[ { "id": 205341, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1967", "page_number": 103, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "96\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\nthe Pui O group in South Lantau. Unlike Chan, who had been a newcomer, Cheung's family had been settled in the area for upwards of two centuries before his birth and his father possessed a small number of fields which had descended from his ancestors. The Cheung clan, too, was the most powerful in the sub-district. Its members were settled in five of the nine small villages of the group and included one or two degree holders by purchase among its immediate forebears.\n\nHowever, like Chan, Cheung went into business, but not in the market town and not as an errand-boy, but locally and on his own account. He opened a shop in a small house situated outside the main village of the group and stocked it with goods which he brought over by sampan from the nearby island of Cheung Chau, the local market centre and a fishing port. Again like Chan, Cheung had a good head for business and used whatever money he obtained from his shop to loan sums to other villagers. As usual the loans were made for interest at high rates or in return for mortgages of land. The deeds relating to about a dozen of his mortgages have survived in an old account book. One of them, relating to the year 1898, shows that he was capable of lending what was then, to a farmer, the considerable sum of 120 dollars, the equivalent of 90 ounces of silver in one single transaction. As happened more often than not in deals of this sort, this land, consisting of an acre and a quarter of good paddy fields, was sold to him seven years later.\n\nCheung's career developed along much the same lines as that of Chan Fu-shing. He settled disputes over a considerable area, including villages outside his own group, and helped to arrange various public services, including a regular ferry to the nearby market town of Cheung Chau. Again, he also took the lead in managing the affairs of the local temples and in repairing them when this became necessary.10 It is not certain whether he purchased a degree, but he may well have done so because, as has been said, this was the normal thing for a prospering villager to do at this period.\n\nKUNG FONG-CHAI (***)\n\nThe third member of the trio, Kung Fong-chai (c. 1850-1922) was a Hakka from a village a few miles from the market town of Tai O. Like the Cheungs, the Kung family had been settled on", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205343, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1967", "page_number": 105, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "98 \n\nJAMES HAYES \n\nof the population of Lantau Island and when the Hakkas in this part of Kwangtung were generally considered to have been under the general domination of Cantonese.12 In passing, I am inclined to think that this point has been over-stressed. \n\nSecondly, it is interesting that all three came from villages and not from the market town. One would have expected that its shopkeepers and tradesmen would, in the aggregate, have been better off than most villagers and that a place which had a population anything from ten to twenty times larger than those of the neighbouring villages ought to have provided more pupils and hence a superior type of teacher; resulting in better-educated boys who were more qualified to become local leaders.13 \n\nHowever, and thirdly, their importance must be assessed against the realities of the social and geographic background of Lantau at this time. There were no wealthy, numerous powerful clans on the island to compare with those living in the mainland area of the present New Territories. The Cheungs were very small fry by comparison with the Tangs of Yuen Long district.14 Apart from the shopkeepers in the market town, some of whom were themselves villagers or were of village descent, the rest of the land population of Lantau were peasant small-holders few of whom seem to have owned more than one or two acres of land and were intent upon making a living from the soil.15 Communications were restricted to village tracks over difficult country or to boat travel round the coast, usually by village rowing boat. The terrain hindered social, economic and political intercourse between the penny-packet group of villages and could only be spanned by energetic leadership, motivated by private interest and backed by personal visitation. Another factor which increases the impact these men made on their communities is