Jenny Lao-Phillips
Lately, if you pass Kun Iam Temple, you may bump into some middle-aged or elderly ladies squatting at a corner outside the temple, hitting a paper on the ground as a service for customers. Well, we have entered Jingzhe 驚蟄 – the time for ‘da siu yan’ (打小人, hit the little man), better known in English as ‘villain hitting’. Jingzhe falls in spring, usually in the first two weeks of March. What is so special about this time that makes people go and ‘hit the little man’? And what exactly does ‘hit the little man’ mean?
Jingzhe, meaning awakening and hibernation, refers to the time when insects and animals wake from hibernation and start searching for food. One story of the origin of ‘hitting the little man’ comes from the practice of sending away the mythical tiger, Bai Hu 白虎. In the agricultural society of ancient China, there was a belief that during Jingzhe, Bai Hu would awake and attack people. To prevent it from hurting the villagers, senior members would make paper tigers and drop pig’s blood on them, sometimes adding a slice of pork, to send the tiger away. Later, instead of sending Bai Hu away, people started using this ritual to send away people whom they considered as having brought bad luck to their lives by hitting a man-shaped paper.
We often see in movies that people ‘hit the little man’ when they have someone they hate in mind. The actual tradition was not used to wish ill on anyone specific, but for sending away people who may be in the way of achieving what one desires. It is believed that after ‘hitting the little man’, one will have good luck and life will be smooth sailing. Sometimes, it does not really have anything to do with other people. According to a few “professional” villain hitters and service users, the act is supposed to bring good luck.
However, there are many people with the misconception that ‘hitting the little man’ is a way to curse people they dislike. It is for this reason that many people think of going, or actually go to, ‘da siu yan’ – which may be the result of how this practice is depicted on TV and in movies.
In most depictions, we see angry people taking photos of people they hate to the ‘service providers’, paying them to hit their enemies. The service providers would first attach the photo to a man-shaped piece of paper and then, squatting down on the street, exert a lot of effort to beat a small piece of paper with a slipper while shouting curses. This is no easy job, especially since these service providers are often elderly women. That makes me wonder, have we become so lazy that we even need to outsource the cursing of our enemies? Wouldn’t it be more cathartic if we perform the act ourselves? (Not that hatred and cursing should be encouraged.)
According to an article about a “villain hitting service provider” in Hong Kong years ago, most customers do not have anyone specific in mind. It’s just a practice for good luck. But there are often women who bring photos of other women for hitting, usually ‘rivals in love’, hoping that the ritual will make their men return to them.
So this tradition, be it for bringing good luck or casting away people who have brought us bad luck, has evolved into some voodoo love spell we see in witches’ stories. But whatever the intention, just be careful what you wish for before you try ‘hitting the little man’. Jenny Lao-Phillips
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