Module 5 - Culture and Customs in Hong Kong

Question 1

The most popular religions practised in Hong Kong include Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, 【 A】 , 【 B】 , 【 C】 , 【 D】
and Judaism.

Answer 1

• Christianity
• Islam
• Hinduism
• Sikhism

Think 3 western religions + 2 Indian

Question 2

Among the temples administered by the Chinese Temples Committee, only two are located in the New Territories, namely 【 A】 in Shatin and 【 B】 in Joss House Bay, Sai Kung.

Answer 2

【A】 Che Kung Temple
【B】 Tin Hau Temple

Question 3

Since Hong Kong has always depended on the sea – originally for 【 A】 and then for 【 B】 – the most popular deities are those connected with the sea and the weather. For example, 【 C】, the protector of seafarers, is said to be worshipped by 250,000 people.

Answer 3

【A】 fishing
【B】 trade
【C】 Tin Hau

Queen of Heaven / Goddess of the Sea

Question 4

According to the Chinese Temples Committee, there are four festivals in the lunar year in honour of Kwun Yum (Goddess of Mercy). They fall on the 19th day of the【 A】 , 【 B】 , 【 C】 and 【 D】 lunar months and these days correspond respectively to her birth, ordination, deification and assumption as a sea-goddess.

Answer 4

【A】 second
【 B】 sixth
【C】 ninth
【 D】 eleventh

“2 cats met 6 dogs at 9 lives café on 11th street.”

Question 5

There are at least 24 Tin Hau temples in Hong Kong, the first and most famous being the one at 【 A】 in Joss House Bay (also known as Tai Miu Wan).

Answer 5

【A】 Fat Tong Mun (佛堂門, Buddhist-Halle-Tor)

Hong Kong’s oldest and largest Tin Hau Temple.

Question 6

The Tin Hau Festival falls on the 【 A】 day of the 【 B】 month in the lunar calendar

Answer 6

【A】 23rd
【 B】 third

Question 7

The major Buddhist festival takes place on Buddha’s Birthday, on the 【 A】 day of the 【 B】 month in the lunar calendar.

Answer 7

【A】 eighth
【 B】 fourth

Date= 2 x month

Question 8

Tai Hang 【 A】 is performed during the Mid-Autumn Festival (from the 14th to 16th day of the eighth lunar month). This tradition started in the 19th century to eliminate a plague and was inscribed onto China’s third national list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011.

Answer 8

【A】 Fire Dragon Dance

Question 9

Located on Garden Road, Central, 【 A】 is a Christian activity centre. It is the oldest surviving Western Christian ecclesiastical building in Hong Kong. The foundation stone of this church was laid by the then Governor Sir John Davis in 1847. The cross-shaped structure was created in the styles of 13th century Early English and Decorated Gothic.

Answer 9

【A】 St John’s Cathedral

Think of Jonathan, the FIRST born.

Question 10

The Roman Catholic Church set up a missionary district in Hong Kong in 1841. Therefore, the development of Catholicism in Hong Kong has more than 170 years of history. The Cathedral of 【 A】, with its foundation stone laid in 1842 at Wellington Street, is the first Catholic church in Hong Kong.

Answer 10

【A】 Immaculate Conception

Question 11

Jiao-festival of Cheung Chau is also known as 【 A】 Festival, which was held from the 5th to 8th day of the 【 B】 lunar month. The weeklong festival climaxes with a large, carnival-like street procession featuring costumed children on 【 C】 held aloft above the crowd, lion dances and other colourful participants.

Answer 11

【A】 Bun
【B】 fourth
【C】 stilts

Question 12

The Dragon Boat Festival is celebrated with dragon boat races and eating cooked glutinous rice wrapped in 【 A】 leaves.

Answer 12

【A】 bamboo

Question 13

Chung Yeung Festival is on the 【 A】 day of the ninth lunar month when many visit their ancestors’ graves or hike up mountains in remembrance of an ancient Chinese family’s escape from 【 B】 and death by fleeing to a mountain-top.

Answer 13

【A】 ninth
【B】 plague

Question 14

Many people in Hong Kong believe in Fung Shui / Feng Shui. Practicing landscape Fung Shui requires an understanding of animal symbolism because different kinds of elevations are described as different kinds of animals. Classical descriptions of good Fung Shui configurations have the 【 A】 mountain behind, preferably located in the North, the 【 B】 in front, preferably placed south, and the green 【 C】 and the white 【 D】 curled in the form of an armchair.

Answer 14

【A】 turtle
【 B】 phoenix
【C】 dragon
【 D】 tiger

“The Turtle guards the North, the Phoenix soars to the South, while the green Dragon and white Tiger embrace you like an armchair.”

Question 15

Many ancient buildings in the New Territories were built in traditional style with gables decorated with motifs such as peonies (symbolizing “ 【A】 ”), bats (symbolizing “ 【B】 ”), dragons, phoenixes, tortoises and Chinese unicorns (symbolizing “ 【 C】 ” and “dignity”), etc.

