176
DAVID FAURE
Tse Che and Man Wo (both single surname villages of the surname Uen) also attended, not because they were related to surname groups in Ho Chung, but because they were located nearby. These last two villages contributed to the repair of the Ch'e Kung Temple in 1934. Besides the decennial ta tsiu, the entire village donated towards the costs of worship at the annual Ch'e Kung Festival.38
The Cheungs had settled in Ho Chung for several hundred years.
It is instructive to see how the Chans, a new-comer lineage, were integrated into the village. They came in the middle of the nineteenth century, and built an ancestral hall of their own in the village, decorated with exquisite carvings.* They were accepted firstly because they were invited to Ho Chung by the Lais, who had been among the first to settle in the village. Secondly, they were rich, and when they settled in the village, they set up the Luen Hing T'ong, which functioned as a money-lending trust in which other villagers of Ho Chung could hold shares. At the end of each year, the T'ong slaughtered a pig and divided the meat among the share-holders. Thirdly, as already noted, they were connected with officialdom, and were people of some influence in the county.39
Other villages had institutions similar to Ho Chung's. Pak Kong had a village-wide institution known as the "tso she" ("celebration at the earthgod's shrine" or "communal celebration") which consisted of a religious homage and a feast at the earth-god's shrine on the Festival of the Great King Earthgod on the 15th of the Second Month. A five-year rota was set up whereby villagers took turns to be responsible for the feast. The rota was written on a wooden board that was kept in the Loks' ancestral hall. The group of villagers responsible for the worship in any year would collect the money contributions due from the other villagers, would provide and slaughter the pig that was needed for the worship, and would then mount the feast.40 In Sha Kok Mei, the term "tso she" was not used, but a small wooden board was circulated among resident households that took turns in groups of three to be responsible for communal worship at the beginning and the end of the year, and for worship of T'in Hau on her Festival Day at her temple at Leung Shuen Wan. Apparently,
* Plate 3.
176
DAVID FAURE
Tse Che and Man Wo (both single surname villages of the surname Uen) also attended, not because they were related to surname groups in Ho Chung, but because they were located nearby. These last two villages contributed to the repair of the Ch'e Kung Temple in 1934. Besides the decennial ta tsiu, the entire village donated towards the costs of worship at the annual Ch'e Kung Festival.38
The Cheungs had settled in Ho Chung for several hundred
years.
It is instructive to see how the Chans, a new-comer lineage, were integrated into the village. They came in the middle of the nineteenth century, and built an ancestral hall of their own in the village, decorated with exquisite carvings.* They were accepted firstly because they were invited to Ho Chung by the Lais, who had been among the first to settle in the village. Secondly, they were rich, and when they settled in the village, they set up the Luen Hing T'ong, which functioned as a money-lending trust in which other villagers of Ho Chung could hold shares. At the end of each year, the T'ong slaughtered a pig and divided the meat among the share-holders. Thirdly, as already noted, they were connected with officialdom, and were people of some influence in the county."
Other villages had institutions similar to Ho Chung's. Pak Kong had a village-wide institution known as the "tso she" ("celebration at the earthgod's shrine" or "communal celebration") which consisted of a religious homage and a feast at the earth- god's shrine on the Festival of the Great King Earthgod on the 15th of the Second Month. A five-year rota was set up whereby villagers took turns to be responsible for the feast. The rota was written on a wooden board that was kept in the Loks' ancestral hall. The group of villagers responsible for the worship in any year would collect the money contributions due from the other villagers, would provide and slaughter the pig that was needed for the worship, and would then mount the feast.40 In Sha Kok Mei, the term "tso she" was not used, but a small wooden board was circulated among resident households that took turns in groups of three to be responsible for communal worship at the beginning and the end of the year, and for worship of T'in Hau on her Festival Day at her temple at Leung Shuen Wan. Apparently,
* Plate 3.
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