2.
3
178
letter
project
affording
details of the
in question
was
sufficient to convince this officer that the
authenticity of the seals and
signatures
was
open
to doubt,
and immediately
on
his arrival
were set on
foot
here inquiries which elicited the following information. A blood feud has prevailed for many years past between the Ch'ên clan
inhabiting the villages around
the market town of Sha Tsing 沙井
and the Wong clan,
which forms the population of
adjacent village. The Ch'ên clan,
being numerically stronger, and
also richer and more
influential
owing to the high literary rank
of their present head, Ch'ên Kwei-
have been able to
maintain
an ascendency over their
hostile neighbours, who have latterly been reduced to serious straits. The disorganized condition in which the Imperial authority has continued in this Province,
and particularly near the coast,
since the war of 1856-57 has allowed the system of "clan fights"
to prevail almost uncontrolled, and in the district of Sun-On
especially this is the case. the prosecution of their warfare
In
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