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**Small Papers**", Measuring only three inches square, they were issued at or near the time of the survey, to the persons who claimed each plot of land and would later have to substantiate their claims before the land court by producing acceptable proof of their ownership under Chinese rule.
A group of miscellaneous land papers was given to me thirty years ago by the elder of the Chi(i) clan of Shek Pik, a multi-clan village on Lantau Island, then in the course of removal to make way for the construction of a large reservoir intended to improve the Hong Kong water supply. This unexpected presentation followed the settlement of compensation for all land in the valley.
Whilst I made use of most of these papers to write about the village,2 I had forgotten about the chi tsai which came with them until the other day. Looking again at the Shek Pik papers, I realised that they had something more to tell us about the village at that time than I had squeezed out of the rest.
In the first place, there were two different kinds of chi tsai. One sort was printed on one side only (See Plate 14). The other, though identical with the other in that respect, was also printed on the reverse (See Plate 15). They were otherwise the same. The most likely reason for their similarity is that the second type represents a second printing, when the opportunity was taken to add headings of information that were being written by hand on the earlier version. Presumably, there were stocks of both kinds available to the government staff working at Shek Pik, as the information being recorded on them relates to the same man and his property in the several demarcation districts allocated to the several parts of the area, and gives every indication of having been collected at the same time.
All the chi tsai relate to one man, named Chi Yau-kei(!). In all there are 23 of the first kind, and 16 of the second. A list of the information contained on them is given in the Table. It is not known whether the chi tsai are the total number issued to Chi Yau-kei, though a search of the ownership schedules would confirm or reject this possibility. Quite possibly they do not. A note on one of the chi tsai states "B.18. p.7 & 8. 21 Chi Tsai lost?" (See Plate 14)