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transfer practices of housing property in the 1990s?
The territorial boundaries between zu wu and ding wu were indeed created after the implementation of the 1972 Small House Policy, since all ding wu were built outside the lineage territory. But the location itself is not the factor which explains these different practices. Rather, the Pangs manipulated the spatial difference between these two types of houses to legitimate whether male inheritance practice should be enforced to them. As mentioned, the Pangs' idea of male inheritance of zu wu has never been lax. Being practised from generation to generation, the practice has been recognised or internalised by the Pangs as their custom, which in turn maintains and reinforces the lineage solidarity. Therefore, the value of zu wu at community level apparently overrides the villagers' self-interest, and the male inheritance of it is perpetually enforced by the villagers themselves. As housing value has been increasing since the 1980s, building of village houses becomes the Pangs' short-term profitable investments. Being able to make a huge profit from selling their ding wu, the Pangs have manipulated the geographical location of these houses to justify that their transfer/sale should not abide by the patrilineal descent principle.
In daily conversation the Pangs use the term cun (village) to represent these two settlement units as a whole. But when they want to distinguish between the two, they call the walled settlement wei.28 This distinction corresponds with different transfer practices for the zu wu situated inside and outside the wei. The former are transferred rigidly according to the patrilineal principle whereas the transfer of the latter is subject to the Pangs' negotiation. This strategy defined in terms of geographical difference is constructed or shaped by their conceptual classification of “community” and “settlement”. The Pangs call their walled settlement "wei” or “cun", which is composed of three cun (villages), Pak Bin Tsuen, Wai Noi Tsuen, and Nam Bin Tsuen. The two words, wei and cun, are interchangeable. Cun/Wei is a community in which the Pangs share a common residence and enjoy the settlement rights through the male descent line. In this context, "community” implies two different meanings. On the one hand, community refers to a social milieu in which people engage in intense social interaction and share common interests. On the other hand, as Benedict Anderson suggests, community is an idea of socio-cultural relationship and belongingness in the minds of people." These two meanings do not,