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which contained tsuen and wai, was an important administrative unit; yeuk were alliances formed by weak lineages as a means to oppose the stronger lineages.
Tai Long Wan belongs to the Sai Kung Nam Yeuk (meaning Sai Kung South Alliance) which is originally formed by more than thirty Hakka settlements spreading all over the south-eastern part Sai Kung peninsula. Likewise, such groupings of Hakka communities were commonly found in the eastern part of the New Territories (about a similar traditional Hakka village settlement in Sha Lo Tung in Tai Po, also see Gee 1995). Divided by the mountain range on the eastern side of Pat Heung that is almost in the middle of the whole area, we find the north-western side of the New Territories is fertile flat land consisting of a few early settled clans such as Tangs, Mans, Haus, Lius, and Pangs. As distinct from the lineage-oriented village settlements of the north-western part of the New Territories however, we find the eastern and south-eastern parts of the New Territories are characterized by settlements that were regionally grouped in multiple lineages/villages together.
As informed by Mr. Cham, one of the indigenous inhabitants of Tai Wai (sometimes called Tai Long by non-residents), one of the five villages in Tai Long Wan, there are altogether 700 to 800 villagers currently belonging to Tai Long Wan, even though most of them did not live inside the village. He estimated that about 500 villagers are now living in the UK and about 300 villagers are now living in the urban areas of Hong Kong. So many residents had moved out of Tai Long Wan because of the inconvenient transportation between the villages and the residents' working places and their children's schools. Mr. Cham told me that villagers from Tai Long Wan were mostly poor, and this explained why the last one-storey small-house built in Tai Long Wan was in the mid-1970s. Therefore, even though the villagers were asking for house land available for 370 units, he mentioned that the actual number would be much smaller and the potential applicants might be more in the next ten years. Regarding the indigenous rights in small-house policy, he emphasized that although 70 per cent of the potential applicants were living in UK, their rights to build houses on the homeland should be respected. Furthermore, he added that some retired villagers even came back to Hong Kong 2 to 3 times a year and some villagers had work that there might come back every year as well.