263
in his home and in the ancestral hall that is no more than a compartment in a row of village houses, comes from a culture that is different from the ancestral worship that villagers are so fond of remarking on as being indicative of the ancestors' official status.
Third, Chun's claim that I argue that the alliances known as the “yeuk” were ever “suppressed" again misses the mark. My argument is that what villagers remember as the "yeuk" were founded on common territorial worship and lineage bonds, and, indeed, as Chun points out, there were different kinds of yeuk formed for different reasons. I also argue that these particular types were formed in the nineteenth century. However, I do not argue that there were no village alliances before that time. Rather, with the exception of the Po Tak Tz Old Alliance, the word “yeuk” was apparently not used in this area for them. Some alliances were known then as “heung“, and quite a few were formed in the guise of lineages. Of the nineteenth century yeuk, the Luk Yeuk and the Kau Yeuk were obviously formed in areas where the "great surnames" of the eastern New Territories had lost influence.
Fourth, Chun's question on the universal application of the concept of “settlement rights" is, of course, justified. As a supporter for the study of local history in China, I should be the last to ever want to claim that until we have many more detailed local studies, any concept that is generalized from any local study should be any more than tentative. Nonetheless, I seriously doubt if Wo Hang could have been settled without the Lei surname resident therein coming to terms with the incumbents, both in Wo Hang and in the wider territory of which Wo Hang was a part. Wo Hang is located in an area that formed the boundary between the Punti-dominated territory of the eastern New Territories, and the Hakka-dominated terrain that stretched from Sha Tau Kok to Po Kut and beyond. The Wo Hang Leis achieved considerable clout very quickly; by the fourth generation after settlement, according to the genealogy, they were tax-collectors at Sha Tau Kok.
While on the question of “settlement rights”, it may also be pointed out that Chun's comments in his notes 6 and 8 confuse settlement with residence. As he knows, residence is not the issue, the right of building a house on land that is unclaimed is. That overseas Chinese people should be allowed to build houses in acknowledged ancestral villages shows that the concept of the "rights of settlement" is very much alive.
263
in his home and in the ancestral hall that is no more than a compartment in a row of village houses, comes from a culture that is different from the ancestral worship that villagers are so fond of remarking on as being indicative of the ancestors' official status.
Third, Chun's claim that I argue that the alliances known as the “yeuk” were ever “suppressed" again misses the mark. My argument is that what villagers remember as the "'yeuk" were founded on common territorial worship and lineage bonds, and, indeed, as Chun points out, there were different kinds of yeuk formed for different reasons. I also argue that these particular types were formed in the nineteenth century. However, I do not argue that there were no village alliances before that time. Rather, with the exception of the Po Tak Tz Old Alliance, the word “yeuk” was apparently not used in this area for them. Some alliances were known then as “heung“, and quite a few were formed in the guise of lineages. Of the nineteenth century yeuk, the Luk Yeuk and the Kau Yeuk were obviously formed in areas where the "great surnames" of the eastern New Territories had lost influence.
Fourth, Chun's question on the universal application of the concept of “settlement rights" is, of course, justified. As a supporter for the study of local history in China, I should be the last to ever want to claim that until we have many more detailed local studies, any concept that is generalized from any local study should be any more than tentative. Nonetheless, I seriously doubt if Wo Hang could have been settled without the Lei surname resident therein coming to terms with the incumbents, both in Wo Hang and in the wider territory of which Wo Hang was a part. Wo Hang is located in an area that formed the boundary between the Punti-dominated territory of the eastern New Territories, and the Hakka-dominated terrain that stretched from Sha Tau Kok to Po Kut and beyond. The Wo Hang Leis achieved considerable clout very quickly; by the fourth generation after settlement, according to the genealogy, they were tax-collectors at Sha Tau Kok.
While on the question of “settlement rights”, it may also be pointed out that Chun's comments in his notes 6 and 8 confuse settlement with residence. As he knows, residence is not the issue, the right of building a house on land that is unclaimed is. That overseas Chinese people should be allowed to build houses in acknowledged ancestral villages shows that the concept of the "rights of settlement" is very much alive.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.