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House and Home－Stove God

Place：Sheung Shui Bou Sheung Tsuen
Date：1964-02-12
Observation：In the utility area of the house was the kitchen, the symbolic heart of the family. Here is my neighbour’s chimney carrying away the smoke from the cooking stove. The Stove god is represented by his name written on the orange-red paper and pasted above the ledge that serves as an altar. It is new year and the Stove God has just returned from Heaven to begin another year’s surveillance of the family’s behaviour. He is thought to bestow longevity if suitably worshipped, but more important is the need to keep him well disposed to the family so that he will not make a bad report at the end of the year.