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L. G. AIJMER
Fukien, has found that there was no regular framework for the expansion of a segmentary system beyond the limits of a local group'22. We have seen that the Lau people of Grass Field Village in traditional times maintained only ceremonial connections with their villages of origin in Mei Hsien and Sai Kung. Their own ramified branches at Clear Water Bay, Three Fathoms Cove and Yuen Long also maintained similar connections with Grass Field Village. We could say that ramified groups did not continue to be part of the system at home, but together with their village of origin they remained within the ceremonial system provided by the clan. A new major lineage was not subordinated by the major lineage of origin. A permanently resettled fraction marked off their identity as a new lineage by the establishment of a new ancestral hall, providing a fixed focus on the continuum of generations pertaining to the clan. A vague principle of seniority might have been expressed in the return of the resettlers for common ancestor worship, but this was not reflected in a system of control.23
We have seen that the hill-dwelling Hakka in the New Territories display only a small amount of segmentation within the local framework, but a rather widespread expansion beyond the limits of established settlement. Accepting that segmentation and expansion form part of the domination processes, we may argue that fractions building up an increasing prestige mostly operated within a given fixed structure. Although small, the accumulation of wealth that was implied in this course of action was directly dependent on the given localization, the amount of external income through non-local resources probably being rather small in traditional times. At that time local status could be described in terms of local economy. People coming into a favourable social position were not those who were apt to move out. Rather, it will have been the sections who, within a fixed non-developing economic framework, had to pay for the rise of other groups in the community who broke away. Sole owners of small amounts of property were prepared to give this up, and resettle under uncertain conditions in other areas.
In situations characterized by shortage of resources in relation to the population, ramification appears to have been quite frequent. Droughts, typhoons and heavy rains are factors that played a part in this process. Segmentation of lower order in