Hitting the villain. Image from the Collective. Used with permission.
Jingzhe (驚蛰), or Insect Awaken Day, marks the third of the 24 solar terms in the traditional Chinese calendar. The period usually lasts for two weeks, around mid-spring when the rainy season starts with thunderstorms that wake up the hibernating insects and animals. This year, Jingzhe begins on March 5 and ends on March 20.
The Chinese word “Jing” (驚) means scare, and “Zhe” (蛰) means hibernating insects and animals. The season reminds farmers to eliminate pests from their fields, barns, or at home, and the customs and rituals associated with it vary in different parts of China.
Eating pears and frying crops
In Shanxi, a northwest Chinese region, it is customary for the locals toeat pears during Jingzhe. One proverb from the region says, “Eating pears during Jingzhe will bring you good health all year long” (驚蛰吃了梨，一年都精神) as it is believed that the native fruit can aid the respiratory system, which the cold and dry winter air has weakened.
Moreover, the Chinese pronunciation of pears is “li,” and its homonym can also mean “depart” or “leave.” Consuming pears thus symbolises driving away harmful insects.
Hakka-speaking Chinese, especially those settled in western Fujian and Guangdong provinces, will perform the “frying Jingzhe” (炒驚蛰) ritual to get rid of pests in crops, notably beans and wheat, to mark Jingzhe. In the ritual, they put dry beans and wheat in a large frying pan and stir fry both while chanting:
炒炒炒，炒去黄蚁爪；舂舂舂，舂死黄蚁公
Fry, fry, fry, fry away the yellow ants’ claws; beat, beat, beat, beat the yellow ants to death.
“Feeding the white tiger and hitting villains’
Feeding the White Tiger. Image from the Collective. Used with permission.
The custom of getting rid of pests during Jingzhe has evolved into a theme of “driving away villains” in southern Chinese cities, where, for centuries, trade has driven their economy rather than agriculture.
In the commercial world, the most harmful living beings are not bugs and pests but deceitful, backstabbing, selfish people who cheat and take advantage of others. Hence, Chinese city dwellers have reinvented the Jingzhe customs to ward against criminals, and their ritualistic performances involve “offering sacrifice to the White Tiger” and “hitting villains”.
In Chinese folk religion, the white tiger is a particularly evil spirit that often brings quarrels, fights, and disasters to people's lives. If someone offends the White Tiger, they need to offer sacrifices to prevent misfortune from befalling them. In the Jingzhe ritual, worshippers have to feed the White Tiger by placing a piece of fatty pork and pig blood curd on the head of a paper tiger to bribe the evil spirit and get rid of bad fortune.
Feeding the White Tiger. Image from the Collective. Used with permission.
“Villain hitting” or petty person hitting is a ritual to curse villains (in general) or one’s enemies (a specific person). In the case of a specific target, the person is represented by a paper doll with the name and birthday of the target written on it. The ritual is common among old ladies who first invoke a spirit and use a shoe or other tools to hit the paper doll while chanting a spell or a curse until the paper doll is torn apart. The torn paper would then be fed to a paper white tiger and burnt to ashes. At the end of the ritual, the sorceress will help the worshipper restore peace with incense and other ritualistic acts.
Here is a video from Coconuts TV explaining how the ritual is performed:
The Cantonese spells for the villain-hitting ritual are typically heavily rhymed. Below is a popular one:
打你個小人頭，等你有氣冇訂抖
打你個小人面，等你成世都犯賤
打你個小人眼，等你考試零雞蛋
打你個小人耳，等你銀紙當草紙
打你個小人嘴，等你有女冇得追
打你個小人肚，等你日日比人告
打你個小人手，等你有錢唔識收
打你個小人腳，等你有鞋無得著
Hit your petty person’s head, so they'll be breathless
Hit your petty person’s face, so they'll be a life-long loser
Hit your petty person’s eyes, so they'll get a zero on their exams
Hit your petty person’s mouth, so they won't get a girlfriend
Hit your little person’s belly, so they'll have complaints and lawsuits
Hit your little person’s hands, so they can’t recieve any money
Hit your little person’s feet, so they can’t wear any shoes
The Jingzhe villain-hitting custom has long been part of Hong Kong's traditional culture. However, it became more popular in Hong Kong after a now-dissolved political group, People’s Power,mobilisedthousands of its supporters to perform the ritual to protest against the government’s budget plan in 2012. Since then, the city has seen more young people queuing up in downtown villain-hitting spots, particularly under the Canal Road Flyover in the Wanchai district, asking the sorceress to hit incompetent government officials during the Jingzhe season. In 2014, the Hong Kong government included the ritual in the city's list of intangible cultural heritage.
After the National Security Law was enacted on June 30, 2020, related political acts vanished due to police crackdowns on protests and assemblies.
Police officers stood by at the most popular villain-hitting spot under the Canal Road Flyover in Wanchai. Image from the Collective. Used with permission.
However, the Jingzhe ritual of hitting villains remains a tourist cultural attraction. As the Hong Kong government is eager to promote tourism amid a visitor slump, the Food and Environment Hygiene Department has offered more city space for the Jingzhe rituals. This year, on the first day of Jingzhe, the scale of the ritual was much bigger. In Wanchai, worshippers had to queue up for more than five hours for their turn. Some worshippers came from mainland China. One sorceress told a reporter from HK01 that an American tourist asked her to hit the US president, Donald Trump on the first day of Jingzhe.
A crowd of worshippers under the Canal Road Flyover in Wanchai. Image from the Collective. Used with permission.