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authority of his father while the latter is still alive. In the second type a younger son, or other junior male, apparently usurps the position of an elder brother or other senior. (A third type, in which a woman takes the mastership did not occur in Kau Sai).
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The story of one retirement, an unusually early one, on a small liner has just been told. As a purse-seiner example I will take the history of the Shek family already discussed from another point of view in the preceding section of this chapter. Both Shek Kwai Hoi and after him his son Shek Cheung Hei supplanted their fathers many years before the latters' deaths. In each case the fathers grew old, and fairly gradually at first but without rancour handed over their roles as managers to their vigorous eldest sons. When I arrived in Kau Sai in 1950 the process of handing over from Kwai Hoi to Cheung Hei was still going on. Grandfather Ch'uen Foon, still living with his wife on the boat on which his grandson Cheung Hei was master, took no part in management, or, though he was of course not left out of the general discussions, in practical decision making. Kwai Hoi, master of the second junk of the pair, still played an important part in directing fishing operations, but all matters connected with marketing and finance were dealt with by Cheung Hei. In 1952 after much discussion it was decided that a new, mechanised boat should be commissioned. This was to be the family's first venture into mechanisation, the second in Kau Sai and only the third or fourth among the several thousand purse-seiners of the whole of Hong Kong. Cheung Hei's adopted son, Shan Loi, the only one yet old enough and sufficiently educated, was sent off to study for the new coxswains' and engineers' certificates. During the protracted arguments and negotiations about these matters, Kwai Hoi, not in any case a forceful personality, began to take more and more of a back seat, while Cheung Hei, already in charge of the financial side of the business came increasingly to the fore. The new boat, its building supervised by him, its engine bargained for by him and installed with him in constant and fascinated attendance, was licensed in his name. When, to the accompaniment of volley after volley of firecrackers, he steered it triumphantly back to Kau Sai, dressed overall, there was no possibility of doubting who was in command of his Shek family's fortunes. At 61 Kwai Hoi slipped apparently ungrudgingly...