News Digest

Hong Kong wishing tree draws tens of thousands of hopefuls

Tens of thousands of people are travelling to the remote village of Lam Tsuen in Hong Kong this week to hurl oranges at a tree in hopes of making their wishes come true. Visitors to the “wishing tree” come from all over the city and mainland China to take part in the Chinese Lunar New Year tradition that stretches back more than a century. Queues of hopefuls write their wishes on red pieces of paper, attach them to oranges and throw the fruit at a tree in the village square. If the orange lodges on a branch, the wish will come true – or so the belief goes. The banyan tree used for the tradition was replaced with a plastic replica after an accident in 2005, which saw a branch loaded with oranges snap off and injure an elderly man and a child.

I wished to have a child last year and now I am pregnant!

Xiao Xiaomei, visitor to the tree

Universal to make wishes’ - The tradition was started by Chinese fishermen who would write their wishes onto paper and throw them onto trees at the Lunar New Year, said Luke Lam, organiser of the festival, who was born in Lam Tsuen and has lived there most of his life. The fishermen would travel from the city’s southern ports and visit temples to make offerings to protective deities and throw up wishes en route to the final temple in Lam Tsuen, Lam said.