Highways Department personnel remove statues from the shrine
Dear BUZZ Editor
Not sure if you have ever noticed the shrine, which I guess is more of a repository for no longer needed Gods of different persuasions at the entrance to Tui Min Hoi Village at the Lakeside Gardens end?
The shrine before its destruction
Anyway, it was dismantled this morning, 3 May, by the Highways Department, apparently after complaints about “safety issues”, even though the makeshift shrine/repository has been there for years and is well maintained. It would require a very vivid imagination to see how the collection of figures and small statues would pose a safety hazard.
While most of the deities will continue their spiritual mandates in a landfill (according to the government official who was on site), several of the figures were saved from an inglorious existence beneath piles of household detritus by a lady who lives in Tui Min Hoi Village who plans to set up a new God grove elsewhere in the village.
The removal was delayed about a month ago when a small group protested when removal men turned up. However, it was not the case this time. Another piece of old Sai Kung ignominiously taken away on the back of a truck!
Chris Davis
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