what I am convinced, from my later experience must have been the ignorance and massive superstition of most village people at this time.16 Easily paralysed by fear and indecision in times of danger, and harassed by doubt and incapacity when there were important issues to decide, the quality of leadership possessed by the few is high-lighted by the condition of the many. \n\nIt is not surprising, then, that men of the calibre of the three I have mentioned appear to have handled everything in their sphere of influence. Old men living today still remember the Hakka Cheung Kwong-chuen very clearly and state, with great \n\nPage 105\n\nPage 106", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207056, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1974", "page_number": 127, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "The Manchu dynasty was at its strongest and most prosperous from the middle years of the K'ang Hsi reign on until late in the Ch'ien Lung period. This enabled the country to recover and consolidate after the disasters of the late Ming and the troubled period of transition to the Ch'ing; but it is necessary to remember that throughout these years Hsin-an remained a border region receiving new settlers. In the present New Territories this period saw many newcomers settle in old villages or found new ones. Besides the rehabilitation of old fields, there was apparently much new land to be opened for the taking. When the first ancestor of the So clan of So Uk, Kowloon, arrived in 1739 he called his new home Mau Tin Tsuen or Village of the Rough Grass Fields; and his descendants long used this name before 'So Uk' came into common usage.1 Life for all these persons was hard, and although the empire was in good hands, it seems likely that inhabitants of these coastal areas of the southeast were often subject to attack from marauders. The Ho family of San Tsuen, Pui O, Lantau say that a founding ancestor was killed by pirates; by calculation from the clan record,2 about the year 1710. This obliged villagers to site their settlements with care. In this period of resettlement and consolidation several of the Lantau villages, though getting a living from the sea, were by design located at some distance from it. It is only in more recent times, say the present elders, that they moved to lower sites nearer the shore.3\n\nFrom time to time, pirates became a particular menace, and it was not possible for the authorities to ignore their activities. A period of especial distress began for the people of Hsin-an, Tung-kuan and other coastal counties in the later years of the Ch'ien Lung reign. The genealogy of the Cheung clan of Pui O records:\n\nIn the 53rd and 54th year of Ch’ien Lung, a Tung Kuan man, Tam Ah-che became a sea robber. He robbed and killed, burned houses, in great measure, took away the men as slaves and women also. The local officials and soldiers would not dare to face these robbers.4\n\nThe Cheungs and other villagers later took steps in their own defence. The village council held a meeting and decided to turn\n\n1 Hayes, 1970, p. 158.\n\n2 Ho-shi Ts'u-pu; in manuscript.\n\n3 Removals on feng-shui grounds are excluded from this statement.\n\n4 Chang-shi Ts'u-pu; in manuscript.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1974.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207966, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1977", "page_number": 5, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "174\n\nDAVID FAURE\n\nDistrict had over 100 people (see Table 2). Sai Kung Market had 512, of which 60 percent were males.36\n\nThe village in this area was organized primarily on two sets of principles, which may be described as lineage and territorial. Lineage relationships were founded on natural or adopted descent, and territorial relationships on membership of inter-village or inter-lineage groups. Lineage relationships were centred on the ancestral halls, the ancestral graves, the genealogies, and lineage trusts, and governed by regulations that laid down the rules of respect, adoption, and avoidance of inter-marriage to be observed. Territorial relationships were founded on arrangements made for the worship of territorial gods, at the earthgod shrines, or at the community temples, and were governed by regulations on subjects such as residence in the village, or the rules for participation in inter-lineage or inter-village activities. In large single surname villages, territorial relationships could often be subsumed under lineage relationships, but in Sai Kung, none of