178
NOTES
1
Said by one of the Tangs of Ha Pa. The father had won a Jockey Club lottery ticket
Mrs Wong Chau Yuk-bing, 10 July 1991
I once became concerned with a grave on a hill above Tsuen Wan. There had been a mistake and confusion when exhuming illegal graves and removing the remains to an authorized cemetery. My subsequent enquiry showed that this slope contained a number of graves of Chans of Sam Tung Uk, repaired in 1919, and another old grave belonging to their cousins from Kwan Mun Hau, a recent reburial of another of their graves whose old site had been required for development; the earth grave with stone tablet dated 1954 belonging to another local lineage recently taken up and remains placed in an urn (whose removal caused all the trouble); and a Tsang grave dated 1909 but removed at some time previously. The enquiry showed that the hill was a favoured burial site, that it was mostly monopolized by the Chans of Sam Tung Uk; that they had received objections from Kwan Mun Hau to a new grave and had not used it but found another site.
4
The exercise was prompted by what I personally felt was the misguided notion that all the owners of old graves could, and should, one fine day be asked to exhume them.
4 This was still felt to be the case, even though some leading members of the clan were Christians, with forebears who had also been members of the local protestant Chuen Yuen Church, established in Tsuen Wan about 1905.
+
Addressed to DOTW but sent to NTA HQ. See Secretary for the NT's NT L/M No.(172) in E/948/78 to TM&DO TW dated 11 December 1980, enclosing Chinese letter dated November 1980.
+ Chinese letter from Mr. Wong Kit-hung, Village Representative of Shui Pin Village, Yuen Long, dated 14 January 1980.
"Wong Cho-yip and 22 other villagers of this place are the owners of the grave of Ancestor Shui-tai at Tsing Lung Tau. Ancestor Shui-tai was buried there in the tenth month of the first year of Tung Chih [1862], so that the grave has a history of 120 years. The villagers have recently learned that the government will resume the land there for development. They fear that great damage will be done to the fung-shui [of the clan] if the grave is destroyed. We entreat you to remedy the situation quickly [by cancelling the notice] or by compensating for this loss, so that they may choose a lucky day for the removal of their ancestral grave (and another auspicious burial ground for).
M
Chopped DOTW Inward. Serial No. 1861 of 17 August 1963. The District Commissioner gave an account of a ceremonial visit following damage to a grave. See Annual Departmental Report, District Commissioner, New Territories, 1955-56.
4
ADR, DCNT 1955-56, para. 87.
Mr Wong Kwai-chi, Land Inspector, Class 1. He and I had been colleagues and friends since we first served together in the District Office South, twenty years before.
|| DOTW file TW6/WL/71, Chinese letter dated 4 May 1971.
1:
See JHKBRAS, Vol. 17 (1977), p.189 for background.
File TW130/983/77, for China Light and Power Company's electricity supply sub-station on NE Lantau.
14
This was partly their own fault, as owing to a particularly intense intra-lineage feud, all through the late 1970s and most of the 1980s they could not agree on removal terms,
178
NOTES
1
Said by one of the Tangs of Hot Pa. The father had won a Jockey Club lottery ticket
Mrs Wong Chau Yuk-bing, 10 July 1991
I once became concerned with a grave on a hill above Tsuen Wan. There had been a mistake and confusion when exhuming illegal graves and removing the remains to an authorized cemetery My subsequent enquiry showed that this slope contained a number of graves of Chans of Sam Tung Uk, repaired in 1919, and another old grave belonging to their cousins from Kwan Mun Hau, a recent reburial of another of their graves whose old site had been required for development; the earth grave with stone tablet dated 1954 belonging to another local lineage recently taken up and remains placed in an urn (whose removal caused all the trouble); and a Tsang grave dated 1909 but removed at some time previously The enquiry showed that the hill was a favoured burial site, that it was mostly monopolized by the Chans of Sam Tung Uk; that they had received objections from Kwan Mun Hau to a new grave and had not used it but found another site
4
The exercise was prompted by what I personally felt was the misguided notion that all the owners of old graves could, and should, one fine day be asked to exhume them
4 This was still felt to be the case, even though some leading members of the clan were Christians, with forebears who had also been members of the local protestant Chuen Yuen Church, established in Tsuen Wan about 1905
+
Addressed to DOTW but sent to NTA HQ See Secretary for the NT's NT L/ M No (172) in E/948 / 78 to TM&DO TW dated 11 December 1980, enclosing Chinese letter dated November 1980
+ Chinese letter from Mr. Wong Kit-hung. Village Representative of Shui Pin Village, Yuen Long, dated 14 January 1980
"Wong Cho-yip and 22 other villagers of this place are the owners of the grave of Ancestor Shui-tai at Tsing Lung Tau Ancestor Shui-tai was buried there in the tenth month of the first year of Tung Chih [1862), so that the grave has a history of 120 years The villagers have recently learned that the government will resume the land there for development They fear that great damage will be done to the fung-shur [of the clan] if the grave is destroyed. We entreat you to remedy the situation quickly [by cancelling the notice] or by compensating for this loss, so that they may choose a lucky day for the removal of their ancestral grave (and another auspicious burial ground for ]
M
Chopped DOTW Inward. Serial No. 1861 of 17 August 1963 The District Commissioner gave an account of a ceremonial visit following damage to a grave See Annual Departmental Report, District Commissioner, New Territories, 1955-56
4
ADR, DCNT 1955-56. para. 87
Mr Wong Kwai-cht, Land Inspector, Class 1. He and I had been colleagues and friends since we first served together in the District Office South, twenty years before.
|| DOTW file TW 6/ WL/71, Chinese letter dated 4 May 1971
1:
See JHKBRAS, Vol. 17 (1977), p 189 for background
File TW 130/983 / 77, for China Light and Power Company's electricity supply sub- station on NE Lantau.
14
This was partly their own fault, as owing to a particularly intense intra-lineage feud. all through the late 1970s and most of the 1980s they could not agree on removal terms,
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