The local news report last night covered the solar eclipse that has captured the imagination of millions in China and India. The report ended with snippets on the annual Hong Kong Book Fair and an update on the drawn-out courtroom battle over the family fortune of Nina Wang (龔如心), the late chairlady of the Chinachem Group and the richest woman in Asia at the time of her death. Fortune teller on Temple Street A single thought stirred in my head: what do the three news stories have in common? Then it dawned on me that each of the stories, unrelated as they may seem, provides a window on how superstition still figures prominently in our everyday life. A decade into the new millennium, some 200 years after the birth of Charles Darwin and four decades since Apollo 11 landed on the moon, folk beliefs and practices have shown no signs of backing down here in Hong Kong. We begin with the fascinating tale of the pigtailed billionaire Nina Wang... _______________________ Read ...
A biweekly column on Hong Kong by Jason Y. Ng