Coils of incense hanging from the ceiling in a temple to literature and war, on a street of antique shops.
Built in 1847 by Chinese merchants and dedicated to two deities: Man Cheong, the god of literature, and Mo Tai (Kwan Tai), the god of war. It is the largest Man Mo temple in Hong Kong and a declared monument.
The pairing is not as odd as it sounds. Man was prayed to by students facing the imperial civil service examinations; Mo by soldiers and, later, by police and triads alike. Both are still approached for the same reasons.
The incense
Enormous spiral coils hang from the ceiling, some burning for weeks, dropping ash into suspended trays. The air is thick, brown-lit and genuinely difficult to breathe if you are unused to it.
They are hung by worshippers as offerings, usually with a paper tag naming the family and the wish. The larger ones burn for a month.
What else is inside
Sedan chairs from the nineteenth century, used to carry the deities’ statues in processions.
Fortune-telling by kau chim — a bamboo cylinder of numbered sticks shaken until one falls out, then read against a printed verse. Interpreters sit at tables to one side and will do it for visitors for a fee.
The temple was also a place where disputes among the Chinese community were settled before the colonial courts had much reach into Chinese affairs — oaths were sworn here by cutting off a chicken’s head, and the practice was recognised in colonial law for a period.
Behaving well
It is a working temple, not a museum.
Do not use flash. Do not photograph people praying or the interpreters at work. Step around rather than through anyone bowing. Dress modestly — covered shoulders and knees.
Entry is free; donation boxes are by the door.
Around it
Hollywood Road runs along the ridge with antique dealers, galleries and, further east, the bars of SoHo.
Cat Street — Upper Lascar Row — is a lane of curio stalls a minute away.
Tai Kwun, the converted Central Police Station, is ten minutes east. The Mid-Levels Escalator crosses Hollywood Road nearby.
PMQ, the former Police Married Quarters, is a design and craft centre in a 1951 block a short walk uphill.
Practicalities
Open daily from morning to early evening. Sheung Wan MTR exit A2, then a steep ten minutes — or take the escalator up and walk down.
More Landmarks
Victoria Peak
The view that sells Hong Kong, reached by a tram at a gradient that pins you to the seat.
The Star Ferry
A ten-minute crossing on a green-and-white boat that has run since 1888 and costs less than a bottle of water.
Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin Monastery
A 34-metre bronze Buddha on a Lantau hilltop, reached by 268 steps and a cable car over the sea.