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was the effect of this development on the relationships within the old marketing area? It might be noted here that the modern system of communications in the New Territories has, necessarily, been laid down with little reference to the pre-existing marketing structure of the southern part of San On county. To what extent have these and other modern developments—such as the formation of the Heung Yee Kuk* - contributed to the overall integration of marketing areas which previously had little or no contact with each other? Has Kowloon replaced Yuen Long and Taipo as the stage on which local leaders perform to their audience?
No less striking than the change in the standard of living and the range of activities of the local "Big Men", is the rise in the income of farmers in Ping Shan. But although the improvement in their returns from agriculture is clearly demonstrated, one is again tempted to ask if this is not a case of plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Those who maintain that the lineage was a vehicle for class exploitation have a strong case, and it is possible to take Potter's data as evidence that this still is so. Traditional Chinese society was relatively highly differentiated, but the range of differentiation possible in a semi-subsistence economy is limited: although the farmers' income has risen so dramatically, one can still ask whether their position has improved or worsened in relation to that of other sections of the rural population. Are the rich Tangs growing richer, while their poorer kinsmen - in fact, or in their own estimation, become relatively poorer?
In Ping Shan, now as in the past, the farmers come from the poorer branches of the lineage†; the members of the richer branches can afford not to be farmers. For the most part, then, farmers have to rent their land from corporations to which they do not belong, and they therefore get no dividend on the rents they pay. Since there is no reason to suppose that the distribution of ancestral land in Ping Shan was untypical, so far as the rich and long-established lineage is concerned, the material presented by Potter in his chapter IV "The Ownership and Management of Property"
* See the Laws of Hong Kong, revised edition 1964, Cap. 1097 for the Ordinance establishing the Heung Yee Kuk (#) as a statutory body "to provide for the establishment and functions of an advisory and consultative body for the New Territories and for purposes connected therewith". Ed.
† The sample used for the Farm Survey consisted of 42 farms operated by punti men, and 3 by refugee vegetable growers, (v. p. 62)