NOTES AND QUERIES
207
16. The fourth generation of Sham Tin Tangs after Chi witness the events of the two brothers Hung-chih (*) and Hung-yi (*). The Hung Yi Kung tale is, of course, highlighted by the marriage between Hung Yi and an adopted daughter of the rich businessman Chan. One of the most interesting finds of the project was the ascendancy of this tale to a position of dominance, at least at the oral level.
16. a. Several "native" reasons are given for this ascendancy. The head nun of the Ling Wan Tsz (†††) maintains that the Wong woman was really Hung-yi's mother, and that it was she who established the temple from which countless blessings have been distributed [this corresponds well with the current "official" Kam Tin history at para 20 below]. All scholastic achievements of the Tangs have been attributed to the virtues of the Wong woman.
16. b. Mr. Tang Ying-kai, one of the prominent younger men, attributes the popularity of this tale to the fact that it establishes an "intimate" relationship between the first and fourth fongs. [For it was the first son of Hung-yi who offered a son to Wong to raise, initiating the fourth fong.]
16. c. The key to the mystery of why this tale is dominant is somehow related to the evermore blurred Hakka/Punti distinction. The surrounding settlements are predominantly Hakka, and all Hakka villages in Stewart Lockhart's original 'census' are in the Un Long (=Yuen Long) Division and in the vicinity of Kam Tin. [The 1966 census for San Tin, Kam Tin and Pat Heung gives the Punti (Cantonese) population as 10,600 and the Hakka population as 13,000. This is a surprisingly large figure.] The oral tradition of these Hakka communities, in particular their “tales of origin” show striking structural similarities to the Hung-yi tale.
17. The Hung-yi tale contains two references to a local marriage custom known as "yap nao" (x), adoption of a male into a family for the purposes of marriage or perpetuation of the line. There are specific Tang prohibitions against this custom mentioned in the genealogy, as it is considered ‘demeaning"—a custom practised by "sai chuk” or “sai man”—so it is all the more surprising to find arrangements of this nature in the tale. The Ngs and Wongs of Sha Po Tsuen claim a similar relationship to each other.
* Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong in Eastern No. 66, Colonial Office, London, 1900.