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BANDITS IN THE SIU LEK YUEN YEUK
P. H. HASE
The operation and functioning of the New Territories Yeuk (Village Mutual Defence Alliance) is a particularly fascinating subject, since the Yeuk seem to have been the dominant political feature of the eastern New Territories area in the nineteenth century. For this reason, I felt it might be of interest to provide a translation here of a note received from the village headman of Tsap Wai Kon village, Mr Tsim Fo-sang (?) on an incident in the Siu Lek Yuen area, probably from the mid or late nineteenth century, as he remembers being told it by the elders of his village in his youth. The note illustrates a number of interesting points about the Yeuk. The incident is likely to be factual, since the heroes of the incident were Tsap Wai Kon men, and so the incident is likely to have been frequently spoken about there.
At that time there were bandits in the area. Most of these bandits came from Kiangsi. They came in bands of ten or twenty or more. Some were extremely skilled in martial arts, but, in addition to their strength, they had weapons and weighted chains (?). Wherever they went they caused great sorrow to the residents. They forced the residents to give them food or money, and so forth. Of these bandit incursions, the worst was at Siu Lek Yuen.
The Siu Lek Yuen Yeuk was formed by uniting together many villages, such as Tsap Wai Kon, Kin Tsui, Ngau Pei Sha, Siu Lek Yuen, Nam Shan, Shek Kwu Lung, Tai Lam Liu, Wong Nai Tau, Fa Sam Hang, Tai Che, Kwun Yam Shan, Mau Tso Ngam, Fu Yung Pit, Lo Shue Tin, and other villages.
Since they had to oppose the vexations and attacks of the bandits, the villagers of the Yeuk agreed to meet once a year in a meeting called the 'Everyone Together' meeting (?). This arrangement was instituted solely because of the bandits. At the meeting everyone brought food piled up on wooden dishes. The dishes from every village were taken to a matshed, where everyone sat