‘I know who I’d want to hit’: Hongkongers, tourists queue to curse ‘villains’

An annual “villain-hitting” ritual has drawn hundreds of people to an underpass in Hong Kong, as they seek to banish bad luck or wish ill on their “enemies”, with some mainland Chinese tourists also visiting especially for the occasion.

Snaking queues had formed by around midday on Wednesday at the Causeway Bay site, the traditional local home of the activity.

Incense smoke filled the air around the roughly 17 stalls, with the most popular one attracting a line of more than 50 people at one point.

Customers wrote the names of their enemies – such as those who had wronged them in some way – on paper effigies as they waited. Some clutched photographs of the wrongdoers, or even photocopies of their identification cards.

For HK$50 (US$6.43), the “villain-hitters”, who are mostly elderly women, slap the effigies with shoes while chanting curses before ultimately burning the paper.

“I’ve heard this is quite effective, but practices such as this are hard to find on the mainland,” said Zheng, a tourist from Zhuhai who only gave her surname.