85. It is obvious that the Administration has given much thought to the technical problems of land tenure, and there is probably little that I could contribute to the discussion of them. On the other hand, there are certain kinds of facts that the Administration would presumably like to know and some sociological analysis that would be of service to it which the field worker would be in a position to supply. Let me take an example from land in relation to clan structure. There was a time when wealth was regularly invested in the establishment of estates attached to ancestral halls in such a way that new branches (fong) of the clan came into being; and these estates were added to on occasion. The system of founding new estates-cum-ancestral halls is now generally (perhaps completely) dead, for segmentation (see paras. 31-3 above) is no longer an important feature of the clan; but the existing estates have waxed and waned in modern times and accordingly affected the areas of land to which members of the relevant clan units have had access for cultivation. These estates have grown by bequests and purchase, and they have diminished by being divided up among constituent members, but in this latter regard the powers given to the District Officer* may well have slowed down in the New Territories a process of disintegration which was much commented on elsewhere in southeastern China in the present century. That is to say, the District Officer, by taking general opinion into account instead of giving a free hand to managers, has made the system more democratic and the estates more difficult to break up; in China itself the managers wielded greater independent authority. (Although the estates continue to exist the halls associated with them are often no longer kept in repair. I stood in the ruins of one of them one day to hear a villager comment: 'In the old days when there was no emigration our ancestors could manage to put up a fine hall. Now, when the men go overseas and to town and make money, they can't repair what was built long ago.' But there are some interesting exceptions. An ancestral hall was recently rebuilt in San Tin in a modern style; most of the money for the work seems to have come from emigrants in the United Kingdom). The estates associated with ancestral halls are one kind of tso; other kinds of tso have been created and dissolved, as when small groups of kinsmen have for a time held property in common. In many settlements there appears to be a constantly shifting patchwork of
* Under Section 27 of the New Territories Regulation Ordinance, No. 34 of 1910—Ed.
SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 247
85. It is obvious that the Administration has given much thought to the technical problems of land tenure, and there is probably little that I could contribute to the discussion of them. On the other hand, there are certain kinds of facts that the Administration would presumably like to know and some sociological analysis that would be of service to it which the field worker would be in a position to supply. Let me take an example from land in relation to clan structure. There was a time when wealth was regularly invested in the establishment of estates attached to ancestral halls in such a way that new branches (fong) of the clan came into being; and these estates were added to on occasion. The system of found- ing new estates-cum-ancestral halls is now generally (perhaps com- pletely) dead, for segmentation (see paras. 31-3 above) is no longer an important feature of the clan; but the existing estates have waxed and waned in modern times and accordingly affected the areas of land to which members of the relevant clan units have had access for cultivation. These estates have grown by bequests and purchase. and they have diminished by being divided up among constituent members, but in this latter regard the powers given to the District Officer* may well have slowed down in the New Territories a pro- cess of disintegration which was much commented on elsewhere in southeastern China in the present century. That is to say, the District Officer, by taking general opinion into account instead of giving a free hand to managers, has made the system more demo- cratic and the estates more difficult to break up; în China itself the managers wielded greater independent authority. (Although the estates continue to exist the halls associated with them are often no longer kept in repair. I stood in the ruins of one of them one day to hear a villager comment: 'In the old days when there was no emigration our ancestors could manage to put up a fine hall. Now, when the men go overseas and to town and make money, they can't repair what was built long ago.' But there are some interesting exceptions. An ancestral hall was recently rebuilt in San Tin in a modern style; most of the money for the work seems to have come from emigrants in the United Kingdom). The estates associated with ancestral halls are one kind of tso; other kinds of tso have been created and dissolved, as when small groups of kins- men have for a time held property in common. In many settle- ments there appears to be a constantly shifting patchwork of
* Under Section 27 of the New Territories Regulation Ordinance, No. 34 of 1910-Ed.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.