 In Hong Kong, people normally worship the following gods: 
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 The Goddess of Tin Hau (Queen of Heaven) |
Tin Hau was called Lam Mak-leung who was born in the first year of the first century who lived in the era of wudai shiguo (the five dynasties and ten kingdoms) in Fujian.As she did not cry for a whole month after her birth, she was called Mak-leung (silent lady).According to the legends, Mak-leung learnt magic from the Taoists and was later granted a bronze charm by a fairy that made Mak-leung possessed magical power.This had enabled her to cure sick people and predict fortunes.Around the year 987, Mak-leung was able to become a fairy by climbing up to Mei Chou.The Fujian fishing communities usually worshipped Tin Hau as they were usually saved by the Goddess of Tin Hau in times of storm at the sea.As a result, they built temples to worship Tin Hau. |
 Lord Hung Shing |
Lord Hung Shing was originally called Hung-hei who was a good government official during the Tang dynasty in Guangdong.As he could predict the weather accurately and enabled good harvest, he helped the fishermen and farmers a lot.Moreover, he was able to secure a safe trip for businessmen.Therefore, after the death of Hung-hei, he was given the title ‘Guangli Lord Hung Shing’ attributed to his achievements made in the past.A temple was built to worship him.At every birthday of Hung Shing, worshippers would hold big celebrations and the biggest of all would be the celebration activity held in Hung Shing Temple of Kau Sai Chau.Apart from ceremonies and rituals, there are also Shengong performance (performance for the gods), scrambling of fa pau (fireworks) and lion dance, etc.It is a crowded and joyous event. |
 Man Mo Yi Tai Extract from http://www.taoism.org.hk/../ taoist-immortal/the-stellar-sovereigns /img3-3-2a.htm |
‘Man’ means Lord Man Cheung (Cheung Ah-chi) who is the God of Literature and Writing.He is responsible for reputation and prospects.Therefore, people who come to worship Lord Man Cheung mainly want their children to attain high achievements in the exams.Up till now, a lot of students who come to this temple would pray for getting high marks in the exam during the eve of exam; while teenagers who have found a job would pray for smooth career prospects. ‘Mo’ means Kwan Tai Shing Kwan (Kwan Wan-fei) or commonly known as Kwan Tai, who lived in the era of the ‘three kingdoms’.He became sworn brothers with Lau Pei and Cheung Fei.Kwan Tai stands for righteousness, bravery and wealth.As Kwan Tai represents traditional Confucius value, he is popular among Chinese people, especially the businessmen. |
 Yeung Hau (God Marquis) |
Yeung Hau was the prince’s maternal uncle and a loyal official of the Southern Song dynasty, Yeung Leung-chit.At the end of the southern Song dynasty, Yeung protected the young emperor to escape from the Yuan army and hid in Kowloon Shan.The invasion of the Yuan army led to their further escape to Lantau Island.He died later due to overwork.As Yeung was loyal and brave and deserved respect from the descendants, he was given the title ‘lord’ after his death.As he was the prince’s maternal uncle and was already known as feudal lord, he was called ‘Hau Wong’. |
 Pak Tai (Lord of Heaven) |
Pak Tai, who was the god of the North, possessed magical power of removing impending ill fortune.It was known that Pak Tai was the prince and started going through religious regimen at a young age.He later led the war and defeated the enemies and demons and serpents in the human world, which he was later named as ‘the God of Yuen Tin’.Hong Kong has various Pak Tai Temples and the most famous one was on Cheung Chau.The Taiping Qingzhao activity (the Bun Festival) also started in Pak Tai Temple on Cheung Chau.Worshippers of Pak Tai would pray for good harvest in agriculture and fishing.Every third day of the third lunar month was the birthday of Pak Tai, worshippers would visit Pak Tai Temple to pray for peace and safety for the family. |
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Choi Shen was the god who was in charge of wealth.As Choi Shen gave people wonderful lives, so he became the most popular and well-liked ‘God of Wish’.There are various kinds of Choi Shen and is also divided as ‘academic’ and ‘military’.Academic Choi Shen includes fu (luck), lu (honour), shou (longevity), xi (happiness), cai (wealth), Bi Ganand Fan Li.For ‘military’ Choi Shen includes Guan Yu and Zhao Gongming. |
 Lady Kam Fa |
Lady Kam Fa was a young lady who lived in Guangzhou whose name was Kam Fa.One night, she accidentally fell into a fairy pond and was drowned to death.After a few days, the corpse of Kam Fa floated on the pond but it was strange that her body did not decay but release some fragrant smell.After a while, a statue of puppet floated onto the surface of the pond and it looked like Kam Fa.The people all believed that this was a sign of blessing from god and therefore worshipped the puppet as god.According to the temple attendant during the field visit, Lady Kam Fa mainly protected the safety of women of the locality. |
