When villagers in drought-hit Hong Kong performed rain-making rituals atop a mountain, and the photo artist drawn to their endeavours
- In 1963, 200 villagers raised a mountaintop altar and performed Taoist rituals to bring rain. The incident has long fascinated photo artist Law Yuk-mui
- Law is re-enacting the rituals with sound artist Lam Yip as part of Ways of Water –installations and workshops that explore the city’s aquatic ecosystem
In the summer of 1963, Hong Kong experienced a severe drought. Restrictions were imposed, with water supplied to the public for just four hours every four days.
Photos from that time show long queues of people waiting for their rations. Dried up rivers made life difficult for farmers who relied on water for crops and livestock.
Desperate times demanded desperate measures.
So on June 2 that year, a group of 200 people, most of them women, from a village in Sheung Shui, near the Ng Tung River, in the New Territories, climbed Wa Shan to erect an altar so they could pray for rain. They performed a Taoist ritual, offering flowers, fruit and barbecued meat. Mantras were chanted and river stones were placed as a memorial. According to reports, rain fell soon after the ritual.
“I found this whole rain-making ritual fascinating, so I wanted to fill in the gaps and research it further,” says artist Law Yuk-mui.
The ritual has shaped many of Law’s works, including her latest interpretation, Take Me To The River, Draw Me A Star (The Year 1963), a video and sound installation based on her field study and archival research.