the larger villages was a single surname village.37\n\nThe arrangements for village organization in Ho Chung illustrate the merging of lineage and territorial relationships. The village consisted of fourteen surnames, of which the largest were the Wans and the Cheungs. Both surname groups considered themselves to be lineages, had ancestral property in the village, and their own ancestral halls and genealogies. Within the surname groups, lineage relationships dominated. The Cheungs, for instance, recognized that they were divided into four branches, but that the ancestral trust was held in common by all four. Ancestral land was rented out by annual rotation to each branch. The ancestral trust, naturally, was managed by a Cheung, but lent money to the entire village. The manager was responsible for organizing ancestral worship on the Double Ninth at the ancestral grave for which purpose contributions were collected from all members of the lineage. At Ts'ing Ming, however, the Cheungs worshipped individually, or in their family units, at their own kam t'aap. Some branches of the lineage had moved out of Ho Chung to Tso Wo Hang, Ping Tun, and Tai Po Tsai (near Tai Mong Tsai), and contact was not maintained. In closer contact with the Cheungs of Ho Chung were other surname groups in the village. The Cheungs managed the Ch'e Kung Temple, in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207968, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1977", "page_number": 7, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "176\n\nDAVID FAURE\n\nTse Che and Man Wo (both single surname villages of the surname Uen) also attended, not because they were related to surname groups in Ho Chung, but because they were located nearby. These last two villages contributed to the repair of the Ch'e Kung Temple in 1934. Besides the decennial ta tsiu, the entire village donated towards the costs of worship at the annual Ch'e Kung Festival.38\n\nThe Cheungs had settled in Ho Chung for several hundred years.\n\nIt is instructive to see how the Chans, a new-comer lineage, were integrated into the village. They came in the middle of the nineteenth century, and built an ancestral hall of their own in the village, decorated with exquisite carvings.* They were accepted firstly because they were invited to Ho Chung by the Lais, who had been among the first to settle in the village. Secondly, they were rich, and when they settled in the village, they set up the Luen Hing T'ong, which functioned as a money-lending trust in which other villagers of Ho Chung could hold shares. At the end of each year, the T'ong slaughtered a pig and divided the meat among the share-holders. Thirdly, as already noted, they were connected with officialdom, and were people of some influence in the county.39\n\nOther villages had institutions similar to Ho Chung's. Pak Kong had a village-wide institution known as the \"tso she\" (\"celebration at the earthgod's shrine\" or \"communal celebration\") which consisted of a religious homage and a feast at the earth-god's shrine on the Festival of the Great King Earthgod on the 15th of the Second Month. A five-year rota was set up whereby villagers took turns to be responsible for the feast. The rota was written on a wooden board that was kept in the Loks' ancestral hall. The group of villagers responsible for the worship in any year would collect the money contributions due from the other villagers, would provide and slaughter the pig that was needed for the worship, and would then mount the feast.40 In Sha Kok Mei, the term \"tso she\" was not used, but a small wooden board was circulated among resident households that took turns in groups of three to be responsible for communal worship at the beginning and the end of the year, and for worship of T'in Hau on her Festival Day at her temple at Leung Shuen Wan. Apparently,\n\n* Plate 3.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208174, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1977", "page_number": 213, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\nThe total cost is therefore: \n\nResumptions for sites \n\n$ 3,839.31 \n\nSite-preparation \n\n31,500.00 \n\nWells \n\n2,400.00 \n\n170,148.00 \n\nHouses \n\n8,346.00 \n\nAgricultural Resumptions \n\n54,122.47 \n\nForestry resumptions \n\n15,250.00 \n\nPineapple resumptions \n\n8,428.00 \n\nFung Shui or fruit trees \n\n2,165.00 \n\nIncidental expenses \n\n700.00 \n\n$296,898.78 \n\n197 \n\nJ. A. FRASER, \n\nDistrict Officer, North \n\n9th January, 1928. \n\nD. AU-YEUNG OF LAN NAI TONG'S ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN \n\nOF THE WAR \n\nRound about a century ago, there were a number of small villages in Tsuen Wan. They were the CHENGs and CHEUNGS of Shing Mun Village, the AU-YEUNGs of Lan Nai Tong, the LAWs of Shek Lei Pui Village, the HUIs, TSANGs, WONGS, LAUS of Lo Wai, the YAUs of Kwan Mun Hau and others. The villagers, totalling over one thousand people, made their livelihood out of farming. Although life was hard, they were sufficiently fed and clad. As the villages were connected by intermarriages, feasts and gatherings in which every member participated were held during festive occasions. \n\nOne day, two brothers of the AU-YEUNG clan returned from abroad,* bringing with them a lot of luggage and gifts. On their way to the village, they met some Shing Mun villagers who happened to be carrying brushwood to Shamshuipo (Kowloon) for sale. \n\n*'abroad' could mean anything, including Hong Kong! See District Commissioner New Territories Annual Departmental Report 1956-57, para. 3.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209437, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1982", "page_number": 94, "title": "RAS-1982", "content_text": "72 \n\nELIZABETH SINN \n\nThe following morning, the 4th October, the strike continued. Faced with impasse, several parties busied themselves throughout the day with various means of breaking the strike. First, Marsh attempted to stop the strike by discrediting Chang Chih-tung and other Canton officials, whose proclamations, as we have seen, Marsh was convinced had started all the troubles. The inflammatory nature of Chang's 15th September proclamation had prompted Harry Parkes, the British Minister at Peking, to protest to the Tsungli Yamen, and he succeeded in forcing the Chinese Court to issue an Imperial Decree censuring the Canton authorities for their excesses. When Marsh received news of this Decree on the night of the 3rd October, he felt vindicated. On the following morning, he had notices posted all over town telling of the Imperial Decree hoping to convince the populace that Chang's proclamations were no longer valid. He also issued proclamations calling on the people to resume work.\n\nAt the same time, a meeting was called at the Nam Pak Hong where Li Tak CheungA, Ho Amei, and about twenty other merchants persuaded the boat people and coolies to resume work. There were some reservations at first, but they seemed to have agreed to resume work on condition that attempts would be made to induce the authorities to forgive them and remit the fines. There was also some query as to why some of the people arrested during the riot were still in custody. Obviously the ill feeling and suspicions towards the Government had not yet been dispelled.\n\nFrederick Stewart, the Registrar-General, now Acting Colonial Secretary, had been asked to attend the meeting, but he declined. He felt that, since Stewart Lockhart had already met the boat people, there was no reason for another official to meet them at another meeting. However, as Stewart Lockhart had arranged a meeting that afternoon with Chinese Justices of the Peace, and present and former members of the Tung Wah Hospital Committee at which he would be present, he suggested that Li Tak Cheung and his friends should also attend.85 Both the Nam Pak Hong and the Tung Wah Hospital were Chinese institutions which the Government often consulted on matters affecting the Chinese population.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1982.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 210232, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1984", "page_number": 203, "title": "RAS-1984", "content_text": "182\n\nTHE STRUCTURE AND OPERATION\n\nOF KEI WAI (#)\n\nY.H. CHEUNGa, K.Y. TAIb, S.W. TSAOc, AND L.B. THROWERc*\n\nThe kei wai () is essentially a device for exploiting the nutrient-rich waters of an estuary. As they exist in the region of Mai Po (N.W. New Territories) kei wais consist of ponds about 1 metre deep and some 10 hectares in area. Each kei wai is separated from the adjacent Deep Bay (Hau Hoi Wan) by an embankment or bund, but communicates with it through a sluice gate. Seawater is allowed to enter on the high tide, carrying with it the fry and larvae of potential produce (fish, shrimps, crabs), and the gate is then closed to prevent outflow of water. Individual kei wais are also separated from one another by bunds. There is an obvious similarity in managing the kei wais to that used to control the exchange of water in commercial shrimp ponds in Hong Kong, namely the opening and closing of the gates as the tidal level changes. However, an important characteristic of kei wais is that no artificial fertilizer or food is added to the water.