Cheng Po Tsai in Hong Kong

Do you know that a great amount of pirate treasure was hidden somewhere in Hong Kong?

Or so people said. Have you heard of Cheng Po Tsai (張保仔)?

Cheng Po Tsai’s original name was Cheng Po (張保), “Cheng Po Tsai” was a nickname given by the Canton people, meaning “Cheng Po the Kid”. He was a famous 19^th century pirate who roamed the Guangdong coastal region during the Qing Dynasty, and were said to own over 600 ships and lead over 50,000 pirates!

He was an ordinary fisherman’s kid until he was kidnaped by the pirate couple Cheng I (鄭一) and Ching Shih (鄭一嫂 / 鄭氏) at 15. The couple treated him as their adopted son.  After Cheng I’s death, he married Ching Shih (don’t ask…) and inherited the pirate army his adopted father once owned. He took over the pirate business and caused great headache to the government. However, after the defeat of his piracy mate, he surrendered to the Qing government and, in return, he became the captain of the Qing imperial navy to fight against other pirates.

What a legendary life…what’s more legendary is that, it was said that he hid lots of treasure during his stay in Hong Kong! A lot of places are rumored to be the treasure spots: Tap Mun, Lamma Island, Chung Hom Kok…

But the most famous location would be the Cheng Po Tsai Cave (張保仔洞) in Cheung Chau. While it’s called “cave”, it’s more or less just a narrow and winding passage inside a cliff. Scholars believe that the legend about the treasure cave is probably fake, since it’s too small. And even if the cave was used to store something, that “something” would be nothing more than gunpowder. What a way to crush a man’s dream…Still, it’s a popular tourist attraction visited by many even as of today.

So, next time, when you walk by the beaches in Hong Kong, and you find something glittering among the sand…pick your shovel and start digging!

…Heck, who am I trying to lie to?

Everyone knows beaches in Hong Kong are notorious for marine trash.

That glittering thing is probably just a plastic bottle.

Bela Vista Villa in Hong Kong

Do you know that the Bela Vista Villa (東堤小築) of Hong Kong is a famous place for…suicide?

Bela Vista Villa, locates in Cheung Chau, Hong Kong Island, is a cluster of vacation bungalows. The villa is close to some historical temples and an awesome beach, a beautiful place with beautiful scene and a beautiful name. Who would have thought it has something to do with such morbid things?

There is (are) reason(s) behind the suicides…or so people believe.

One famous rumor is that in 1989, a divorced woman brought her kid with her to the villa. She killed her kid, and then hung herself in the bungalow while wearing traditional red clothes and shoes (legend said women dying with such clothes would turn into vengeful ghosts). Since then, people have been seeing this “woman in red” wandering in the area and hearing some bone-chilling sobbing from time to time…

Another saying is that a woman broke up with her boyfriend. Feeling upset, she went to the villa and threaten her ex-boyfriend with suicide. But her ex-lover thought that she was only kidding and ignored her. The heart-broken woman thus killed herself by taking sleeping pills and burning charcoal.

The villa has been rumored to be haunted and cursed ever since. What’s worse is that many death-seekers seemed to be affected by the rumors and chose to end their lives at this place. Many people in turn believe the place is heavily shrouded by the “force of yin” and where grudgeful spirits gather.

This creates a vicious cycle of: people commit suicide à the place becomes haunted à more people come to commit suicide in this haunted place à the place becomes more haunted…

Whether you believe in the ghost stories or not, Bela Vista Villa, or even the name Cheung Chau, has more or less become the synonym of “suicide”, and over 20 suicide cases at the resort has been reported.

Maybe people try to imitate what others have been doing unconsciously?

Or maybe…the deceased are lonely and desperately need companions…?