NOTES AND QUERIES
215
After this incident, agreement was reached with the villagers and the Rural Committee on compensation for trees in the fung shui area held under Forestry Licence. The compensation was collected and a period was set for removal of trees by the former licensees before the 1978 lunar new year, following which the engineers would let a 3 months' contract for removal of any remaining trees and shrubs in preparation for major excavation and site formation to begin in earnest in September 1978.
Unfortunately, our hopes for smooth progress were interrupted by the death of a 69 year old male villager and the paralysis of a 48 year old man six weeks after the start of the de-vegetation contract. These events were attributed by the villagers to the continued interference with their 'fung shui hill and led to their stopping the contractor from continuing with the work. (In practice, and as often happens in this kind of situation where it is prudent to employ local people on sensitive work involving themselves and their beliefs -- and despite the seeming inconsistency the contractor had been employing village labour for shrub and tree clearance. The villagers concerned were thus in a good position to make him stop by withdrawing their labour and advising him that no replacements should be taken on).
The work was stopped. Four more tun fu ceremonies were held in the affected villages: one at each of the two Chan (陳) ancestral halls, one at the Pak Kung shrine (伯公廟) and one on the fung shui hill itself. The object was to pacify the disturbed spirits and the ancestors of the two villages concerned. Payment for these ceremonies was again made by Government.
However, despite these protective measures, our negotiations to continue with the interrupted de-vegetation work, prior to starting major site excavations in the autumn, proved abortive. It became clear that even if the work could be started again without incident it was very likely to be subject to more interference and unpredictable delays because of the heightened feelings and fears of the local people. An attempt was made to get the villagers to move out temporarily into public housing to facilitate the important engineering works at stake, but this was discontinued when they tried to link the move to unreasonable demands in the village removal negotiations that had been rejected previously.
NOTES AND QUERIES
215
After this incident, agreement was reached with the villagers and the Rural Committee on compensation for trees in the fung shui area held under Forestry Licence. The compensation was collected and a period was set for removal of trees by the former licensees before the 1978 lunar new year, following which the engineers would let a 3 months' contract for removal of any remaining trees and shrubs in preparation for major excavation and site formation to begin in earnest in September 1978.
Unfortunately, our hopes for smooth progress were interrupted by the death of a 69 year old male villager and the paralysis of a 48 year old man six weeks after the start of the de-vegetation con- tract. These events were attributed by the villagers to the continued interference with their 'fung shui hill and led to their stopping the contractor from continuing with the work. (In practice, and as often happens in this kind of situation where it is prudent to employ local people on sensitive work involving themselves and their beliefs -- and despite the seeming inconsistency the contractor had been employing village labour for shrub and tree clearance. The villagers concerned were thus in a good position to make him stop by with- drawing their labour and advising him that no replacements should be taken on).
The work was stopped. Four more tun fu ceremonies were held in the affected villages: one at each of the two Chan ( ) an- cestral halls, one at the Pak Kung shrine ( k ) and one on the fung shui hill itself. The object was to pacify the disturbed spirits and the ancestors of the two villages concerned. Payment for these ceremonies was again made by Government.
However, despite these protective measures, our negotiations to continue with the interrupted de-vegetation work, prior to starting major site excavations in the autumn, proved abortive. It became clear that even if the work could be started again without incident it was very likely to be subject to more interference and unpredic- table delays because of the heightened feelings and fears of the local people. An attempt was made to get the villagers to move out temporarily into public housing to facilitate the important engineer- ing works at stake, but this was discontinued when they tried to link the move to unreasonable demands in the village removal negotia- tions that had been rejected previously.
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