| Bao Gond, or known as Bao Ching, was born in the Northern Song dynasty.He was known for being fair and just, loyal and honest, and had the mission of helping the others.He also had the spirit of helping people in times of need, and therefore he deserved high respect from the people.Bao Gong symbolizes fair and justice so he is mostly worshipped by businessmen.People who had arguments would go to the Bao Gong Temple to settle down the affairs.This is because people believe that they could not hide away the truth in front of Bao Gong. | |
 Kuan Yin (The Goddess of Mercy) |
Kuan Yin is similar to the Goddess of Tin Hau as both of them were women and they were both kind, gentle and benevolent, therefore, she was usually being worshipped together with Tin Hau.Kuan Yin was a Bodhisattva in which she had various facial looks such as 'thousand eyes and thousand hands Kuan Yin'. According to legends, Kuan Yin appeared as if a man during the Tang dynasty.Later, due to modification of being more China-like, Kuan Yin had to be appeared more like a woman.Traditional Chinese people believed in the difference between the men and women and regarded that it was inconvenient to worship a Kuan Yin statue with a male look at home, therefore, Kuan Yin appeared to be a woman and was usually dressed in white with a tender willow branch in her hand. |
 Fook Tak (The Earth God) |
The Earth God is the guarding god of the land.The Earth God was called Cheung Fook-tak who was born during the reign of Zhou Wuwang.He was very clever and respected his parents.He became the chief tax officials when he was 36.He was just and fair, and was considerate about the plight of his people.He died when he was 102.As he did not change in his appearance after his death, a poor family built a stone house around him to worship him.Later on, the poor family became rich and the other people gradually believed that this was due to blessings from god, so they funded to build a temple. Another legend said that after the death of Fook-tak, the next chief tax official was harsh and imposed high tax on people.The situation had reminded people of the kindness of Fook-tak and therefore built a temple to worship him and called him as ‘Fook-tak Ching Shen’. The customs of worshipping the Earth God is closely related to the agricultural society.As people of the ancient times believed that there could only be good harvest with land, therefore they would worship the Earth God to pray for good harvest.Apart from regarding Earth God as guardian of land, people also regarded him as the God of Good Fortunes and Wealth, hence he was worshipped by businessmen as well who could suppress ghosts and devils.Therefore, a lot of people would worship the Earth God at home and he was one of the common five gods at home.Every second day of the second lunar month is the birthday of the Earth God. |
Shing Wong was the god who protected the country and the people and also watched over the spirits.His main duty was to protect the people, to supervise the officials and to rectify the mistakes made by the officials.Besides, Shing Wong was also the judge of the hell, which symbolizes justice.Therefore, any arguments or wronged cases would be brought to Shing Wong Temple and swore in front of him.This was useful in preventing people from doing unlawful things.Moreover, Shing Wong could judge the life and death of people or lengthen one’s life.After the Tang dynasty, the number of people who worshipped Shing Wong grew.He was given the title ‘Shing Wong Yeh’ (‘Yeh’ was given to an honoured man)since the chaotic war time.As the city defence was fragile, people regarded that Shing Wong had the power to protect the city and therefore his position was greatly levelled up.During the Song dynasty, the worship of Shing Wong was included in the ceremonies of sacrifices. Shing Wong was even placed in many provinces in 1369 with the purpose of stopping people from doing unlawful things so as to secure the place.The system of Shing Wong of Qing dynasty was still in use in Ming dynasty.During Ming and Qing dynasties, whenever provincial officials visited, they must visit Shing Wong Temple to seek help from Shing Wong Yeh, and report and ask for forgiveness when they left the place.Every eleventh day of the fifth lunar month was the birthday of Shing Wong, worshippers would visit Shing Wong Temple to pray for health and safety. |
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 Tai Sui (Star god presiding over the year) |
Tai Sui was the god who was in charge of matters on earth.It was known by the ancient people that every 60 years was a cycle in human life and therefore there were 60 Tai Suis.Every Tai Sui had a facial expression and magical weapons.Their way of holding the instruments was different.It tells the course in one person’s life.If that particular Tai Sui was a militant and hand held a weapon, this means that war might happen in that year.If the year which you were born did not match with the Tai Sui, this means a violation of Tai Sui.People believe that this might bring bad fortune to the people in that year and in order to ease one’s feelings, they would go to worship their Tai Sui in order to resolve the bad fortune that might bring to them. |
