507
Enclosure 2.
Report
on the educational conditions
of the Boat population of Hong Kong.
82
4. The so-called boat people (Tanka) of South China are the scattered remnants of aboriginal tribes, driven to take refuge on the water as the pariahs of Chinese society for many centuries. The ancient enactments which prohibit these peoples from settling among, or competing with, the rest of the people, or competing in the public examination, are still on the statute book but largely disregarded. For several centuries past, a steady process has been going on whereby boat people are taking to living on shore and thus gradually being absorbed in the general population.
Intermarriage: