At about three in the afternoon, residents clean the two streets of Pak She and San Hing (San Hing Back Street included). After that, three Daoist priests, dressed in black and were sheltered under umbrellas, also black in color, cleanse the same streets ritually. After the streets have been cleansed, three deities—in the order of Pak She T'in Hau, Pak Tai from the Tai Ping Shan district, and the local Pak Tai, ---are paraded through them. After the parade, the three deities are placed on the deities' altar. No other deities are allowed on the altar before the trio's arrival.

     Helpers then post nine bamboo poles into the ground at various points. The area enclosed within these nine bamboo poles is the jiao shed, where the Daoist priests conduct major rituals.

     At about eight in the evening, the Daoist priests ritually cleanse the streets again, and after that, they invite all the earth gods to the jiao shed. At the same time, members of the festival committee place light incense sticks along the streets, especially at crossroads, and distribute them to residents on the two streets. The residents then place the incense sticks in front of their doors to keep evil out.

     The Daoist priests perform a ritual known as 'cleaning the altar' or 'setting the altar' so as to remove all the unclean and evil influences from the Daoist altar. After that, they perform an “opening eye” ritual to all deities, including the three large effigies, in a process that is also thought of as an invitation of the presence of the deities.

     Before midnight, the Daoist priests burnt a paper horse and a paper messenger carrying notices and invitations, with the intention of sending the notices and invitations to the named deities in the three spheres of heaven, earth, and waters. When the deities are invited, usually after mid-night, the festival is officially inaugurated. On the other side, Cantonese operas begin. The operas would last for three days and four nights.

     In the following three days, which are regarded as the three main days, the Daoist priests, on behalf of the islanders, offer vegetation sacrifices to all deities invited to the festival. A regular daily rhythm is set by the rituals known as “three offerings and three repentances”—held in the morning, at noon, and in the evening—which are the offering of vegetarian sacrifices to the deities and supplication for forgiveness.

     After the morning ritual, the Daoist priests take a register of donors for the year and a record of daily rituals from the Daoist altar and hand it to the chairman of the organizing committee. The chairman, assisted by his family members, then takes the register and record to the center of the market where they are pasted on a temporary notice board.

     At night, in a ritual known as 'evening prayer,' the Daoist priests, on behalf of the islanders, pray and offer sacrifice to deities of the three spheres. They also perform a 'summoning the general' ritual to recruit a military deity to secure the cleanliness of the Daoist altar.

     At noon, instead of the regular 'offering and repentance,' the Daoist priests perform a 'running the afternoon offerings' (zou wuchao) ritual in front of the opera stage so as to offer food and clothes to the deities of the five directions. They provide each deity with one table of food, an offering from the jiao committee and islanders.

     At night, one Daoist priest, dressed fully in black, aboard a fishing boat riding back and forth on the water off Tai Wan, performs the ritual “feeding the water ghosts” (ji shuiyou) to feed the hungry spirits of people who lost their lives in the sea.. While the Daosit priest chants, helpers from the jiao committee throw offerings into the sea, thus feeding and placating the spirits.

     In the middle of the ritual, the Daoist priests perform the “welcoming the sacred ones” (yingsheng) ritual at the Daoist altar. They present ten kinds of offerings so as to invite the Jade Emperor, the highest deity of the three spheres, to the altar.

     On the third day, also the last of the main festival days, the Daoist priests perform a ritual called “thanking the pole [gods]” (xiefan). They remove the lanterns hung on the bamboo poles, and burn the paper shrine at the foot of each pole.

     At about ten o'clock in the morning, the Daoist priests perform a 'sending off the flower boat' (qianchuan) ritual. They order a paper messenger to leave the island and instruct the paper messenger to set sail on a paper boat laden with things that represent impurity. A helper of the priests then carries the boat out of the jiao area and lets it flow onto the sea. Immediately after that, a Daoist priest distributes talismans to the island residents. The blessed residents would paste the talismans on their main doors and kitchens or put them in their pockets for protection against evil.

