Having grown up in a traditional Asian family that valued Chinese practices, I have always been stunned at the habits that billions of people on this side of the world have adopted. From palm-reading, to drinking infants’ urine (rumored to bless you with eternal life), to burning the deceased paper money (said to be an allowance of sorts for the dead to spend in hell), the variety of rituals is endless.

Today, as I was touring the Causeway Bay area, where I used to go for elementary school, I came across even the more bizzare – “da siu yun.” This, in word-for-word translation in English is “beat the small person.” If you’re not confused already, let me explain further. What you do is you approach these elderly ladies that sit under a certain bridge near Times Square. You proceed to give them information (like birthday and name) of the person you would like to curse, and the lady will proceed to write these details on a piece of crafts-paper that is shaped like a person. The lady will then place the paper on a block of concrete, and proceed to slap it really hard with a stick, while humming all sorts of eery voodoo gibberish.

What is even more irritating is that the HK government has deemed these rituals as the city’s most sacred, and these ladies are pretty much prized as “protected heritage.” As such, not only does the government not prohibit the preaching of mindless cursing, it further encourages such practices for the sake of defending “history.” If that’s not a snapshot of showing you how superstitious (and insecure) Asians are, I don’t know what will.

Heritage or Heresy, you decide…