12
refers to, is probably to be considered the date when the settlement of the Ngs was complete.
The Ng clan Tsuk Po must have been brought up to date in the early fifteenth century, when Ng Shing-tak's six grandsons were the heads of the clan. No further ancestors are recorded however, until the ancestor alive at the end of the Coastal Evacuation, in 1668. The Tsuk Po states that details of "four generations" were lost "because of political troubles". This clearly refers to the Coastal Evacuation: as with the Chans, the Ngs were able to take their Tsuk Po with them, but nothing else, and so lost details of the ancestors after Ng Shing-Tak's grandsons. From the late fourteenth century, when these grandsons were born, to about 1625 when the ancestor still alive at the end of the Coastal Evacuation must have been born, is a period of some 250 years. Clearly, more than four generations have been forgotten. Ten generations at a 25-year generation gap, or eight at a 30-year generation gap would be more likely. Effectively, the whole of the Ming history of the clan has disappeared. Unfortunately, this gap includes the crucial period around 1570 when the walls of the village were built.
The Ng clan Tsuk Po gives dates for the generations born after the Coastal Evacuation - the ancestors recorded were born in 1674, 1719, 1751, 1775, 1807-1819, 1821-1860 (mostly 1839-1847). This represents a rather late average age of marriage - the generation gap is very large in the early years (45 years followed by 32 years), doubtless reflecting the traumas of the post Coastal Evacuation period, but averages out at about 30 years thereafter.
It is interesting to note that both the Chans and the Ngs claim descent from scholars active at the time of the establishment of the Southern Sung (i.e., 1126 and the following years). This was a time of great difficulty, with barbarian invaders capturing the north of China, and establishing there a non-Chinese dynasty, the Chin, and the native Sung only just managing to hold onto the south, from their "temporary capital" at Hangchow. Throughout the wider Hong Kong area, many of the major clans resident today claim as their Founding Ancestors men active during this period. Many were refugees from the Chin invaders, settling where they could in the still Chinese south; others were scholar-officials who rallied to the first Southern Sung Emperor, and in due course received the reward due for their fidelity and support.