Hollywood Road

Hollywood Road in Hong Kong is home to the Man Mo Temple, and this guide traces the blood-oath ritual once held there: kneeling in incense smoke, swearing to a written vow, then watching a rooster's blood spill across the page as proof you were telling the truth. It follows an 1918 money dispute between two merchants that the colonial court sent to the temple for lack of evidence, and describes what happened when neither man would kneel. Listen for what a judge decided a refusal to swear could mean.