36
In 1921, 1,528 (36%) of the male boat-people in the islands were recorded as born outside the New Territories, and 893 (26%) of the females.7 Of the 1,528 males and 893 females born outside the New Territories, 444 males and 279 females were born in Hong Kong or Macao, 956 and 578 respectively in the Delta, and 101 and 10 in the Hoi Fung/Chiu Chau area. From every area from where people born outside the New Territories came, the number of recorded males was far higher than the number of females: there were 95 New Territories-born floating population females recorded for every 100 males, but only 50 Macao born females for every 100 males, 41 for every 100 San On-born males, 31 for every 100 Tung Kun males, and so on. In the recorded populations from some areas unmarried people greatly outnumber the married (i.e., 72% of the 316 males, and 54% of the 199 females from San Ning District were unmarried, and 74% of the 195 males and 62% of the 175 females from Heung Shan District), again making it clear that we are dealing with temporarily resident populations. The extreme disparity of the male female figures from the Hoi Fung / Chiu Chau area also suggests this; in this case, however, the number of married persons (51% of males, and 50% of females) suggests that many of those recorded had families in their home districts. Many of the people from this area were in the Southern District as seamen on board coastal cargo and large fishing junks.
Thus the 1921 Southern District floating population records support the 1911 Southern District land population statistics to confirm that the Islands had an essentially urban population structure, dominated by significant numbers of temporarily resident immigrant groups, mostly young adult males, and that therefore the Islands population had much in common with the City, and was sharply distinct from the settled, agricultural, population of the Northern District. This is a finding which is confirmed by analysis of many other parts of the records of the censuses.
The Villager's World
Since most trade in traditional South China was by family owned and operated sampans and junks, the places where people found resident in the New Territories were born gives an indication of the area the traditional New Territories villager was in contact with. Table 13 shows this area. It shows the places (other than the New Territories themselves,