166
In good years, like so much of the more heavily populated parts of Kwangtung. In the nineteenth century the Canton and Pearl River areas made up their shortfalls in rice, to a large extent, by imports from outside Kwangtung, but the Sham Chun area was not well placed, and had no deep-water harbours capable of taking ships larger than small junks, and so was not able to use imported rice to the same degree as those more metropolitan areas. For Sham Chun, rice carried from Sha Tau Kok was a matter of life and death. The anti-Customs extract printed above specifically notes problems when 'at the harvest... the crop was carried across the frontier': this was a routine local activity. Salt was less critical, but still important. Most of the salt produced at Sha Tau Kok was carried to Sham Chun for sale, and through Sham Chun to the other significant markets between Sham Chun and the East River. Fresh fish were a luxury. There were plenty of fish in the Deep Bay area, but that bay is shallow and muddy - poor for those species which prefer clean, deep water with a rocky bottom, like garoupas and coral fish. Mirs Bay is deep and full of rocks and coral, its waters are clear and fast moving, and full of high quality fish. These fish, landed at Sha Tau Kok at first light, could be at Sham Chun by nine or ten in the morning, still fresh. A similar carrying trade in fresh fish linked Sha Tau Kok with the markets at Po Kat and Wang Kong.
Most of the fishing ports in the Hong Kong area dealt primarily in dried fish, landed and dried at the port, and then carried inland to be sold at those inland markets far from the sea. Sha Tau Kok was unusual in having a fish trade predominantly in fresh fish, although, of course, some fish were dried there as well. This double trade, in fresh and dried fish, was already established by 1853, as the Basel missionaries make clear:
'A number of people make a sparse livelihood from fishing. They either sell the fish immediately, or dry them first in the sun, and then salt them, which is a method of preserving them for a longer time, and then sell them as salt fish,' 53
This trade in rice, salt, and fish carried by coolies to the bigger market seven miles away was what made Sha Tau Kok prosperous. It was a surprisingly large trade - about 200-250 tons a month, rising to 400 tons in peak periods, were carried from Sha Tau Kok to Sham Chun in the early twentieth century, while total traffic on the Sham Chun road averaged 20,000 travellers and more a month, and double that at peak periods
166
In good years, like so much of the more heavily populated parts of Kwangtung. In the nineteenth century the Canton and Pearl River areas made up their shortfalls in rice, to a large extent, by imports from outside Kwangtung, but the Sham Chun area was not well placed, and had no deep-water harbours capable of taking ships larger than small junks, and so was not able to use imported rice to the same degree as those more metropolitan areas. For Sham Chun, rice carried from Sha Tau Kok was a matter of life and death. The anti-Customs extract printed above specifically notes problems when 'at the harvest... the crop was carried across the frontier': this was a routine local activity. Salt was less critical, but still important. Most of the salt produced at Sha Tau Kok was carried to Sham Chun for sale, and through Sham Chun to the other significant markets between Sham Chun and the East River. Fresh fish were a luxury. There were plenty of fish in the Deep Bay area, but that bay is shallow and muddy - poor for those species which prefer clean, deep water with a rocky bottom, like garoupas and coral fish. Mirs Bay is deep and full of rocks and coral, its waters are clear and fast moving, and full of high quality fish. These fish, landed at Sha Tau Kok at first light, could be at Sham Chun by nine or ten in the morning, still fresh. A similar carrying trade in fresh fish linked Sha Tau Kok with the markets at Po Kat and Wang Kong.
Most of the fishing ports in the Hong Kong area dealt primarily in dried fish, landed and dried at the port, and then carried inland to be sold at those inland markets far from the sea. Sha Tau Kok was unusual in having a fish trade predominantly in fresh fish, although, of course, some fish were dried there as well. This double trade, in fresh and dried fish, was already established by 1853, as the Basel missionaries make clear:
'A number of people make a sparse livelihood from fishing. They either sell the fish immediately, or dry them first in the sun, and then salt them, which is a method of preserving them for a longer time, and then sell them as salt fish,' 53
This trade in rice, salt, and fish carried by coolies to the bigger market seven miles away was what made Sha Tau Kok prosperous. It was a surprisingly large trade - about 200-250 tons a month, rising to 400 tons in peak periods, were carried from Sha Tau Kok to Sham Chun in the early twentieth century, while total traffic on the Sham Chun road averaged 20,000 travellers and more a month, and double that at peak periods 4
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