“I want to go an extra mile for our village.” said Law Hon Cheung

On a Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock in Kau Sai Chau, visitors were gradually leaving by the ferry, and the island was returning to tranquility as the bell in the Hung Shing Temple rang 108 times. Mr. Law, born and raised in the village, always picks up the hammer on time to ring the bell since moving back from the city. “We used to have an acolyte in the temple, but he was retired. As the village has fewer people these days, we no longer hire one. Thus, I thought I could help to ring the bell and clean the temple every time I’m back in the village. He passed the rituals to me before he retired.” Mr. Law, who has moved away from Kau Sai Village for over 30 years, never expected to be back on such a frequent basis. “I want to go an extra mile for our village.”.

Mr. Law, who is suntanned, comes from a long family line of fishermen. While young people from the same village had left in the 1970s to seek their fortunes elsewhere, he continued to make a living by fishing with his parents as he was still young at the time, and he needed to carry on his family’s legacy. “Fishing is a tough, confined job with high risks and low returns,” he said. Yet, this job allowed him to be close to the sea all day long. “Living here, there’s no reason not to love the ocean. I used to live on a boat, waking up to the surrounding seas. It’s really free and joyful!”

To him, the history and memories of Kau Sai Village are very similar to skills like fishing and net weaving – they are passed down from generation to generation among the villagers and he does share the sense of responsibility to kindle the flame. “If we don’t talk about it and the elders don’t talk about it, many stories will be lost,” he continued, enthusiastically sharing the history of the Hung Shing Temple that he didn’t know before the Arts Festival. “Do you know where the oldest written record is in this temple? Look! This inscription shows “the second year of the Reign of Qing Emperor Guangxu…”