37
The differences in house form and use between 1950 and 1970 reflect nothing less than the complete substitution of one cultural-occupational group for another. In 1950 Kau Sai's houses were inhabited by families who followed the occupational patterns and sexual division of labour common among Hakka speakers in the eastern part of the New Territories, among whom village shopkeepers and temple caretakers (where these exist) are almost the only exceptions to a general rule of able-bodied male absenteeism. By 1970 there was only one Hakka family in Kau Sai. Its male head was the (new) temple caretaker who also ran a small shop. All the other houses were occupied by fishermen's families, whose men do not have to leave home to find work.
The change had two major sources: the former, being a particular historical event peculiar to Kau Sai may be quickly related here; the second, being the local manifestation of the general movement of socio-economic change among the Boat People not only of Hong Kong but of South China as a whole is part of the major theme of this book.
The Removal of the Hakka
It so happens that Kau Sai Bay lies near the central portion of a range for firing practice which is drawn in a wide arc on the seaward side of the British Army's camp near Sai Kung on the mainland. It is obviously inconvenient for gunnery practice to have to operate with a safety angle, but this is done and to the best of my knowledge no serious damage has ever occurred. However, the villagers were not slow to demand compensation whenever a shell fell anywhere on, or even near, either of the two islands. In order to put an end to what they probably correctly deemed would become a perennial drain on their resources, Government and Army agreed that it would be wise to resettle the villagers elsewhere. (This was, indeed, one of the earliest of the resettlement programmes for which the Hong Kong authorities later became famous). When I took up residence in the spring of 1952 negotiations were already far advanced. A new village was in process of building at Pak Sha Wan (Hebe Haven) on the bus route to Sai Kung, and the move was to be made in a few months' time. Every householder in Kau Sai was
37
The differences in house form and use between 1950 and 1970 reflect nothing less than the complete substitution of one cultural-occupational group for another. In 1950 Kau Sai's houses were inhabited by families who followed the occupational patterns and sexual division of labour common among Hakka speakers in the eastern part of the new Territories, among whom village shopkeepers and temple caretakers (where these exist) are almost the only exceptions to a general rule of able-bodied male absenteeism. By 1970 there was only one Hakka family in Kau Sai. Its male head was the (new) temple caretaker who also ran a small shop. All the other houses were occupied by fishermen's families, whose men do not have to leave home to find work.
The change had two major sources: the former, being a particular historical event peculiar to Kau Sai may be quickly related here; the second, being the local manifestation of the general movement of socio-economic change among the Boat People not only of Hong Kong but of South China as a whole is part of the major theme of this book.
The Removal of the Hakka
It so happens that Kau Sai Bay lies near the central portion of a range for firing practice which is drawn in a wide arc on the seaward side of the British Army's camp near Sai Kung on the mainland. It is obviously inconvenient for gunnery practice to have to operate with a safety angle, but this is done and to the best of my knowledge no serious damage has ever occurred. However, the villagers were not slow to demand compensation whenever a shell fell anywhere on, or even near, either of the two islands. In order to put an end to what they probably correctly deemed would become a perennial drain on their resources, Government and Army agreed that it would be wise to resettle the villagers elsewhere. (This was, indeed, one of the earliest of the resettlement programmes for which the Hong Kong author- ities later became famous). When I took up residence in the spring of 1952 negotiations were already far advanced. A new village's was in process of building at Pak Sha Wan (Hebe Haven) on the bus route to Sai Kung, and the move was to be made in a few months' time. Every householder in Kau Sai was
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