Man Mo Temple

You'll smell it before you see it: incense smoke pours from the door of Man Mo Temple, built around 1847 by two wealthy Chinese merchants, Lo Ah Kwai and Tam Achoy. It is dedicated to two gods: Man Cheong, patron of literature and the imperial exams, and Kwan Tai, the Three Kingdoms general who became god of war and loyalty.

1A court without judges

Next to the temple is the Kung So, a hall where Chinese merchants settled their disputes without going to the British courts. In the colony's early days, the courts accepted that a Chinese witness could swear in the customary way: by cutting off a chicken's head and burning a yellow paper before the gods. A liar, people believed, would bring the same fate upon himself.

The story goes that in 1918 two merchants feuding over a debt were sent here to swear, and the first to refuse to kneel lost the case.

2Bad luck and enemies

Since 1908 the temple has been run by the Tung Wah group. At the start of the lunar year, many worshippers come to «appease the Tai Sui», the deity who rules each year. Others prefer more direct methods: two kilometres from here, under the Canal Road flyover, people still practise da siu yan, «villain hitting», beating a paper figure representing an enemy with a shoe.

3What to look for

• The incense coils hanging from the ceiling, which burn for days.
• The gilded sedan chairs from the 19th century that were carried in processions.
• The ceramic figures on the roof.