Petty Person Beating

Do you know you can beat up your enemies in Hong Kong without any legal consequence?

…No, wait, wait! Put away your bat and your brass knuckles!

I don’t mean it literally…Man, you guys are dangerous.

What I mean is 打小人.

打小人, usually translated as “Petty Person Beating” or “Villain hitting”, is a folk sorcery practiced in Hong Kong and Guangdong region. The term 小人 has a really complex historical and cultural meaning, so I am not going deep into that. But it basically means people who are “shameless, spineless, gutless and greedy”. In other words, “a bad person who at least deserves a punch to the face”. I assume you have run into a considerable amount of people like that before, no? Co-workers, neighbors, or even relatives…now, it’s payback time.

First, we need to pay respect to the deities with candles and incense. Then we need some human-shaped papers (representing the targets). We have to provide our name and the date of birth, have it written on a paper tag called 符籙 and place it on the human-shaped papers. If there is a specific person you want to “beat”, you will have to provide the name and birth date of that person as well. Of course we don’t forget the weapon: shoes (actually it can be anything, but using shoes is common)! You (or the “hitter”) slap the papers as if it is the person you long to kill! Slap with all your might, as if the person had ruined your life, or tortured your family, or kicked your beloved puppy!

Done with the beating? Good, but if you are doing this on the day called驚蟄 (the 3rd solar term, “awakening of hibernating insects”), you have to make sacrifice to the “white tiger”, which is represented by a yellow paper tiger. People would usually stuff a piece of raw meat into the tiger’s mouth, hoping that “it can’t harm people once fed”. Then we throw sesames or beans and burn some paper offerings to dispel bad luck. And remember to pray for the blessing from 貴人 (the opposite of 小人). Now we burn more paper offerings for the spirits. Last but not least, we cast two pieces of crescent-shaped wood. Cast until one has the flat side facing upward and the other facing downward, and we are done.

Whew…that’s a lot of work.

Beating up a real person seems to take less effort, doesn’t it?

You want my name and birth date so you can thank me properly for teaching you this?

…No, thanks.

I mean, no, you are welcome.