Male (This week's Photo Hunt theme)

Back in March of this year, I attended the Tai Kok Tsui Temple Fair that's held annually to thank the male deity for which the Hung Shing Temple was built for bringing luck and safety to his devotees. Although it rated a mention on the Hong Kong Tourism Board website, it very much is a local festival -- and its taking place in a Kowloon neighborhood that is off the beaten path for many tourists gave it a particularly attractively authentic feel to my mind.

Something else that I liked about this festival was how eclectic it seemed to be -- with festival activities not only taking place within the small temple itself but also on nearby streets and including stalls selling food, toys and other items, an antique car exhibition, Chinese cultural performances, an old songs-themed karaoke, a 500-feet dancing dragon, and a display of statues of such as the main characters of Journey to the West, a Ming Dynasty epic saga that tells of a master monk and his disciples' adventure-filled pilgrimage from China to India in order to obtain sacred Buddhist sutras.

As I child, I was given a 50 volume comic book version of what I later came to learn is considered to be one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese Literature. I can't remember how long it took me to read all 50 volumes but it couldn't have been too long as I adored them -- and have strong memories of some of those tales to this day.

Consequently, I could easily recognize (from left to right in the third photo from above in this Photo Hunt entry) the mischievous Monkey (AKA Sun Wukong, a Monkey God born from a stone), peace-loving Master Monk (AKA Tripitaka) on his white horse (a transformed dragon king), faithful Sandy (a river ogre -- but a good one!) and greedy Pigsy (a former heavenly commander banished to the mortal world after being found flirting with the moon princess!!) -- all of whom, I really noticed when looking for a suitable photo for this week, are male -- like so many of the main characters of classic novels from the West that I also enjoyed as a child (e.g., Robin Hood, King Arthur and Robinson Crusoe (and his Man Friday))!