EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY
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tion called for new solutions, implying a widening of the economic horizon.
There were, however, then and now, some local people operating partly outside the framework of village production. Before the establishment in 1952 of the Sha Tin Market, Tai Po was the natural choice of market town for Big Stream people. Communication was by boat, and the ferry traffic was operated by a few families. One old type of rowing sampan is still in use, but only intermittently. Now people usually go to the Sha Tin Market by two ferry-boats equipped with engines. They leave Big Stream Village around 10 a.m. for Ho Tung Lau across Tide Cove, or at high tide for Sha Tin directly, and return in the early afternoon. These two boats are owned by a family who make their living entirely from this traffic. They not only serve people from this village, but take passengers from Plum Grove Village as well.
One elderly woman in Big Stream Village has got a small store of sweets, which she sells to village children. This tiny 'shop' has a stable market, and gives the old lady a small profit. However, this is the only instance of anything like shop-keeping or retailing within the valley. None of the three villages seems to have had any permanent stalls or shops in any of the market towns of the New Territories or in Kowloon. However, for a time, one man from Plum Grove Village ran a grocery shop in the Sai Kung Market. It was closed during the Japanese Occupation and never reopened. This shop was not for retailing of local products from his home village.
II
I have so far tried to describe traditional means of livelihood, and their disappearance or persistence up to today. It is now convenient to outline essential changes, relevant to our theme, in the general economic milieu.
By the year 1876, great plans were entertained for creating a new town at the southern end of the Kowloon Peninsula. Once launched, this project led to rapid urbanization, so that at the end of the first decade of this century, the Kowloon population was estimated to be 27,000. Industrial plants were set up, e.g.