\n\nThis paper consists of two parts: I which describes the actual mode of operation of the kei wai and may be of interest to the general reader, and II which reports an investigation into factors affecting productivity of the kei wai.\n\nPART I OPERATION OF THE KEI WAI\n\nSituation and Form\n\nThe present Mai Po marshes are the latest stage in the deposition of alluvium. Thus, a zonation exists from dry land to the waters of Deep Bay: (i) old alluvium which usually is or has been cultivated, (ii) the general area of marsh, part of which has been excavated into deep fish ponds, (iii) the seaward region of the\n\na Pollution Research Unit, U.M.L.S.T., United Kingdom.\nb Department of Anatomy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.\nc Department of Biology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.\n* See Plates 7-14", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1984.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211749, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 164, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "139 \n\n26 \n\n+ \n\nto replace the Tang's ferry (1892-1896), by a new grouping of inter-village Yeuk mutual defence alliances, the Tsat Yeuk (±§, “Alliance of Seven''), must be seen in this context.\" After the foundation of the New Market at Tai Po, the influence of the \"major lineages\" in this area was sharply curtailed. \n\nThus, of the major nodal points of the area, two, Sha Tau Kok and Tai Po, became politically dominated by alliances of minor lineages during the nineteenth century. The importance of the roads through Ta Kwu Ling has been discussed above, and the political significance of the inter-village grouping centred on the Miu Keng pass has been noted. The foundation of the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz represents a successful attempt to ensure that external “major lineages\" could not control the road through the mountains. But, for the Ta Kwu Ling villagers, this route, while important, was not as vital as the crossing of the Sham Tsun river and the route to Sham Tsun, \n\nSham Tsun was too big for any “major lineage” ever to dominate it entirely for long; it was usually an “open market” at least in practice. However, the roads to the town could be controlled. The two main routes through Ta Kwu Ling met at Kan Tau Wai. North-west of Kan Tau Wai is an area of marshland, criss-crossed with drainage channels. To the north of that runs the Law Fong river, which drains the entire Ta Kwu Ling area, and cuts through the mountains which ring the area by a gorge about half a mile north-west of Kan Tau Wai. The Law Fong river joins the other main branch of the Sham Tsun river immediately after passing through the gorge. The crossings of the river were by ferries owned by the Cheung clan of Wong Pui Ling. The ownership of the ferries allowed the Cheungs to control all the roads out of Sham Tsun to the east. \n\nIt is probable that the market at Sham Tsun was founded quite late. The 1688 Hsin An County Gazetteer (Ch. 3) records a number of markets in the Sham Tsun basin, including Sham Tsun, although only Sham Tsun survived to be recorded in the 1822 Gazetteer. One of the markets which died was at Kim Ho (金河), between the two river crossings. This market must have been owned by the Cheungs. As the Cheung market declined, and the importance of Sham Tsun and its approach roads increased, so the value of the ferries to the Cheungs grew, \n\nPassage over the ferries cost one cash per person, plus one additional cash for any goods carried. It is unlikely that the clan earned", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211751, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 166, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "141\n\nless than $400 a year clear from the ferry.\" The power of the Cheungs can be seen from the map. For several miles around their village, no other settlement was ever established. The whole area from the outskirts of Sham Tsun (the village of Heung Tung, ô, Xiangdong) to the Sham Tsun river, and back to the mountains, was Cheung territory. Outsiders entering this territory along the road were required to recognize this.