Learn the ins and outs of feng shui, villain hitting, and fortunetelling as well as the dos and don’ts for cultivating good luck in our series on Chinese superstitions.
In Chinese culture, show business is thought of as an “informal” trade because of the lack of a stable income and how you have to rely on popularity for success. That in turn has contributed to superstitions, many of which are observed on film sets.
Only when they are carried out, it is believed, can a production proceed without hiccups.
Here are five of the most prominent rituals and practices that the Hong Kong entertainment industry has adopted over the years.
1. A food party to start with a bang
Also performed at the launch of a new company, this sacrificial ritual is common practice for Hong Kong’s film and television crews, and done at the start of every new production to ensure its smooth running.
Even cast and crew members who are not religious, or are of faiths other than Taoism, attend the ceremony out of respect; nowadays it has become more of a team-building exercise, with the food being shared to celebrate the start of a new job.
2. You get extra cash for playing dead
In 2020, Hong Kong television actors Wayne Lai Yiu-cheung and Louis Yuen Siu-cheung discussed this on their talk show More Than Mall.
Lai said he had got so used to receiving lai see after his death scenes that he would feel uneasy without one. Yuen recalled a time he almost left the set of a cemetery scene filmed on location without a red envelope. He returned immediately to ask for lai see for peace of mind when he remembered.
3. Red paper to flush out bad luck
In a similar vein, actors receive red envelopes when their likenesses are used for funeral portraits in shows and films. A small piece of red paper is stuck behind the photo as well.
In Chinese culture, red is associated with a strong life force, while white is often used in funerals. The red is used to flush out the bad luck that white invites by letting the gods and spirits know that the actor in question is still among the living and should not be taken from their earthly realm.
4. ‘We’re sorry to bother you’
In Chinese mythology and Taoism, it is believed that spirits are attracted to yin energy – one of two opposing forces in feng shui. Yin is said to be found in desolate areas and is said to weaken the healthy yang energy that humans possess.
5. Period dramas can draw period ghosts
If you were a ghost from the 1800s, what would feel like home to you?
This would not have seemed out of the ordinary, except there were no scenes involving soldiers on that day’s call sheet. He later asked the director, and was told they could occasionally be seen and that he should not mention it again.
Yeung’s theory was that, because the set looked like “their world”, the spirits were drawn to something that was familiar to them. “The spirits belong to that setting, so that’s where they go,” he said.
