12-29-2006 update: my classmate found this news article that covered this event (the one with all the dead pigs and pole dancers).

so anyway apparently the Jiang Jyun Harbor was completed in 2002, but the people in that place hadn't held a "thanking the gods" ceremony yet. (it's customary to thank the "gods" after some major infrastructure has been built.)

so they were thinking what if the gods get mad that they (the people) haven't thanked them yet for allowing the harbor to be successfully completed.

so they asked the gods when they wanted the ceremony to be held, and the gods replied, oh sometime between Dec. 26 to 28 will do.

And that day (28th) two of my classmates and I happened to go there in search of good seafood and came upon the event -- complete with long tables laid out with dead pigs and dead deer, tents with people praying, a local stage play that nobody watched (but technically the target audience was the gods, and not humans) because they were all off watching pole dancers and exotic performers onstage (the gods sure love a fun time).

don't ask me how the people asked the gods for the date and how the gods gave them the answer (telegram, email, who knows..)

by the way i didn't make any of this up. here's the news article. it's in chinese.

click here to see all the photos I took of the event.