\n\nThis, however, the Ta Kwu Ling villagers refused to do. In the mid-nineteenth century, they initiated a programme to improve the road from Kan Tau Wai to Sham Tsun. Bridges were built across all the marshland ditches, and a causeway was provided across the marsh. They then proceeded to start bridging the main river, across the line of the Cheungs' ferry. This the Cheungs could not accept. They would not only stand to lose $400 a year clan income, but the successful building would demonstrate publicly that their control of their territory was not as absolute as they had always maintained. The result of the Ta Kwu Ling people's insistence on proceeding with the bridge was outright war between them and the Cheungs.28\n\nThe need to respond to very bitter fighting demanded a complete rearrangement of the local structure of inter-village alliances. Previously, as noted above, the strongest and best-organised area was the Ping Yuen Hap Heung, and its wider alliance centred on the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz. This area, however, was furthest away from the likely fighting area near the bridge, which was precisely the area where inter-village alliances had previously been weakest. The villages decided to establish a network of Yeuk, centred on Kan Tau Wai. Any invading force had to negotiate the bridge over the Law Fong river and the causeway over the marshes before it could arrive at the road intersection at Kan Tau Wai and the paths that ran from there along the higher ground to the other villages.\n\nJust north of Kan Tau Wai, a small hillock rises out of the marshes (just opposite the present Ta Kwu Ling Police Station). Here the villagers stationed a watch with an alarm drum to alert the area if the Cheungs attacked. This hill was called Ta Kwu Ling (‡T, “Drum Beat Hill”), and gave its name to the whole area. When the alarm was given, Kan Tau Wai had to send out runners along all the roads and paths out of the village to alert the other villages further away. The individual Yeuk were arranged as long, thin strips along each of these paths so that the villagers would respond, village by village, as the runner reached them, and thus their defenders reach the critical Kan Tau Wai area in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211765, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 180, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "155\n\n27\n\nAs noted above, 20,000 people a month used the Miu Keng pass. Probably as many again used the road from Ping Che to Kan Tau Wai, or started their journey within Ta Kwu Leng. 40,000 users of the ferry a month is a likely figure. Probably 25% of them carried goods. This represents more than $50 a month income, or about $600 a year. Even depreciating heavily for the salary of boatmen and costs of maintenance, $400 a year clear profit seems likely.\n\nThe date of this war was probably in the 1860s, as Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, op. cit., p. 104, shows.\n\n29 For the arrangement of the Yeuk, see map. The information in this section comes from Mr. Chan Yau-tsoi and Mr. Chan Wa-chun of Ping Yeung, Mr. Man Kam-muk of Ping Che, Mr. Yeung Choi of Fụng Wong Wu, Mr. Man Lei-wa of Tong Fong, and Mr. Hau Foh-tai of Law Fong, all very knowledgeable elders. I met them as a group, and include here only what they were unanimous in agreeing was the case. I would like to express my particular thanks to them for the several hours of discussion they had with me. As to Sai Ling Ha, this village, although it lay within the Ta Kwu Ling hills, supported Wong Pui Ling in the fighting, I was told. It had no part in the Luk Yeuk. However, when the Communists took over, most of the inhabitants of Sai Ling Ha crossed into Hong Kong, and set up homes in Ping Che. They were then allowed to become part of the Luk Yeuk, as part of Ping Che Yeuk. The account of the Luk Yeuk given here differs in detail from that given in Faure, op. cit., pp. 103-104.\n\n+1\n\n-\n\n30 The deaths are recorded in the \"Heroes Shrine\" () in the Tin Hau Temple at Ping Che, which was the community temple of the Ta Kwu Ling area. 23 names of the **Heroes who died in protecting the villages, who knew how to perform the duties of filial piety\", or the \"Heroes who defended the Yeuk\" as they are named in two inscriptions *澳四總鎮源樂友例段英雄履考之神位 and \"MX\") are recorded. Of these, 3 (all surnamed Chan) came from the Ping Yeung Yeuk, 4 (3 surnamed Tang and 1 surnamed Chau) from the Lin Tong Yeuk, 4 (1 surnamed Chau and 3 surnamed Lei) from the Lei Uk Yeuk, 4(2 surnamed Yiu and 2 surnamed Hau) from the Law Fong Yeuk, 2 (both surnamed Yip) from the Lo Shue Ling Yeuk and 4 (2 surnamed Wong and 2 surnamed Man) from the Ping Che Yeuk. One Law died he came either from Law Fong (Law Fong Yeuk) or Kan Tau Wai (Ping Che Yeuk). A Lau Ah-ngau (劉亞牛) also died -- he could have been from Wo Keng Shan (Ping Yeung Yeuk), where there was a tiny clan of Laus, or could possibly have been a servant, as his name suggests his name is entered last on the tablet. 