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their arrival with the 1962 illegal emigrant exodus from China. Lin Ma Hang also has possibly as much as 60 acres of ancestral land near Cheung
Meng Village, C.T., which the British Territory villagers have continued
to farm with the permission of the Chinese Authorities.
3.
This ancestral land is situated on the eastern side of Cheung Meng
Village, in sight of the border road. Though a variable figure, dependant upon the season, about 60 women farmers cross the border daily, from Lin Ma
Hang, into Chinese Territory, to tend this land. The fields concerned are
alongside land owned by the Fu Shing Commune. Although the Cheung Meng
farmers work by themselves they are, of course, in close proximity to the
B.T. people and there is some intermingling between the two groups.
The
women farmers however, do not normally go into Cheung Meng Village itself
and take their midday meal in the fields, returning to Lin Ma Hang each
day for the evening meal. They have not, so far, attended Commune meetings
in the village. Neither are they subjected to any general form of
indoctrination, apart from being required by the C.C.A. to chant slogans
when they first cross the border each day. Cheung Meng Village does not
own land in British Territory and therefore none of the C.T. villagers
cross into Lin Ma Hang.
4.
The Lin Ma Hang villagers are required to hand over 10% of their
crops, rice and vegetables to the Fu Shing Commune, as a form of rent,
for this ancestral land. Up to 1967 they paid $18 per Dau Chung (7,200 square feet). The remainder of the crop is brought back to British
Territory and marketed in the normal manner, through the Ta Ku Ling
Vegetable Marketing Organization.
5.
Notwithstanding the overt manifestations on the C.T. side of the
border of events such as the Cultural Revolution, and the 1967 confrontation
with the Hong Kong Government, the inhabitants of Cheung Meng and Lin Ma
Hang have maintained reasonably friendly relations. However the se
relations have gradually deteriorated since early this year. The election
in February of the new Rural Committee for the Sha Tau Kok area, which
includes Lán Ma Hang Village, was probably an occurrence which first caused
a change in the situation. At this time most of the senior members of this
body were "in exile" in China, as they were wanted by Police for offences
relating to their participation in the serious incidents at Sha Tau Kok the
previous summer, which resulted in the death of five Police Officers.
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