71. Rural welfare in Hong Kong covers a wide and complex field, and it is not possible to summarize all the activities in one departmental report. In part, especially with regard to the mining industry, the Labour Department was concerned. A great deal in the way of educational, economic, and general welfare was initiated and developed by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The Marketing organiza- tion carried out large-scale experiments for the benefit of farmers, and the District Commissioner and his District Officers were intimately concerned with the general problems of the inhabitants of the New Territories and the islands surrounding Hong Kong. Detailed accounts of all these activities can be found in the Annual Reports of the respective departments.
CHAPTER XVI
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE KAIFONG
72. Kaifong is a Cantonese expression meaning the resi- dents of a particular street or locality. Under one name or another Kaifong have been known in South China for a very long time, and have existed in parts of Hong Kong throughout the Colony's history. At its best, a Kaifong was always some- thing more than a chance collection of neighbours. It had its own spontaneous leaders who for all practical purposes were the Kaifong. Those unofficial Kaifong of old had very practical social responsibilities which included repairing bridges, mending roads, promoting educational facilities, providing free medical aid for the poor, and providing free coffins for the indigent dead. Another undertaking which fell to the Kaifong was the organization of holiday festivals on the birthday of a popular local god, and of processions to avert or diminish the effects of a disaster attributable to a god's negligence or anger. During the years before the Pacific War the old Kaifong in Hong Kong were gradually withering away, and the Japanese occupation finally killed all but the remnants of one of them.
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