Amidst the dense urban city, beliefs and rituals of spirituality continue to stay present in daily life. The boundaries of commerce and life are blurred in the public realm through the small interventions of street shrines - dedicated to various deities that bring protection, prosperity, health and more, the shrines often stand at street level, barely reaching knee height. Typically located by the front door of a business or home, they may take form as simple wall mounted shrines or as found in older buildings, recessed into the physical construction of the wall. The occupiers of space leave incense and offerings regularly, a commonplace practice. Some even boast red electric lights in addition to or instead of incense.
These shrines act as windows between worlds in the everyday; the spiritual and mortal, public and private, formal and informal, metaphysical and corporal. They are bright and visible, yet seamlessly and naturally integrated into the daily lives of Hong Kongers. Shared by all that pass the shrine, they create their own network, a comfortable part of the Hong Kong streetscape.
However, newer developments around the city leave no space for the shrines to occupy. They are large scale, purpose built, taking on Feng Shui principles in the design of an entire building rather than reserving a small recess or corner for shrines. Business and traditional beliefs are intrinsically tied - one can find the fourth and fourteenth floor in many commercial buildings missing as the number four sounds like "death" in Cantonese. In such sense, these street shrines provide not only prosperity, but also peace of mind. They are reminders of the "good" in the otherworld and evidence of human presence, purposefully placed where they are.