The Taoist Ritual Tradition of the Zhengyi School in the urban areas

The Taoist ritual tradition of the Zhengyi school in the urban areas of Hong Kong dates back to the mid-19th century. In the early days, priests of this division were mainly engaged in conducting rituals for “red” occasions, which aimed at praying for divine blessings for living people. Since the fishing community observed numerous rituals, this provided the Zhengyi Taoist priests with many opportunities for hire, as a result many Taoist hermitages were operated in areas where the fishermen conglomerated. Their services for “red” occasions included nominal “contracting” with deity when baby is born, conducting marriage rites, carrying out ritual of consecrating new statues of deities, installing altar figures, executing “offerings to the Dipper”, expelling disasters and illnesses, launching new boats, etc. The Zhengyi Taoist priests of the urban areas that can be found today mainly originated from the line of the sect that resettled in Hong Kong during the late Republican period. The war on the mainland reached Guangzhou in 1938, and there was an exodus of the Zhengyi Taoist priests from Guangzhou city and the surrounding areas of Sanshui, Dongguan, etc. to Hong Kong. They brought with them the ritual tradition that was to be inherited by the Zhengyi Taoist priests of the urban division of Hong Kong.

Later, as the fishing community moved ashore, the fishing trade also changed, which resulted in a dramatic shrink in the hire for rituals for “red” occasions. Nowadays, the Zhengyi Taoist priests of the urban division take commissions for “white” occasions as their chief line of business, which means they conduct rituals for funerals and burials in the main. The roles of Taoist priests involved in those rituals include:

• Gaogong (High priest) – as the master of ceremony who invokes the deities, presents “memorials” to the deities, and recites the scriptures;
• Dujiang (Chief cantor) – one who conducts the music part of the rituals, and is called “Pacer”;
• Shijing (Acolyte for scripture) – one who intones the “nahm mouh” and chants the scriptures;
• Zhitan (Assistant cantor) – one who attends to the general affairs in front of the altar, such as lighting joss sticks etc.; and
• Jiaoshi (Taoist musician) – one who plays the suona and big gong.

In general, the Zhengyi Taoist priests’ work during a ritual covers five areas:

• Nahm – intoning “nahm mouh”, reciting scriptures, and reading aloud an appropriate extract from the ritual texts according to the ongoing part of the rite or ritual;
• Chui – literally “blowing”, which means playing wind instruments such as xiao, suona, and guan. The string instrument yehu was also used, but it has been replaced by the erhu in recent years;
• Da – literally “beating”, and refers to playing percussion such as the gongs and the drums;
• Xie – literally “writing”, and refers to writing notices and announcements, ordination certificates, “memorials” to the gods etc.; and
• Zha – literally “tying”, and refers to the paper crafting of funerary objects such as paper-crafted houses, paper-crafted gardens, gold and silver bridges which are offerings to the deceased.

As a ritual system transmitted through formal channels and organisations, the Taoist rituals of the Zhengyi school have a strict regimen for chanting, lead singing, music and rhythm. The contents of specific rites and rituals can be found in the relevant ritual texts. Another point to note is that with the influence of vernacular music of the Guangdong region, the Taoist rituals of the Zhengyi school of Hong Kong would include nanyin (southern tunes) – a unique feature that makes this regional sect stand out among the rest.