” she continued. “ I was fine last year. I have been to the Ruttonjee Hospital several times and the doctor had prescribed three injections but it did not help”. Her doctor had told her that her joints were deteriorating from old age and little could be done about it. She sighed that she had to cook dinner daily, a tiresome chore, cutting up and cleaning the fish and preparing other dishes, it was hard work. It took a couple of hours to complete the dishes as she had to take three or four breaks in between due to the back pain. She looked at my hands and said “your hands are very smooth” despite that I was near seventy. “Look at my hands, they are all wrinkled and coarse”
She told me that she was 86 years old and had no education because then born in a Toisan family, girls were denied education, only boys got to go to school. She was forced to marry at an early age to a poor coolie, and had to live in a bunker bed. She had 8 children and was disappointed that none of the children were filial as in the old days when children looked after the elders. She was particularly disappointed at the last three siblings who were given good education and care when they were young. “One son has done very well, after graduating from secondary school, he works as a nurse in a hospital. He is smart and has climbed up the rank to a high position earning great income. But he never gives me a cent. All the children only want to squeeze money from me” she sighed.
She lived in a flat not far from Time Square, a very popular and busy spot for tourists. A realtor once came to offer to buy her unit for over HK$8 millions, that is just over one million U.S. dollars. But due to some circumstances the deal did not proceed. She was disappointed not being able to cash in. I consoled her and said it was alright as she needed a roof over her head. She then revealed ”I have another smaller flat in Kowloon. I had wished to cash in on the Causeway Bay unit and move to the Kowloon flat. With cash in hand I would feel more secured.” Her children often tried to get her to transfer title of the apartments to them but she had refused. “That’s the smart thing to do” I said. Once the title was transferred she would not have any place to call home and likely she would be abandoned by the children. I was perplexed as to how a poor couple some seventy years ago who could not even afford to rent a modest room on their wedding day managed to accumulate such great assets. It must have been none but hard work on both husband and wife, extreme sacrifices and an iron will to save for a better future for them and their children. A lot of sweat a lot of pain.
Hong Kong Time Square in Causeway Bay, one of the busiest spot for shopping, food, entertainments
It is sad that society has changed so much, family values deteriorated, children turning un-filial greedy and selfish, old people left unloved, mistreated and rejected.
If I had an opportunity I would have liked to advise her that given her assets, she would be able to live a comfortable life, without having to work so hard. She would be able to afford a maid to take care of cooking, cleaning, household, as well as looking after her. I would have loved to be able to guide her in achieving a nice comfortable life. But I did not have that chance. Too bad that all her children were too occupied with eyeing her money that she was left lonely and unloved.
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