HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH
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migrations, keeping only a semi-Chinese culture in the walled cities such as Pun Yü.
Even in the Tang dynasty from the seventh to the tenth centuries it is not possible to trace any record of migration of peasants from the North. The earliest families must have died out or have been cut off so completely that they forgot their kinsmen. The settlement of peasants was accompanied by much fighting with the aborigines. At that time elephants and crocodiles existed in South China. The vegetation was tropical and the work of deforestation for agriculture was tremendous.
However, the task was begun by soldiers. At various points garrisons were established by the T'ang emperors to protect the coastal trade and to keep the natives in order. These garrisons were known as T'un (屯) or soldiers who were settled on the land. We shall be able to give an example of the importance of these garrisons in attracting the settlement of peasants when we describe the history of Tun Mun or Castle Peak.
The colonisation of Fukien by Chinese peasants occurred much more rapidly than that of Kwangtung. There is in fact no record of any conflict between the aborigines and there is reason to believe that the Chinese were even welcomed by the inhabitants, In fact Min Yüeh became during the T'ang dynasty a Chinese colony. The Chinese settlers must have intermarried with the inhabitants. The cause of this may well have been the migration south west into Kwangtung of the early fiercer tattooing and water-fighting aborigines due to the pressure of more civilised peoples. In any case the blending of the Northern Chinese and Min Yüeh cultures had the effect of making the Chinese for the first time a maritime nation. During the Tang dynasty the Chinese began to build boats and to open a new centre of trade, Ch'üan Chow, which began to compete with the older centres of Canton and Chiao Chih.
But to return to Nan Yüeh. During the T'ang dynasty until almost the 10th century the pure Chinese population of this region must have been comparatively small. It consisted of garrisons, officials appointed to collect dues from the foreign traders, traders and exiles. In addition, there must have been a large semi-Chinese
10 Li Chi-Formation of the Chinese People.