The Hong Kong Region
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overlooked in 1898 when only the inshore islands were included in the territory that Britain requested be leased to her at that time.
What were the islands like? I have spoken with several old men who now live on Lantau but were born on two of the eight or more islands in the Lo Man Shan group in 1891 and 1893, and with several younger men. Their accounts show that there were long-settled villages there, with padi and sweet potato fields. There were also flourishing inshore fisheries using the largest types of stake net.1 These were owned by village families, and the catches were salted and taken to Macau by a public ferry operated by local people. Salt, which was needed in large quantities for the stake net fisheries, was bought mostly in Cheung Chau, where it was said to be cheaper than in Macau. This was the position in my informants' youth, early in this century. Some of the islands belonged to Hsin-an Hsien, others to Hsiang-shan, but this allocation for administrative purposes was less important than the economic and other ties which dictated the connections favoured by its inhabitants. Wind and sea also affected links in the different seasons of the year.
Hsin-an and the outlying islands were thus part of the historical, strategical, social and economic life of the Canton Delta in the late Ch'ing period. The safety of their seaways was likely always to have been an important consideration with the provincial government. This contrasts with the relative unimportance of Hsin-an's history and record of scholarship when compared with the older hsien of the Kuang-chou prefecture.
2. The principal events in the local history of the Hong Kong region since the establishment of Hsin-an hsien in 1573
As already mentioned in the Introduction, the Hsin-an district, to which the Hong Kong region belongs, was established as a separate administrative division of the Kuang-chou prefecture in 1573. The area was then separated from the old Tung-kuan district in response to problems of defence. It followed upon a petition from local persons which complained that because it was 100 li from Tung-kuan City, ‘barbarians and dwarves’2, had been able
1 The village representative of Shek Pik on Lantau island (b. 1899) and friends of the same age had found regular work there in their youth.
2 HNHC 14/2. I have followed Peter Y. L. Ng's rendering of the character, pp. 143-144.
THE HONG KONG REGION
·
117
overlooked in 1898 when only the inshore islands were included in the territory that Britain requested be leased to her at that time.
What were the islands like? I have spoken with several old men who now live on Lantau but were born on two of the eight or more islands in the Lo Man Shan group in 1891 and 1893, and with several younger men. Their accounts show that there were long-settled villages there, with padi and sweet potato fields. There were also flourishing inshore fisheries using the largest types of stake net.' These were owned by village families, and the catches were salted and taken to Macau by a public ferry operated by local people. Salt, which was needed in large quantities for the stake net fisheries, was bought mostly in Cheung Chau, where it was said to be cheaper than in Macau. This was the position in my informants' youth, early in this century. Some of the islands be- longed to Hsin-an Asien, others to Hsiang-shan, but this allocation for administrative purposes was less important than the economic and other ties which dictated the connections favoured by its in- habitants. Wind and sea also affected links in the different seasons of the year.
Hsin-an and the outlying islands were thus part of the historical, strategical, social and economic life of the Canton Delta in the late Ch'ing period. The safety of their seaways was likely always to have been an important consideration with the provincial govern- ment. This contrasts with the relative unimportance of Hsin-an's history and record of scholarship when compared with the older hsien of the Kuang-chou prefecture.
2. The principal events in the local history of the Hong Kong
region since the establishment of Hsin-an hsien in 1573
As already mentioned in the Introduction, the Hsin-an district, to which the Hong Kong region belongs, was established as a separate administrative division of the Kuang-chou prefecture in 1573. The area was then separated from the old Tung-kuan dis- trict in response to problems of defence. It followed upon a peti- tion from local persons which complained that because it was 100 li from Tung-kuan City, ‘barbarians and dwarves',2 had been able
1 The village representative of Shek Pik on Lantau island (b 1899) and friends of the same age had found regular work there in their youth.
2 HNHC 14/2. I have followed Peter Y. L. Ng's rendering of the character i, pp. 143-144.
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