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RE: Villages and Vinyls - A day on Lamma Island || Six Week Health Challenge Week Two!
No cars? Brilliant!
The shrine is quite stoic. So, what happens to the paper money left under the rocks? Do the poor take it at some point or is it collected by someone to help maintain the shrine?
Usually its not real money, it's literally paper! Sometimes it's burnt, but if it's real money no one steals it (HK has a ridiculously low crime rate). But it may be collected to maintain the shrine like you say
the shrine/grave looks fairly new to me, but the wording on the grave suggests whoever buried here died more than 100 years ago. It is probably housing an ancestor of the people living on the island.
Paper money is usually burned during visits to the grave. It's believed that the paper money is "transferred" to hell after burning to ash. The paper money put under the rocks is to show other people that the villagers have heart and have done their job to pay visit.
you might ask why do I know these things, cos I am from Hong Kong :)
Thanks for the insightful comment!