23 deaths suggests very bloody fighting. It is unlikely that the population of the whole of Ta Kwu Ling in 1860 was higher than 1750 (representing an average village population of about 80, or perhaps 12 households), and the adult males could not have been more than a quarter of that (440). The young men of fighting age were probably no more than about 200. 23 out of 200 is about 11.5% deaths of those involved, which is a very high percentage. The population of the Ta Kwu Ling villages within the New Territories totalled 1441 in the 1911 Census (Sessional Papers, 1911, no. 17, Noronha & Lo, Hong Kong, 1911, \"Report on the Census of the Colony for 1911”, Table XIX p. 103 (32)).\n\n+\n\n-\n\nLoi Tung, with its lineage brethren of Lung Yeuk Tau, and the small villages between them, formed the Sze Yeuk (四約, “Alliance of Four''), which was, to a large degree, designed to ensure that the ancient enmity of the Tangs of Lung Yeuk Tau and Loi Tung with the Pangs of Fan Ling was tilted in favour of the Tangs. The Pangs supported the Luk Yeuk in its fight with the Cheungs this almost certainly means that the Sze Yeuk supported the Cheungs, as did Sheung Shui, the other ancient enemy of the Pangs. Man Uk Pin was a Yeuk of the Sha Tau Kok Shap Yeuk, as well as forming a part of the Sze Yeuk. The Shap Yeuk were dubious about the activities of the Luk Yeuk. Free travel between Sha Tau Kok and Sham Tsun was vital to the Shap Yeuk. With the Cheung Shan Kwụ\n\nPage 180\n\nPage 181", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211766, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1989", "page_number": 181, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "156\n\nTsz people controlling the pass and the Cheungs controlling the river crossing; no one group had total control of the road; but if the Luk Yeuk controlled both the pass and the bridge, then the Shap Yeuk's interests could well have been at risk. Lin Ma Hang of the Shap Yeuk actually fought alongside Wong Pui Ling; the rest of the Shap Yeuk was probably friendly to the Cheungs, or at least neutral in the dispute. The Sze Yeuk were allied with the Tangs in their opposition to the establishment of the Tai Po New Market by the Tsat Yeuk; as is to be expected, Fanling and the Luk Yeuk supported the Tsat Yeuk.\n\n32\n\n33\n\nIt is unclear if the inscription still survives or not.\n\nThey were Man Fuk-ting (Tong Fong, Chairman); Lei Yi-wa (Lei Uk); Chan Kwok-cheung (Ping Yeung); Tang King-shiu (Au Ha or Wang Kong Ha); Law King-fan (Law Fong); To Kan-yeung (Tin).\n\n14 Between 1911 and 1924 Chan Ping-kei (Chau ...) and Chan Tai [or Ting]-cheung ... (+ [Chinese characters unknown]) were managers, and as such appear on the Land Memorials.\n\n35\n\nIt was put up by Lin Tong and Wang Kong Ha villages, in \"The Shing Ping She Shrine of Righteousness\".ĦTH, Faure, Historical Inscriptions, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 850.\n\n36\n\n37\n\nFaure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, op. cit., pp. 104-105.\n\nChau Tin village owned a small temple, or San Teng (神廳), as did Kan Tau Wai and Law Fong. Kan Tau Wai in addition owned a small house as a meeting place for its elders. None of these communal facilities had any income-producing land attached to them, except for the Law Fong and Kan Tau Wai temples, which owned 0.05 and 0.12 acres respectively. The Ping Yuen temple manager was registered only for the single temple building, but not for any income-producing land, although the temple did buy a piece of land (0.72 acres) from a Ping Che villager in 1906. See DD82, houselot CT20; lot 759; DD78, lot 1158; DD82, houselot KTW13; houselots PC1-3; Memorial 2744.\n\nMemorials 24058 (20 April 1913), 27471 (4 June 1914), 45919 (7 December 1920); see also Memorial 17779 (17 October 1911) for the succession of the She to a house at Tong Fong.\n\n19\n\nFor the Po Tak Old Alliance, see Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, op. cit., pp. 128-140.\n\n40\n\n41\n\nSee R.G. Groves, \"The Origins of Two Market Towns'', loc.cit.\n\nFor the Tung Ping Kuk and the Tung Wo Kuk, see Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society, op. cit., pp. 128-140.\n\n42 (唔出嫁嘅女)\n\n43\n\n44\n\nSung Hok-p'ang, Legends and Stories of the New Territories: Kam Tin, op. cit.