CEREMONIAL LIFE OF 2 MULTI-SURNAME VILLAGES
107
P'ing village of Lung-tsai She and Pasternak's Taiwan village of Tatich was no less striking. Firstly, Lung-tsai She practised residential segregation whereas Tatich was a mixed community. Secondly, there were no marriage ties among the lineages in Lung-tsai She whereas there were considerable intra-village marriages in Tatieh. Lastly, Lung-tsai She members participated in the rituals of ancestral halls outside their village. The same was not true of Tatieh. From these differences, it is possible to conclude that despite their similarities, the Hoi-p'ing village of Lung-tsai She was never as integrated as the Taiwan village of Tatieh studied by Pasternak.
This study, as well as C. K. Yang's A Chinese Village in Early Communist Transition (Cambridge, 1959 pp. 26, 42-3, 81, 93-109), confirms the hypothesis that multi-surname villages in South China could not achieve the same degree of social cohesion as villages in Taiwan. The reason is that there were outside forces drawing members of each lineage away from their fellow villagers. This can be readily seen in the Hoi-p'ing case if we examine the relationship between the Kwaan of Na-loh, the Kwaan of Lung-tsai She and the Kwaan of T’oh-fuk.
The Kwaan of Na-loh Ts'uen was a segment of the localized lineage of the T'oh-fuk Kwaan, one of the most prominent in Hoi-p'ing in terms of numerical power, corporate property and the number of traditional and modern scholars. It controlled Che-hom which was one of the most important market-towns and ferry centres along the T'aam River. Its gentry members often acted as spokesmen and defence leaders of Hoi-p'ing as a whole. Thus, it was not surprising that the Kwaan of Na-loh could afford to ignore the Oo of the same village.
The Kwaan of Lung-tsai She was geographically separated from the Kwaan lineage at T'oh-fuk. They attended the T'in-sam Market (...) as their standard market town. However, in the late 1920's when public roads were built, they preferred to do business in Che-hom which they could reach by bus in half an hour. The latter market town was developing into a wholesale centre. This induced the peasants and shopowners from Lung-tsai She to go there since they could usually buy a greater variety of consumer's goods at a lower price and sell their farm produce at a higher price. Moreover, after 1930, when a Heung office (...) was established in Che-hom as the administrative headquarters of the Kwaan