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There is available to me a wealth of material bearing on this important subject: and that without so much as stirring a foot outside the confines of Tsuen Wan District. The District Office was itself a repository of information, since public works in and around the New Town had long involved its land staff in the removal of many local graves. Where the age and importance of a grave warranted, compensation was paid both for removal and resiting (where this was approved) and there was much detailed information in the files dealing with these matters. Also, in 1980-81, the junior land staff had tramped over the hillsides, in a systematic attempt to record the many old graves located in what are now country parks. This was in connection with new public health regulations. All hill burials were by now technically illegal, and new ones were prohibited.
Development needs and these other official preoccupations apart, many local villagers had sent letters to the Office over the years. These usually contained requests for permission to repair old graves or to resite them in new locations when it was felt that their good fung-shui qualities had been spent or been rendered malevolent by changes in the landscape.
The letters, documents and minutes in the files are thus a rich source of information on villagers' beliefs and practice in regard to graves and the family. They can also be important adjuncts to local history, through providing information on family and settlement, especially in regard to families no longer in existence. Copies of the texts of the grave tablets were often included on file, and the longer inscriptions on some of the older graves are particularly useful in giving us the "feel" of the rural communities to which they belonged. A few instances from this particular source of information are given below.
Local Burial Practices
But first it may be useful to explain that the formal graves were not the first stage in a traditional burial. It was the practice first to bury the deceased in a coffin on the hillside for a number of years, usually about seven, this being the average time for the fleshy parts of the body to disintegrate, leaving the bones behind. At this point, the grave was opened, the remains exhumed and cleaned, and an expert was called in to arrange them in proper order inside a burial urn. This was the second stage in a burial. The urn could then be placed on a hillside in what was considered to be a favourable location, and might perhaps never be moved again. Other urns would be moved from place to place, the responsible
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165
There is available to me a wealth of material bearing on this important subject: and that without so much as stirring a foot outside the confines of Tsuen Wan District. The District Office was itself a repository of information, since public works in and around the New Town had long involved its land staff in the removal of many local graves. Where the age and importance of a grave warranted, compensation was paid both for removal and resiting (where this was approved) and there was much detailed information in the files dealing with these matters, Also, in 1980-81, the junior land staff had tramped over the hillsides, in a systematic attempt to record the many old graves located in what are now country parks. This was in connection with new public health regulations. All hill burials were by now technically illegal, and new ones were prohibited.
Development needs and these other official preoccupations apart, many local villagers had sent letters to the Office over the years. These usually contained requests for permission to repair old graves or to resite them in new locations when it was felt that their good fung-shui qualities had been spent or been rendered malevolent by changes in the landscape.
The letters, documents and minutes in the files are thus a rich source of information on villagers' beliefs and practice in regard to graves and the family. They can also be important adjuncts to local history, through providing information on family and settlement, especially in regard to families no longer in existence. Copies of the texts of the grave tablets were often included on file, and the longer inscriptions on some of the older graves are particularly useful in giving us the "feel" of the rural communities to which they belonged. A few instances from this particular source of information are given below.
Local Burial Practices
But first it may be useful to explain that the formal graves were not the first stage in a traditional burial. It was the practice first to bury the deceased in a coffin on the hillside for a number of years, usually about seven, this being the average time for the fleshy parts of the body to disintegrate, leaving the bones behind. At this point, the grave was opened, the remains exhumed and cleaned, and an expert was called in to arrange them in proper order inside a burial urn. This was the second stage in a burial. The urn could then be placed on a hillside in what was considered to be a favourable location, and might perhaps never be moved again. Other urns would be moved from place to place, the responsible
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