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He paid when he had money, but he always settled his accounts before Chinese New Year so that the shops would give him his New Year supplies.2 Interest was charged for credit; it was nominally 30 percent per annum.25
The rice, salt, oil, and many other articles (school books and stationery, incense and ritual paper, etc.) had to be imported into Sai Kung from outside. Kerosene was introduced towards the 1910's or 1920's and came to be used in kerosene lamps. Villagers from seaside villages and the boat people also depended on the Sai Kung shipyards for boat building, repair, and the annual removal of barnacles from the boats. The wood used in the shipyards was imported from Fat Shan or Wai Chau, and iron nails were supplied by a ship (the Sai Kung) that came regularly to the Market to take orders. Fishermen also needed fishing explosives.20 Neither the land residents nor the boat people were by any means self-sufficient.
The markets, Sai Kung and Hang Hau, provided other important services besides ship-building and repair. Quite a few shops made rice wine, and a shop made beancurd. Sai Kung also provided a Taoist priest, and the most important temple in the area.
Roman Catholic converts from villages nearer Sai Kung (e.g. Nam Shan) as well as other villagers attended Sung Chen, the Church school in the market. There can be no question that from the early 1900's, Sai Kung Market and Hang Hau were growing as local marketing centres.
A substantial portion of the trade in the Sai Kung region must nonetheless have bypassed the two markets. Lime, much of the firewood, and some of the pigs were taken directly to Kowloon without passing through the markets. Where Sai Kung and Hang Hau were crucial, it would seem, was in the provision of local services and retail, and in gathering fish for Kowloon and Hong Kong. Even those fishmongers who collected directly from the fishermen for the city markets sent the fish ashore in Sai Kung to be carried into Kowloon by village women. The fish could not have been very fresh when it arrived, and much of it was probably salted before it was sold.28
On the premise that the primary functions of the markets were largely local services and retail, the marketing regions can