POPULATION
45
every thousand of the boat population, 930 speak this dialect, 50 speak Hoklo and the rest are splinter groups.
The Hoklo resemble the Tanka in many respects and like the latter have been in the area since time unknown. They too are boat-dwellers but are less numerous than the Tanka and are mostly found in the eastern waters of the Colony. However, in some places they have been settled ashore for several generations and there are influential Hoklo land communities on Cheung Chau and Peng Chau, and at Silver Mine Bay.
Since the Chinese revolution, the influx of people into the New Territories from China has been so great that only in the Sai Kung district is the truly indigenous population still in the majority. The newcomers are mostly from the Kwangtung Province and where they are not from Kwangtung, they usually become assimi- lated to the Cantonese. The process of assimilation has been much slower for immigrants from Shanghai, the East River area and the Swatow district. Almost the only group which has successfully resisted assimilation is the well-organized community of miners from northern China at the foot of Ma On Shan.
There are also in the New Territories an increasing number of families of all nationalities from the urban areas who prefer the country life, commuting to Hong Kong or Kowloon by ferry, train, bus or motor car. The rapid spread of industry, commerce and public services in the New Territories has contributed in no small measure to this shift of population.
Some of the principal towns of the New Territories are expand- ing so rapidly that it is not useful to continue to quote 1961 census figures. At the end of 1963 the estimated population, excluding boat-people, was Tsuen Wan (150,000), Yuen Long (39,000), Tai Po (36,700), Cheung Chau (17,500), Shek Wu Hui (35,000), Castle Peak (13,860 including Old Town, New Town and Sam Shing Hui), Luen Wo Hui (13,300) and Sha Tin (25,300 including Tai Wai). These figures, being calculated from records of new buildings and estimated densities of occupancy, are far from precise but serve to indicate the speed with which some of the country towns have expanded.