PLOVER COVE VILLAGE TO TAIPO MARKET
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although all were compensated as if they would. In addition, due to the method of figuring compensation, some families which had moved from the villages earlier but were still entitled to compensation chose to move into the new blocks and be reunited with their families.
The population is Hakka speaking, and the villages had been continuously occupied for between 100 to 300 years. There are genealogies available for each of the villages, boasting a minimum of eight generations and a maximum of ten. Although the analysis has still to be done, we shall eventually try to tie the genealogies to one another (there was much inter-marriage) and to other kinship groups in nearby villages in an attempt to understand the historical development of the villages. The genealogies, for the most part, are simple listings of male ancestors but the growth and decline of the population at various times may possibly be linked to external events.
Methodology
The research thus far has been using a mixed strategy of data gathering, ranging from the use of historical data, cartographic analysis of lands held and farmed, the use of informants from the villages in long and detailed interviews which try to reconstruct the traditional life patterns and circumstances of the villagers, systematic observation in various situations, and detailed interviews of a randomly drawn sample of the villagers seeking information about their perceptions of their new and old life and changes in it.
The first methodological problem we encountered was the simple one of drawing a sample for the detailed interviews with household heads. The alternatives were to do a census of the entire resettlement area (a costly affair and one which would have created awareness among the villagers of our intentions and may have solidified resistance to being interviewed), or to find a list of villagers from some other source and sample on the basis of that list. We explored the possibilities of finding a complete list of flats and owner-occupants, but no office of government nor other agency had one that we could locate. We then turned to the new government school and got the list of all of its students and their parents. Since the school was established to provide primary education specifically for former village children we felt that the listing so