Answer 15

【A】 wealth
【B】 happiness/fortune
【C】 Longevity / long life

Symbol of wealth

Question 16

The clans in the New Territories still practice traditional village customs. One of which includes a 【A】 ceremony for new born baby boys on the 【 B】 day of the first Lunar month.

Answer 16

【A】 lantern lighting
【B】 fifteenth

Question 17

The traditional Chinese marriage rituals include six rituals, generally known as 【A】. Nowadays, in Hong Kong, a marriage can take place at a 【 B】 by a registrar, in a licensed place of public worship by a competent minister, or at any other place in Hong Kong by a 【 C】 of marriages.

Answer 17

【A】 three letters, six etiquettes
【B】 marriage registry
【C】 civil celebrant

Question 18

Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb was discovered in 1955. According to its structure, inscriptions on the tomb bricks, and tomb finds, it is believed that the tomb was built in the 【 A】 Dynasty (AD 25 - 220)

Answer 18

【A】 Eastern Han

Question 19

【A】 on Kau Sai Chau Island is an important monument, which won the second runner-up for its restoration in the first “Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards Outstanding Project in 2000” of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Answer 19

【A】 Hung Shing (洪聖; flood-greatest master) Temple

The temple can be traced back to 1889, when it was built to worship Hung Shing, the God of the South Sea. A declared monument, it was successfully revived in 2000 and is the winner of a UNESCO restoration award.

Question 20

The Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road is a temple for the worship of the civil or literature god 【 A】 and the martial god 【 B】.

Answer 20

【A】 Man Cheong Tai (文昌帝; liberal arts-florishing-emperor)
【B】 Kwan Tai (關帝; customhouse-emperor)

“Man” 文 literally means liberal arts while “Mo” 武 is martial.

Question 21

The 【 A】, located in Tai Po, was the first building designated as a declared monument of Hong Kong.

Answer 21

【A】 Man Mo Temple

The Man Mo in Tai Po
The first declared MOnument, the Man MO, stands in Tai PO.

Question 22

In addition to the main building of the Hong Kong Museum of History in 【 A】, there are five branch museums , including the Hong Kong Museum of 【B】 in Shau Kei Wan, the 【 C】
Museum in Sham Shui Po, the Law Uk Folk Museum in Chai Wan, the 【 D】 Exhibition Gallery in Hong Kong Quarry Bay Park, and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in the Central Mid-Levels.

Answer 22

【A】 Tsim Sha Tsui
【B】 Coastal Defence
【C】 Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb
【D】 Fireboat Alexander Grantham

Question 23

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Shatin is a 5-storey building with a total area of 32,000 square metres. Its architecture is patterned after the traditional Si He Yuan style, a compound of harmoniously blended houses built around a 【 A】

Answer 23

【A】 courtyard

Question 24

Jīngzhé is the 【A】of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars. In the solar calendar, it usually falls on March 5 to March 7. The traditional Chinese farming culture said that during Jīngzhé, thunderstorms will wake up the hibernated 【B】. In Hong Kong, Jīngzhé is traditionally a prime time for ‘【C】Hitting’.

Answer 24

【A】third
【B】insects
【C】Villain

A solar term is any of twenty-four periods in traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon

Question 25

The five major Chinese festivals celebrated in Hong Kong are 【 A】 in January or February, 【 B】 Festival in April, 【 C】Festival in summer, 【 D】 Festival and Chung Yeung Festival in autumn.

Answer 25

【A】 Chinese New Year 【B】 Ching Ming 【C】 Dragon Boat 【D】 Mid-Autumn

Question 26

It is a Chinese taboo to speak inauspicious words such as ‘break’, ‘die’, ‘spoil’, ‘gone’, ‘poor’, etc., on the first day of 【 A】or during some special occasions.

Answer 26

【A】 Chinese New Year

Question 27

It is a Chinese taboo to give a clock as a present to a friend because in Chinese, ‘to give a clock’ sounds the same as ‘to attend a 【 A】 ’.

Answer 27

【A】 funeral

Question 28

Many Westerners know how to use chopsticks nowadays. However, sticking the chopsticks into a bowl of rice straight down should be avoided because it resembles the 【 A】 that family members burn to mourn a dead relative. It also resembles how rice is symbolically offered to the 【 B】.

Answer 28

【A】 incense 【 B】 dead

Question 29

Yu Lan Festival, commonly known as 【 A】 Festival, falls on the 15th day of the 【 B】 lunar month. In some areas of Hong Kong, visitors can see small roadside fires where believers burn fake money and make other offerings to the restless spirits and their ancestors.

Answer 29

【A】 Hungry Ghost 【B】 seventh

Question 30

【A】 or pun choi, is a traditional Hakka cuisine, with layers of different kinds of food, including meat, fish and vegetables, stacked up and served in a huge basin-like pan. People in many parts of Guangdong, the New Territories in Hong Kong and some Southeast Asian countries still maintain the custom of gathering and sharing a “pun choi” on significant occasions.

Answer 30

【A】 Basin dish

Question 31

【 A】 was inscribed onto the first national list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in 2006 and the UNESCO Representative List of the ICH of Humanity in 2009. It has become a 【 B】 ICH item.

Answer 31

【 A】 Cantonese opera 【B】 world