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Hong Kong’s seafood selections may be impressive, but in fact many are endangered or overfished. Check out WWF’s Seafood Guide (www.wwf.org.hk/eng/conservation/seafood) for ecologically friendly choices.

You don’t have to be a vegetarian or tree hugger to try Hong Kong’s vegetarian eateries (www.ivu.org/hkvegan/gb/hkrest.html): many are as good as any other restaurants.

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VERY SUPERSTITIOUS

While Hong Kong may appear as Western as a Big Mac on the surface, many old Chinese traditions persist. Whether people still believe in all of them or just go through the motions to please parents, neighbours or coworkers is hard to say. But Hong Kong Chinese are too astute to leave something as important as luck to chance.

For all its worldly ways, Hong Kong is a surprisingly religious place. The dominant religions are Buddhism and Taoism, entwined with elements of Confucianism, ancient animist beliefs and ancestor worship. The number of active Buddhists in Hong Kong is estimated at around 700,000.

Feng Shui

Literally ‘wind water’, feng shui (‘geomancy’ in English) aims to balance the elements of nature to create a harmonious envir-onment. Practised since the 12th century, it still influences the design of buildings, highways, parks, tunnels and gravesites. To guard against evil spirits, who can move only in straight lines, doors are often positioned at an angle. For similar reasons, beds cannot face doorways. Ideally, homes and businesses should have a view of calm water (even a goldfish tank helps). Corporate heads shouldn’t have offices that face westward, otherwise profits will go in the same direction as the setting sun.

Fortune-Telling

There are any number of props and implements that Chinese use to predict the future, but the most common method of divination in Hong Kong are the chim (‘fortune sticks’) found at Buddhist and Taoist temples. They must be shaken out of a box onto the ground and then read by a fortune-teller. Palm readers usually examine both the lines and features of the hand, and may also examine your facial features.

Numerology

In Cantonese the word for ‘three’ sounds similar to ‘life’, ‘nine’ like ‘eternity’, and the ever-popular number ‘eight’ like ‘prosperity’. Lowest on the list is ‘four’, which shares the same pronunciation with the word for ‘death’. As a result, the right number can make or break a business, and each year the government draws in millions of dollars for charity by auctioning off automobile licence plates that feature lucky numbers. The Bank of China Tower was officially opened on 8 August 1988 (8/8/88), a rare union of the prosperous numbers. August is always a busy month for weddings. On the other hand, much like the number 13 in the West, four is avoided in Hong Kong. Many buildings don’t have a 4th floor or floors ending in four. Drivers don’t favour the number on their license plates either.

Zodiac

As in the Western system of astrology, the Chinese zodiac has 12 signs, but their representations are all animals. Your sign is based on the year of your birth (according to the lunar calendar). Being born or married in a particular year is believed to determine one’s fortune to some extent, so some parents plan for their children’s sign. The year of the dragon sees the biggest jump in the birth rate, closely followed by the year of the tiger.

Signs are also believed to influence personality. Rats are loyal worriers; oxen make excellent spouses; you’ll fear the wrath of tigers; rabbits are party animals; dragons dig a good adrenalin rush; snakes bewitch; horses have wanderlust; sheep are lazy artists; monkeys make play their business; roosters shop till they drop; dogs are loving and intelligent; and you can always count on pigs.

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Hong Kong’s most pressing environmental problem is air pollution, responsible for up to 2000 premature deaths a year. Not surprisingly, it has become a highly charged political and economic issue. Mounting public pressure has forced the