Yeu-Lai Mo is a London based artist whose work explores ideas of critical alternatives for the perception of the British Chinese.
Drawing on personal memories of a space, Upstairs is a recreation of a room above a Chinese takeaway. In it was a large-scale shrine called, the ‘Si Gu Tan,’ its sole purpose was for private worship, a space where family rituals took place, stories were acted out. The room was dark and smoky and smelled of incense, the walls and ceiling were blackened with soot from joss burning day and night.
This form of Buddhism was a secret folk religion, a particular type of indigenous spiritual practice passed down orally. Mo’s father owned a precious almanac, a soft bound concertina book made of rice paper with a brown paper covering filled with calligraphic signs and symbols, containing religious pictograms and sigils. The book provided all the tools to become a Buddhist Shaman.
At New Year he made offerings to the Shrine, roasted piglet, good brandy, flowers, fruit. Talismans were written, burnt and consumed in a tea ceremony, a practice believed to ward off bad spirits and bring good luck for the new year.
Afterwards he would go into a trance called ‘Juk Tung’, eyes closed, clasping his hands, shaking all over, chanting and speaking in tongues. Kung Fu was believed to be learnt through the body during a state of trance meditation. Spiritual characters would enter his body, he would re-enact family dramas, re-enacting funny stories and demonstrating martial arts, characters such the drunken fist and the Monkey King. Seeing these mythological characters was both scary and entertaining.
The rituals took place through the night until dawn, a secret family recreational sport.
