Hong Kong has turned into a 'ghost town': millions of "hungry ghosts" have ascended from the depths of hell and are prowling the bustling streets. At least, that's what the Chinese believe happens during the Hungry Ghost Festival, a Buddhist/Daoist tradition during which offerings are made to ancestors who have "shuffled off this mortal coil".

It's a festival that mirrors the pitr paksha rituals in India (where too food offerings are made to ancestors) or the Halloween customs in the West. The Chinese believe that during this month, the gates of hell are opened to allow ghosts, particularly those that have no one to take care of them, to ascend to the world of the living and accept offerings from anyone who may make them.

It is customary to make symbolic offerings of food, money and the good things of life in the belief that they will keep the wandering spirits in good humour. Propitiating the ghosts thus is believed to earn you karmic brownie points!

Hong Kong is currently witnessing its longest-running industrial dispute in over 30 years. Hundreds of ironworkers (or 'bar benders' as they are known here) - who assemble the metal 'skeletons' for buildings in this high-on-skyscrapers city - have been on strike for 20 days now in protest against their poor pay and working conditions. Their action has shut down construction activity across this city, which has a flourishing property market.

The ironworkers are demanding HK$950 (about Rs 4,970) a day as wages, against HK$850 a day (about Rs 4,450) offered by the contractors' association. "We are asking for a share of the prosperity that we have helped create in Hong Kong," says Lee Cheuk Yan, leader of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions. "We are demanding fair laws and a minimum wage for workers."

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on DNA