     In the afternoon, the parade begins. The children, costumed to represent household names in history and current politics, stand on frames and are carried shoulder high throughout the parade. The head of the 'float procession' is a sedan chair seated with Pak Tai of Tai Ping Shan district. It is followed by the deities of Hung Shing Kung, three T'in Haus, Koon Yam, and finally the local Pak Tai. Next comes the Daoist priests, behind whom are representatives of various district associations, and of other voluntary associations such as martial arts clubs and schools. The parade is a spectacular. When approaching the Tai San Street, the carriers of Hung Shing Kung hurriedly put this deity to its normal abode while other deities continue the procession. When the procession reaches the Tai Shek Hau T'in Hau Temple, the Daoist priests set free some birds and turtles. After that, the carriers of the sedan chair made a return, hurrying back to the deities' altar. They believe that the first sedan chair to reach the altar can expect a good year ahead. After the procession has finished, meat-selling resumes.

     At night, the Daoist priests, on behalf of the islanders, offer sacrifice, composing of 36 sets of vegetarian offerings, to the wandering spirits, and given the power from the king of the underworld, known to Buddhist scholars as Ksitigarbha, the priests salvage these spirits from the underworld. It is believed that the area had been crowded with wandering ghosts, so islanders have to invite the presence of the Ghost King for its protection. After the ritual, since those wandering spirits are supposed to leave Cheung Chau with satisfaction, the islanders could send off the Ghost King by burning his effigy. They also burn all other paper effigies. In that night, the Cantonese opera ends.

     Then at midnight, the scramble for buns commences. Today although the scramble has revived, it is turned into a sport. Islanders will not receive the buns until next morning when the festival committee distributes the buns.

     As time went by, ethnic groups other than Huizhou residents also participated in the jiao, though in different degrees. Among them, the Chaozhou residents are the most active ones. Since they, like Huizhou people, originated from the northeast of Guangdong Province, their culture, including their language, is similar to that of Huizhou. The shared cultural background allowed both ethnic groups to inhabit in the same place, that is the two streets of Pak She and San Hing, and more importantly, later form the Huizhou and Chaozhou Prefectures Association to administer the jiao festival.

     In comparison to the Chaozhou residents, the Cantonese residents from the Guangzhou prefecture, commonly called Punti, are less active in the festival. It has to be admitted that a small number of local Cantonese leaders, because of their wealth and generosity, are included into the festival's organizing committee as members, but unlike the Huizhou and Chaozhou residents, are not eligible to serve as chairmen. Nor are they blessed in the Daoist ritual. For instance, on the third day, the talismans are distributed primarily only to the Huizhou and Chaozhou people. In the whole festival, there is hardly any Cantonese participation apart from the three-day Cantonese opera.

     Worse than those Cantonese residents, the boat people, or the Tanka, in Cheung Chau are basically excluded from participating in the festival. The festival committee, for example, includes no boat people. In the jiao ritual, though the sea-protecting deities, like T'in Hau and Hung Shing Kung, are invited, these deities play insignificant roles. Discrimination is also demonstrated in the parade of the third day. Hung Shing Kung, for example, has to leave in the middle of the parade and hurry to its home temple. Besides, in the ritual of 'sending off the flower boat', instead of burning the paper boat laden with impurities on land, the festival committee let the boat floating on and then sinking in the sea, which is the living world of the boat population.

     It is important to note that small population or poorness is not the reasons for exclusion of the boat people. James Hayes has indicated that as early as the early twentieth century the Tanka boat population has outnumbered the land residents composed of the Huizhou, Chaozhou and Cantonese residents. (Hayes, 1995, p. 91) Many boat people are rich, too, Choi argues. They own houses on shore, and they are major customers at local goldsmiths and restaurants. The reason for discrimination is merely that, in the view of the land residents, boat people do not have settlement right on the land. (Choi, 1995) The view is reflected also in government policy. By rule, only land people qualify as eligible voters for the Cheung Chau Rural Committee, the island's representative body recognized by the Hong Kong government. However, to be a land resident, one has to live on land for ten or more years. The regulation sets obstacles for boat population for putting their hands on the general management of Cheung Chau. (Choi, 1995, 104-5).

     To conclude, the jiao, as a festival to purify the communities in Cheung Chau ritually, is organized with the Huizhou residents as its core. The organization extends also to the Chaozhou and Cantonese residents. With regard to the boat people, sadly, they are excluded from it.