Rosemary Bai A friend from England wanted to hear her fortune during her short visit to Hong Kong, so we walked into a temple nearby to find her a fortune-teller. I’ve known about the Che Kung Temple in Shatin for many years but never took the time to visit. There are hardly any remains left of the original temple, which could be dated back to at least the late 19th century. The temple you can see today was refurbished in 1994. You must have heard about the Che Gong Temple in Shenzhen, as it is the name of a subway station, and you may have wondered if there really is a Che Gong Temple around here. There was indeed one, based on one old man’s story of his childhood in the area, but it was sadly demolished by Japanese invaders in 1937, as Japan was strengthening its military control over the ports along the Chinese coastline and eventually occupied Hong Kong in the early 1940s to ensure the smooth transport of military supplies. As the name implies, both temples worship a deified general whose surname was Che Kung (in Cantonese) or Che Gong (in Mandarin), which is a respectful way of referring to a senior man who is held in high esteem. General Che Kung/Gong lived during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). He is said to have fought bravely in many battles during the Mongol invasion and was honored for his loyalty. More deities are worshipped in the Che Kung Temple in Shatin. One is a Taoist goddess of stars called Doumu. She is believed to be the mother of the stars and is worshipped along with 60 Taoist deities, each of whom represents a star, all referred to as Tai Sui. In the Taoist cosmology, one cycle of the world consists of 60 years. Each year in the 60-year cycle has a particular Tai Sui in charge. For those who “offend” the Tai Sui in charge of the year, due to their birth year, they would first pray to Doumu and then to their Tai Sui in the hope of relieving hardship caused by the clash or “offense.” Che Kung Temple, like many other temples in southern China, features of a mixture of Taoist and local mythologies. | 