Family outings to honour loved ones turn to horror as graves are found desecrated
NG KANG-CHUNG KC.NG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 11 October, 2015, 7:02pm
UPDATED : Monday, 12 October, 2015, 12:02am
Relatives inspect a grave. Photo: SCMP Pictures
Twelve tombs at a burial ground on a hillside in Tai Po were found to have been dug up, with some valuable personal effects said to have gone missing, presumably snatched by grave robbers.
The cases came to light yesterday as people out grave sweeping found the resting places of their ancestors vandalised.
Police were called to Wong Yi Au, Tai Po, at around 10.30am. An inspection found other tombs in the area were also dug up.
Police said 12 tombs showed signs of damage or with soil dug up. Police classified the cases as criminal damage. No arrests have been made.
The hillside is a popular place for the fishermen of Tai Po to bury their ancestors. By tradition, loved ones are often buried with personal effects. There are more than 100 tombs on the hillside, some of which date back more than a century.
The apparent thefts took place before Chung Yeung, a festival that falls on October 21 this year and for which families sweep the graves of their ancestors and venerate them.
One visitor, who declined to be named, went to sweep the grave of his grandmother with family members and said they were shocked by their discovery.
“We could not have imagined such an ugly thing could happen to us,” So said. “We have not offended other people and have not owed anyone money.”
So said his grandmother, whose coffin was broken on both sides, had been buried there more than 20 years. He did not know what was stolen or its value.
Area resident Lee Kwok-wing noted: “It is a custom of the fishing families in Tai Po to store some valuable personal effects or properties in tombs. The value of those properties is at most several thousand dollars.”
Grave robbery is not common locally in part because of the Chinese belief that anyone who damages a tomb or touches its contents will be cursed and suffer in death.
In 2006, the grave of Chong Yuet-ming, wife of tycoon Li Ka-shing, was damaged by tomb raiders as they tried to prise it open at the Buddhist cemetery in Cape Collinson.
The armed tomb robbers tied up two cemetery workers and robbed them of cash and valuables before breaking into the cemetery’s office for a total haul of HK$70,000.
The high-profile case led to two locals and five mainlanders being caught and jailed.
Additional reporting by Danny Mok
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1866333/hong-kongs-answer-lara-croft-tomb-raiders-steal-jewellery
