HUGH D. R. BAKER
Pat Heung in this. The Pangs ran a bitter feud with the Lius over many years, there being a story that a mud rampart was raised between the areas of influence of the two lineages, serving the purposes both of defence and delineation. The Mans of San Tin had battles with the Hau Clan and also with many smaller lineages in their area of the New Territories. The Haus fought the Mans, the Lius and the Pangs at various times.
As an example of a quarrel deliberately picked and a battle sought in order to change the status quo, we can cite the case of the Mans fighting the Haus in the last century. The Mans of San Tin were numerous but poor, and for many years (up until the Japanese occupation in fact) they resorted to terrorism in the neighbourhood, running a 'protection racket', whereby in return for payment of an annual fee from the weaker villages they guaranteed that the villages would be patrolled and guarded against attack from bandits and thieves. The Hau village of Ping Kong had been paying this fee, but at one stage felt strong enough to dispense with the 'protection'. They sent the Man fee-collectors away empty-handed, knowing that there would be a battle. The Mans raised a large army from their village and descended on Ping Kong under their leader, a notorious fighter with an unsavoury nickname. The Haus of Ping Kong's sister village, Kam Tsin, had sent reinforcements for the defence of the walled village. On arrival outside the walls, the Mans had the misfortune to see their leader shot dead, and immediately lost heart for the battle. They contented themselves with destroying Ping Kong's ancestral hall, which was several hundred yards from the village. There were two results from this episode. Firstly, the Haus have not paid protection money to the Mans since that day; and secondly, the ancestral hall was rebuilt inside the walls of the village, a unique instance in the New Territories as far as I know.116
As an example of escalation and the lengths to which an inter-clan dispute could go, there is the case of the Haus versus the Lius in the late nineteenth century. A Liu and a Hau farmer quarrelled over an irrigation matter (a very common cause of trouble), came to blows, and within a short time were backed up by the entire Liu lineage on one side and the entire Hau Clan on the other. No armies were sent out, but the Lius locked themselves
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HUGH D. R. BAKER
Pat Heung in this. The Pangs ran a bitter feud with the Lius over many years, there being a story that a mud rampart was raised between the areas of influence of the two lineages, serving the purposes both of defence and delineation. The Mans of San Tin had battles with the Hau Clan and also with many smaller lineages in their area of the New Territories. The Haus fought the Mans, the Lius and the Pangs at various times.
As an example of a quarrel deliberately picked and a battle sought in order to change the status quo, we can cite the case of the Mans fighting the Haus in the last century. The Mans of San Tin were numerous but poor, and for many years (up until the Japanese occupation in fact) they resorted to terrorism in the neighbourhood, running a 'protection racket', whereby in return for payment of an annual fee from the weaker villages they guaranteed that the villages would be patrolled and guarded against attack from bandits and thieves. The Hau village of Ping Kong had been paying this fee, but at one stage felt strong enough to dispense with the 'protection'. They sent the Man fee-collectors away empty-handed, knowing that there would be a battle. The Mans raised a large army from their village and descended on Ping Kong under their leader, a notorious fighter with an unsavoury nickname. The Haus of Ping Kong's sister village, Kam Tsin, had sent reinforcements for the defence of the walled village. On arrival outside the walls, the Mans had the misfortune to see their leader shot dead, and immediately lost heart for the battle. They contented themselves with destroy- ing Ping Kong's ancestral hall, which was several hundred yards from the village. There were two results from this episode. First- ly, the Haus have not paid protection money to the Mans since that day; and secondly, the ancestral hall was rebuilt inside the walls of the village, a unique instance in the New Territories as far as I know.116
As an example of escalation and the lengths to which an inter-clan dispute could go, there is the case of the Haus versus the Lius in the late nineteenth century. A Liu and a Hau farmer quarrelled over an irrigation matter (a very common cause of trouble), came to blows, and within a short time were backed up by the entire Liu lineage on one side and the entire Hau Clan on the other. No armies were sent out, but the Lius locked themselves
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