Ups, Downs, and Settling Disputes

We had hoped to visit Kowloon today, but traffic in Hong Kong can be brutal and the three hours before our lunch meeting was not enough time when we took travel time into account. Instead we chose to visit the famous Man Mo Temple. The words Man Mo mean “civil” and “military”, and this temple is dedicated to two very different gods. Man Cheong is the God of Literature while the name Mo refers to Kwan Yu, the god of war or martial valor. During the 1900s, it is said that locals came here to solve disputes that could not be solved by British law. The process of finding an equitable solution involved the legal system of the Qing Dynasty, which stated that both plaintiff and defendant should make a promise in the temple and write it – along with a curse or punishment - on a piece of yellow paper. They then killed a chicken, chopped off its head, let its blood drip onto the paper, and burned the paper. It was believed that because the promise was made before the gods, if the individual broke the promise they would suffer the indicated punishment. I like this straightforward do-it-yourself legal system. It is a lot less complicated than what the US provides in three years at Harvard Law School. The Man Mo Temples are no longer used for settling disputes, which is disappointing because Zack and I would find having one in Bethel very useful! We’ll have to stick to “rock, paper, scissors!” Today, its devotees burn huge bell-shaped coils of incense that hang from the temple’s ceiling in hopes of attracting the attention of the gods. (no photography is allowed in the temples, so this is not my picture.) The air was thick with smoke from the incense and I had to hold my breath to get through the temple.

Another attraction in Central Hong Kong that we were eager to see was the Central-Mid-levels escalators. This is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The entire escalator system covers over 800 meters (.5 mi) in distance and elevates over 135 meters (443 ft) from bottom to top. It was constructed in 1993 to provide a better commute by linking the Central and Western Districts on Hong Kong Island. The escalator runs downhill daily from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and uphill from 10:30am to midnight. There is an entrance and exit on each road it passes. Much to Zack’s dismay, we arrived by subway at the BOTTOM of the escalators and it was only 9:00am, so it involved a little more exercise than we (he) had planned!

Finally, I can’t help but share with you the phenomenal bamboo scaffolding. Despite being a modern cosmopolitan city with rapid growth, it is amazing that they still use this old way in construction. Workers nimbly tie up the bamboo with a simple knotted plastic strip and quickly build very high scaffolding. Bamboo poles are cheap, light, and can withstand strong force because they are extremely flexible. They can also be reused many times over.

Just in case you are curious, “shops with a fist” DID find a cashmere sweater!