SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 257
97. These are general points made with reference to the Chinese family in its traditional form and conditions. What kinds of family units are to be found now in the New Territories? The 1961 census figures for household size (which can be roughly equated with family size) show that the most characteristic size is about 4 to 6 people, that there are many smaller ones, and that units larger than 7 are few. To take an example (which I have conveniently in my notebook): the following figures are for the household sizes in the Tai Po census area (i.e. Tai Po District) in respect of units which occupy whole concrete, brick, or stone houses—that is to say, where housing conditions approximate the most to tradition. (See Census, vol. II, p. 12, Table 020).
Household Size Numbers of Households of Each Size 1 1,299 2 1,441 3 1,655 4 1,839 5 1,773 6 1,550 7 1,174 8 759 9 401 10 and over 612 Total 12,503The units are typically small. How is it that there are so many households with 2 persons and (despite the contradiction in terms) 1 person? There is of course a refugee element in these figures (but it would have been much bigger if we had taken the data for people living in wooden houses or shacks), but they do not account for all cases. Under what conditions are single-person 'households' found? When will a young married couple set up on their own? What economic significance is to be read into the forming of small units generally? Are small units in fact economically independent, and do they contain an element of people who are poor and can no longer rely on support from outside the unit? That is to say, if we start by defining the family as a unit which lives by itself we have then to enquire into the social and economic ties maintained between its members and the members of other such units with
SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 257
97. These are general points made with reference to the Chinese family in its traditional form and conditions. What kinds of family units are to be found now in the New Territories? The 1961 census figures for household size (which can be roughly equated with family size) show that the most characteristic size is about 4 to 6 people, that there are many smaller ones, and that units larger than 7 are few. To take an example (which I have conveniently in my note- book): the following figures are for the household sizes in the Tai Po census area (i.e. Tai Po District) in respect of units which occupy whole concrete, brick, or stone houses-that is to say, where housing conditions approximate the most to tradition. (See Census, vol. IL p. 12, Table 020).
Household Size Numbers of Households of Each Size
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 and over
Total
1,299
1,441
1,655
1,839
1,773
1,550
1,174
759
401
612
12,503
The units are typically small. How is it that there are so many households with 2 persons and (despite the contradiction in terms) 1 person? There is of course a refugee element in these figures (but it would have been much bigger if we had taken the data for people living in wooden houses or shacks), but they do not account for all cases. Under what conditions are single-person 'households* found? When will a young married couple set up on their own? What economic significance is to be read into the forming of small units generally? Are small units in fact economically independent, and do they contain an element of people who are poor and can no longer rely on support from outside the unit? That is to say, if we start by defining the family as a unit which lives by itself we have then to enquire into the social and economic ties maintained between its members and the members of other such units with
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