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lineage members. Following this practice, Pang Sai Keung and Pang Tai Keung, the only male members in this segment, would be designated inheritors. However, since they died heirless and their property was managed by Man Sî (Tai Keung's wife), who was the only surviving member in this segment, the Village Representatives recommended Man Sî as a trustee of Chiu Sun's housing property. But they stipulated that she had no right to dispose of it, and it should be passed on to male descendants of the Pangs. In 1983 Man Sî therefore adopted an heir to carry on Tai Keung's family line and to inherit his property as well as Chiu Sun's property. In this case, adoption is viewed by Man Sî as an effective strategy to legitimately incorporate the Chiu Sun's property into her husband's household, and through which the hegemony of the patrilineal inheritance is reinforced and reproduced.
For land, however, the Village Representative said it could be inherited by the married-out daughter of Chiu Sun. His justification was that land and houses should be customarily passed on to male lineage members, but since the village houses were located inside the lineage settlement while the land was not, married-out Mei Fan was therefore entitled to claim her father's landed property and could even dispose of it at her discretion.
In sum, this case vividly demonstrates how the Pangs made use of the spatial difference to define and redefine their transfer practices of property in the early 1980s. They held the idea that only housing property inside the lineage settlement must strictly follow the patrilineal descent principle to maintain the Pangs' settlement rights, lineage community and its associated identity. The transfer of other property located outside the settlement was subject to the Pangs' negotiation. The Pangs drew or, perhaps, redefined this boundary in the 1980s when the government's resumption of their lands for development was in full swing and when the Pangs themselves also actively sold their lands to outsiders for a huge profit (since the land market in the New Territories sprang up at that time). Under these circumstances, land was no longer considered by the Pangs as an essential or indispensable property for maintaining patrilineal structure and preserving traditional identity. The retreat of the lineage's territory thus led them to become more conscious of the importance of the male inheritance of housing property. This is because only the village houses are the available estate property in Fanling Wai which can or have to be kept intact by the
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lineage members. Following this practice, Pang Sai Keung and Pang Tai Keung, the only male members in this segment, would be designated inheritors. However, since they died heirless and their property was managed by Man Sı (Tai Keung's wife), who was the only surviving member in this segment, the Village Representatives recommended Man Si as a trustee of Chiu Sun's housing property. But they stipulated that she had no right to dispose of it, and it should be passed on to male descendants of the Pangs. In 1983 Man Si therefore adopted an heir to carry on Tai Keung's family line and to inherit his property as well as Chiu Sun's property. In this case, adoption is viewed by Man Si as an effective strategy to legitimately incorporate the Chiu Sun's property into her husband's household, and through which the hegemony of the patrilineal inheritance is reinforced and reproduced.
For land, however, the Village Representative said it could be inherited by the married-out daughter of Chiu Sun. His justification was that land and houses should be customarily passed on to male lineage members, but since the village houses were located inside the lineage settlement while the land was not, married-out Mei Fan was therefore entitled to claim her father's landed property and could even dispose of it at her discretion.
In sum, this case vividly demonstrates how the Pangs made use of the spatial difference to define and redefine their transfer practices of property in the early 1980s. They held the idea that only housing property inside the lineage settlement must strictly follow the patrilineal descent principle to maintain the Pangs' settlement rights, lineage community and its associated identity. The transfer of other property located outside the settlement was subject to the Pangs' negotiation. The Pangs drew or, perhaps, redefined this boundary in the 1980s when the government's resumption of their lands for development was in full swing and when the Pangs themselves also actively sold their lands to outsiders for a huge profit (since the land market in the New Territories sprang up at that time). Under these circumstances, land was no longer considered by the Pangs as an essential or indispensable property for maintaining patrilineal structure and preserving traditional identity. The retreat of the lineage's territory thus led them to become more conscious of the importance of the male inheritance of housing property. This is because only the village houses are the available estate property in Fanling Wai which can or have to be kept intact by the
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