夢之國

Dear Editor,

 I am an American and I have lived in Hong Kong for five years. I am writing to share my bad experience with hexing services.

 One of the hexing services in Hong Kong is called ‘jinzhe’ hexing. In the ritual, a shoe-beater is believed to be able to protect us from vicious slander and seek out evil spirits. But I find that this kind of hexing is not as good as it sounds.

 I tried it a few months ago since I was very unlucky. My boyfriend, John, dumped me because I lost his car! My relationship with my colleagues also got worse. I lost almost data for an important proposal. All of us could not give a presentation without any data. I was then nicknamed ‘unpromising chicken’. I think may be due to this nickname, I caught something like bird flu!

Then one of my Hong Kong friends, Sally, told me about the ‘jinzhe’ hexing in Hong Kong. She took me to a crossroads near a temple in Sheung Wan where we met a shoe-beater. Since Sally said that a Japanese man had successfully improved his relationships with colleagues by using the hexing services of the shoe-beater there, I gave it a try and paid her $20. The shoe-beater at once chanted something like incantation and used a shoe to hit a paper figure. Then she waved paper charms and lit some candles. I didn’t know why the shoe-beater had done those things at that time. I just saw her hitting and chanting.

 But now I know everything about the hexing. It was used to curse me! I felt even more serious headache after returning at home that day. Two days later, I lost my job since I had not finished my proposal before the deadline. When I was looking for a new job, I saw John and his new girlfriend! I still love him, but he doesn’t love me anymore since I lost his car! This is terrible for me and I don’t believe in hexing services anymore.

Please don’t try to use any superstition to solve problems the hexing may backfire, even though you haven’t cursed anyone problems can be solved by any other ways but not by hexing.

 Yours faithfully, 
Chris Patten