‘Act not as a hero’: Hong Kong’s annual Lunar New Year prophecy calls for ‘sticking with the old ways on everything’

A top rural leader drew a prophecy warning against playing the “hero” and urged the city to “stick to the old ways” during an annual Lunar New Year ritual on Wednesday.

The “neutral” No 38 fortune stick, drawn by Heung Yee Kuk chairman Kenneth Lau Ip-keung on the second day of the Year of the Tiger, read: “Men up above seek the fruit of truth. I head to the low ground to pick ginger and Chinese mustard.”

“An altar may well be a kitchen. Act not as a hero to teach hunting,” it added. The omen came with a brief explanation telling the city to “stick to the old ways on everything”.

After the ceremony, Lau said he interpreted “stick to the old ways” as a call for the city to stay the course in its battle with the coronavirus.

“My understanding is that as the pandemic rages on, everyone should keep up their work. One should not expect the city would be able to end it in one go,” he said, clad in a festive, bright yellow Chinese jacket. “We step out of difficulties one step at a time.”

On the first day of the Lunar New Year on Tuesday, Hong Kong confirmed 129 Covid cases, with the number of untraceable infections soaring to a recent high of 22.

Fortune-teller Chan Tin-yan, while agreeing with Lau’s reading on the pandemic, said the message also indicated to him that incumbent Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor – who has declined to say whether she will seek re-election next month – should not run for a second term.

“It said one should not act like a hero. It was telling the chief executive not to act like a hero,” Chan said, adding that the prophecy also suggested that any other entrants into the March leadership race should be more experienced than Lam “so that the economic and pandemic situations in Hong Kong will stabilise”.