2. The Unruly Horse Outside the House of Che Kung the Marshal - Che Kung Temple at Ho Chung: From the "Five Tigers from the Mountain" to the Legend of the White Horse

         Most people have the notion that Che Kung Temple is situated in Sha Tin. In fact, the Che Kung Temple at Ho Chung has a history of about 460 years and is about 200 years older than its counterpart in Sha Tin. The former is thus the grandfather of the latter.

         Before we talk about the "the Legend of the White Horse", it is necessary to mention the story of "Five Tigers from the Mountains" and the origin of the Che Kung Temple at Ho Chung. The building of Che Kung Temple is closely related to Ho Chung village and its surrounding topography. It is said that Ho Chung village is surrounded by five mountains, including Lok Shan Fu above Mok Tse Che, Tai Lam Wu, Kai Ham, Pak Fa Lam and Wui Tau Fu. Fung Shui masters consider that they look like "Five Tigers". Their fierceness would cause misfortune to villagers. Fortunately, villagers are protected by the hill Chu Shan (Pig Hill) in their opposite which has blocked the way of these tigers.

         In the last years of the Southern Sung Dynasty, Che Kung the Marshal went south to Hong Kong and was stationed in Sai Kung. He cured all villagers who fell into sickness. After his death, villagers built the Che Kung Temple in Ho Chung in memory of the Marshal and to check the fierceness of the "beasts".

         Upon completion of the temple, some villagers considered that it would not be decent for a Marshal not having his own horse. They then raised funds to purchase a white stone horse and it was placed outside the temple. However, a series of weird incidents happened since then.

        The village used to have good harvests for many years. Since the white stone horse was placed outside the temple, the harvests had become poor even though the seedlings and wheat grew properly. This problem was commonplace among all villagers. Moreover, when the villagers went to work in the fields early in the morning, they found that the crops lay trampled and animal footprints were left on the soil. The villagers were puzzled as such things happened for a consecutive of three years.

        The villagers then invited a Fung Shui master to the village who concluded that all the incidents had been caused by the white horse's spirit. Consequently, the villages decided to take "action" to remedy the situation.

        They removed the white horse and buried it outside the temple with a large incense burner placed on top of the site to "suppress" the spirit. From then on, the villagers enjoyed peaceful life and good harvests again.

        The story may just be folklore and not be so credible. Many years ago, a scholar interested in the incident tried to find out the truth. With the aid of a radar detector, he believed that he had located the location of the buried white stone horse. However, his excavation was thwarted by the strong objection of the villagers.

        While the truth is buried under the ground, there is much room for our imagination.

 

       

 

 

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