to be the official collectors of pearls. They were paid by the Government, and in the fourth year of Yin Yau (#) A.D. 1317, three government officers were put in charge of them, who were very highly paid, and ranked among the highest officials.
The collecting was thus carried on, the same primitive methods being used, until the first year of T`aai Ting (4) A.D. 1324 when a local elder Cheung Wai Yan (30) protested with such force against the loss of life and suffering involved that in the seventh month of the same year an order was sent out abolishing all the pearl fishing.
During the following fifty years the industry was resumed and discontinued several times, but the pearls were gradually getting less and less in number. Eventually in the seventh year of Hung Mo (PA) A.D. 1374 of Ming (]) dynasty, it was found that half a catty was all the result of five months labour. It was then finally stopped, and pearls for imperial use were collected from the sea near Lui Chau (HM) and Lim Chau (EH) instead.
The present Tai Po market is not the original one, which was situated to the east of the present one, and is now called Old Tai Po market by the country people and can be found on the map under the name of Yin Pun Ha. Old Tai Po market was built in the time of Maan Lik (46) A.D. 1573-1619 of Ming dynasty, to commemorate the devotion shown by the son of an inhabitant of Lung Kwat T'au ( ), a village near Fanling. (See Note 2). This young man, named Tang Sz Maang (BE) lived during the period of Lung Hing (M) 1567-1572 of Ming dynasty. Maang's father was captured by a noted pirate Lam Fung (#) who held him up for ransom. (See Note 3). Maang went to his father-in-law and said, "We are too poor to pay the ransom and redeem my father, so I shall beg the pirates to take me in his stead“. His father-in-law would not agree and tried to stop him, but Maang slipped away secretly and found his way to the pirate ship. With much eloquence he pleaded for his father, saying, “If you keep my father it will mean that I and my brother will have no father, and my father will have no son, but if you free my father then my younger brother will still have a father, and my father will still have a son. Moreover my father is old, he cannot work as well as I, because I am young and strong”. Then he knelt to the pirate and kept on begging with many tears, until his request was at last granted.
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to be the official collectors of pearls. They were paid by the Government, and in the fourth year of Yin Yau (# ) A.D. 1317, three government officiers were put in charge of them, who were very highly paid, and ranked among the highest officials.
The collecting was thus carried on, the same primitive methods being used, until the first year of T`aai Ting (4) A.D. 1324 when a local elder Cheung Wai Yan ( 30 ) protested with such force against the loss of life and suffering involved that in the seventh month of the same year an order was sent out abolishing all the pearl fishing.
During the following fifty years the industry was resumed and discontinued several times, but the pearls were gradually getting less and less in number. Eventually in the seventh year of Hung Mo (PA) A.D. 1374 of Ming ( ] ) dynasty, it was found that half a catty was all the result of five months labour. It was then finally stopped, and pearls for imperial use were collected from the sea near Lui Chau (HM) and Lim Chau (EH) instead.
The present Tai Po market is not the original one, which was situated to the east of the present one, and is now called old Taipo market by The country people and can be found on the map under the name of Yin Pun Ha. Old Taipo market was built in the time of Maan Lik ( 46 ) A.D. 1573-1619 of Ming dynasty, to commemorate the devotion shown by the son of an inhabitant of Lung Kwat T'au ( ) a village near Fanling. (See Note 2). This young man, named Tang Sz Maang (BE) lived during the period of Lung Hing (M) 1567-1572 of Ming dynasty. Maang's father was captured by a noted pirate Lam Fung (# ) who held him up for ransom. (See Note 3). Maang went to his father-in-law and said, "We are too poor to pay the ransom and redeem my father, so I shall beg the pirates to take me in his stead“. His father-in-law would not agree and tried to stop him, but Maang slipped away secretly and found his way to the pirate ship. With much eloquence he pleaded for his father, saying, “If you keep my father it will mean that I and my brother will have no father, and my father will have no son, but if you free my father then my younger brother will still have a father, and my father will still have a son. Moreover my father is old, he cannot work as well as I, because I am young and strong”. Then he knelt to the pirate and kept on begging with many tears, until his request was at last granted.
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