NEGOTIATING THE TRANSFER PRACTICE OF HOUSING IN A CHINESE VILLAGE
CHAN KWOK SHING
63
In Hong Kong's New Territories, the government has allowed each male indigenous inhabitant in his lifetime to apply for building a new three-storey house in his village since 1972.1 Villagers call this type of house ding wu (male's house), which is distinct from others called zu wu (ancestor's house). Zu wu should be transferred through the male descent line for the maintenance of lineage community, whereas the sale of ding wu (male's house) for profit is recognised as a socially acceptable practice. Villagers of the Pang lineage in Fanling define ding wu and zu wu differently with reference to their locations, and then manipulate the spatial difference to justify the transfer practice.2 In order to maintain the lineage community and its associated traditional identity, villagers rigidly enforce patrilineal descent in the transfer of zu wu. The transfer of ding wu is nevertheless open to negotiation in their self-interest. Some defined their ding wu as patrimony and transferred them patrilineally, but some sold them out for profit when the real estate market price in Hong Kong has been booming since the mid-1980s. The Pangs' strategy of manipulating space to redefine/negotiate the property transfer practice shows a mixture of community solidarity and profit maximisation in rapidly changing economic and legal circumstances.
The Setting and Housing Conditions in Hong Kong
The Pang lineage has been situated in Fanling in the northern New Territories before it was leased to the British Government in 1898. It is a patrilineal descent group with corporate landholdings to support group worship. Its members also organise a self-defensive village guard to safeguard life and property and appoint village representatives to speak for their interests. The population of the Pang lineage in the 1990s is about 3,000, but, as the Pang genealogy records, nearly half the lineage members have emigrated to countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and so on and worked abroad since the 1950s for making a better living.
The genealogy notes that the lineage founder and his son emigrated
NEGOTIATING THE TRANSFER PRACTICE OF HOUSING IN A CHINESE VILLAGE
CHAN KWOK SHING
63
In Hong Kong's New Territories, the government has allowed each male indigenous inhabitant in his lifetime to apply for building a new three-storey house in his village since 1972.' Villagers call this type of house ding wu (male's house), which is distinct from others called zu wi (ancestor's house). Zu wu should be transferred through the male descent line for the maintenance of lineage community, whereas the sale of ding wu (male's house) for profit is recognised as a socially acceptable practice Villagers of the Pang lineage in Fanling define ding wu and zu wu differently with reference to their locations, and then manipulate the spatial difference to justify the transfer practice." In order to maintain the lineage community and its associated traditional identity, villagers rigidly enforce patrilineal descent in the transfer of zu wu The transfer of ding wu is nevertheless open to negotiation in their self-interest. Some defined their ding wu as patrimony and transferred them patrilineally, but some sold them out for profit when real estate market price in Hong Kong has been booming since the mid-1980s The Pangs' strategy of manipulating space to redefine/ negotiate the property transfer practice shows a mixture of community solidarity and profit maximisation in rapidly changing economic and legal circumstances.
The Setting and Housing Conditions in Hong Kong
The Pang lineage has been situated in Fanling in the northern New Territories before it was leased to the British Government in 1898. It is a patrilineal descent group with corporates landholdings to support group worship. Its members also organise a self-defensive village guard to safeguard life and property and appoint village representatives to speak for their interests. The population of the Pang lineage in the 1990s is about 3,000, but, as the Pang genealogy records, nearly half the Imeage members have emigrated to countries such as Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and so on and worked abroad since the 1950s for making a better living.
The genealogy notes that the lineage founder and his son emigrated
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