57
and patchings. It was at this date that the village started to look generally run-down.
Despite the obvious problems, the displaced villagers who took up the empty premises inside the walls managed to survive the War. Although the village had lost many fields to the new Airport and the new nullah, nonetheless, what was left enabled the village to survive - just by growing vegetables for the market at Yaumatei. The villagers all starved, but not quite to the point of death. This is unusual - very few villages in the New Territories were able to survive the War without even one person dying of hunger.
Many of the villagers, in their blazing hatred of the Japanese, however, joined the guerrillas who were active in the hills behind Kowloon. As a result, there were several raids by the Japanese on the village. Several villagers were taken and executed (by beheading, usually in front of the village) for assisting the guerrillas. The villagers say that between a minimum of three and perhaps as many as seven village men were executed in this way. The present Temple Keeper of the Tin Hau Temple had her husband of less than a year beheaded in this way.
By the end of the War, the village was on its last legs. "If the War had gone on another year, we would all have died": this statement is heard from all over the New Territories, including very definitely Nga Tsin Wai.
At the end of the War, the village looked to an improvement. The returning British felt they had to keep the Airfield as extended by the Japanese, but they paid solid compensation in cash to all the villagers whose land or houses had been taken by the Japanese. Some years later the "Model Village" was closed down, but compensation was, again, paid to those living there. New work opportunities began to open up. The village was able to find funds for a full-scale restoration of their Tin Hau Temple, in thanksgiving for the favours shown them by the goddess during the years of hardship (1948). Before these improvements could bring about any major changes, however, the Revolution in China sent another wave of refugees into Hong Kong. As in the late 1930s, many of these settled around Nga Tsin Wai, on what was left of the villagers' fields. From Diamond Hill to Kowloon City, there was, by the middle 1950s, a solid mass of squatter housing interspersed with
57
and patchings. It was at this date that the village started to look gener- ally run-down.
Despite the obvious problems, the displaced villagers who took up the empty premises inside the walls managed to survive the War. Although the village had lost many fields to the new Airport and the new nullah, nonetheless, what was left enabled the village to survive - just by growing vegetables for the market at Yaumatei. The villagers all starved, but not quite to the point of death. This is unusual - very few villages in the New Territories were able to survive the War with- out even one person dying of hunger.
Many of the villagers, in their blazing hatred of the Japanese, however, joined the guerrillas who were active in the hills behind Kowloon. As a result there were several raids by the Japanese on the village. Several villagers were taken and executed (by beheading, usu- ally in front of the village) for assisting the guerrillas. The villagers say that between a minimum of three and perhaps as many as seven village men were executed in this way. The present Temple Keeper of the Tin Hau Temple had her husband of less than a year beheaded in this way.
By the end of the War, the village was on its last legs. "If the War had
gone on another
year, we would all have died": this statement is heard from all over the New Territories, including very definitely Nga Tsin Wai.
At the end of the War, the village looked to an improvement. The returning British felt they had to keep the Airfield as extended by the Japanese, but they paid solid compensation in cash to all the villagers whose land or houses had been taken by the Japanese. Some years later the "Model Village" was closed down, but compensation was, again, paid to those living there. New work opportunities began to open up. The village was able to find funds for a full-scale restoration of their Tin Hau Temple, in thanksgiving for the favours shown them by the goddess during the years of hardship (1948). Before these improve- ments could bring about any major changes, however, the Revolution in China sent another wave of refugees into Hong Kong. As in the late 1930s, many of these settled around Nga Tsin Wai, on what was left of the villagers' fields. From Diamond Hill to Kowloon City there was, by the middle 1950s, a solid mass of squatter housing interspersed with
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