29
Colony's three main fishing centres
which each contain
upwards of 20,000 Boat People are much less sophisticated. They are also less closely connected with the landsmen with whom they have business contacts.
Each of the many kinds of water business in Hong Kong is highly specialised. Even a very short acquaintance makes it possible to tell at a glance what is the business of any particular craft. This was especially true of the traditional fishing junks, whose lines and sail plans varied distinctively with the gear they carried and the type of fishing operations they engaged in. By and large, modernisation, which has so far consisted primarily of mechanising existing craft rather than redesigning, has not altered this situation much though in some ways specialisation is beginning to be modified. Traditionally it was very far-reaching. I was several times told that a fisherman born on a trawler was likely to remain a trawlerman all his life, marry a trawlerman's daughter, bring up his sons to follow his own footsteps and marry his daughters to the trawlermen sons of other trawlermen. Though no doubt this was an exaggerated statement, it was true that these Chinese fishermen were specialists in a double sense. It was not only that fishing was their sole method of gaining a livelihood, but that they also all followed their own specialisms within the fishing industry. Most of the techniques, and the junks and gear, were so highly specialised and so expensive that switching from one method to another was unusual.
Of the 9,000 odd traditional type fishing craft registered in Hong Kong, about 350 are engaged in deep-sea fishing, either pair trawling or long-lining. These are all large junks, about 60-70 feet in overall length, that stay out at sea for up to a fortnight, or even longer, at a time. They house between about 30 and about 60 souls on any one trip, which number usually includes the patrilocal extended family of the owner (who is also the master) together with a number of hired men and women. In 1950 most of the deep-sea fishing junks registered in Hong Kong were based on one or other of the three large fishing centres already mentioned: Aberdeen, Shaukiwan and Cheung Chau. Market developments in the intervening years have brought it about that Castle Peak and Cheung Sha Wan had also become
29
Colony's three main fishing centres
which each contain
upwards of 20,000 Boat People are much less sophisticated. They are also less closely connected with the landsmen with whom they have business contacts.
Each of the many kinds of water business in Hong Kong is highly specialised. Even a very short acquaintance makes it possible to tell at a glance what is the business of any particular craft. This was especially true of the traditional fishing junks, whose lines and sail plans varied distinctively with the gear they carried and the type of fishing operations they engaged in. By and large, modernisation, which has so far consisted primarily of mechanising existing craft rather than redesigning, has not altered this situation much though in some ways specialisation is beginning to be modified. Traditionally it was very far-reaching. I was several times told that a fisherman born on a trawler was likely to remain a trawlerman all his life, marry a trawlerman's daughter, bring up his sons to follow his own footsteps and marry his daughters to the trawlermen sons of other trawlermen. Though no doubt this was an exaggerated statement, it was true that these Chinese fishermen were specialists in a double sense. It was not only that fishing was their sole method of gaining a livelihood, but that they also all followed their own specialisms within the fishing industry. Most of the techniques, and the junks and gear, were so highly specialised and so expensive that switching from one method to another was unusual.
Of the 9,000 odd traditional type fishing craft registered in Hong Kong, about 350 are engaged in deep-sea fishing, either pair trawling or long-lining. These are all large junks, about 60- 70 feet in overall length, that stay out at sea for up to a fortnight, or even longer, at a time. They house between about 30 and about 60 souls on any one trip, which number usually includes the patrilocal extended family of the owner (who is also the master) together with a number of hired men and women. In 1950 most of the deep-sea fishing junks registered in Hong Kong were based on one or other of the three large fishing centres already mentioned: Aberdeen, Shaukiwan and Cheung Chau. Market developments in the intervening years have brought it about that Castle Peak and Cheung Sha Wan had also become
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