\n\nIt should be noted that these nunneries are often called Tsz (寺) in ordinary speech and documents. This character strictly means \"monastery\", but, in this area, this does not necessarily imply that the religious living there were men. Thus the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz is almost always so called, as in the document printed in the Appendix. The use of the more correct character Am (庵, 'nunnery') is almost entirely limited to Ch'ing official documents (especially the County Gazetteer) and, sometimes, on bells.\n\n45\n\n46\n\nloc.cit.\n\nSee Faure, Luk and Ng, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 3, p. 669. It is called Miu (廟, \"temple\") in Hsin An County Gazetteer, 1922, ch'uan 4 and 7, pages 49-50 and 82 of the Chung Lap Pao edition, 1979, and in the 1688 Gazetteer.\n\n47 Ling To is called Tsz (寺) in the Hsin An County Gazetteer, 1819, at ch'uan 18 and 21, pages 148 and 174 of the Chung Lap Pao edition, 1979, and, given the care with which...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212344, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 286, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "263\n\nwould be cannot bear being thought about.\n\nThus we have no alternative but to send you a detailed map together with this statement of fact.\n\nWe once again kowtow before Your Excellency, all of us prostrate before your perspicuity and judgement.\n\nWith speed like fire send an official to investigate! Strictly punish your inferior's order and the powerful ruffians, in order to preserve the communications and roads of the mass of the people!\n\nOn the day the bridge is completed, everyone will praise your great deeds!\n\nA petition!\n\nTo the Provincial Governor of Kwangtung, Chan, for his approval and action.\n\n[The success of this bridge is entirely due to Tsok-san and Sheung-yan's efforts. This is inserted here so that people of later generations will remember]\n\nThis petition was successful. The Provincial Governor, in his response, stated his view that this was \"not a matter of Fung Shui, but a matter of the loss of ferry revenue\". Since this was a public place, the Cheungs had no right to object to the ferry being replaced by a bridge, nor had they any right to \"convert their opposition into violence\". He ordered that the bridge go ahead. He also found the accusations against the County Magistrate justified, and the County Magistrate was immediately dismissed from his post. It is not known when the bridge was actually built: the November 1924 aerial photograph shows the crossing still had no bridge there then, but the bridge was certainly in place very shortly afterwards.\n\nIt would seem that, in the 1860 war, the Ta Kwu Ling villagers were successful, but only up to a certain point. The Cheungs were ejected from Ta Kwu Ling, and the Ta Kwu Ling villagers were able to build a bridge over the main branch of the Sham Chun River,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212345, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 287, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "264\n\nat Law Fong (this bridge is shown on the 1905 War Department map of the area). The villagers of Ta Kwu Ling built their temple at Kim Hau between the two branches of the river. But they were clearly unable to cross the second river. Control of the crossing of this second river, the Sha Wan River, remained with the Cheungs. This was land close to Wong Pui Ling, in the heartland of the Cheungs' territory. It would seem that the Cheungs' ultimate line of defence was the Sha Wan River, and that the Ta Kwu Ling people, despite the heavy loss of life on their side, were unable to breach this. The outcome of the 1860 war was, therefore, a compromise, with one branch of the river bridged, but one left with a ferry, and with the Cheung political power destroyed in the one area, but not the other.\n\nIt is, however, clear from the petition that the Ta Kwu Ling people had not accepted this compromise outcome, but were eager to reopen the question, to complete the freeing of their road to market from Cheung control. For how many years the Ta Kwu Ling elders collected cash for their project is unclear, but it is likely that a decade or more was spent. Probably, the cost of the 1860 war made it imperative for the Ta Kwu Ling villagers to recoup their finances for at least a generation before they were able to contemplate a **second round**.\n\nIt is interesting to see just how uncompromising the two sides were in this 1921-1922 dispute, and how determined the Ta Kwu Ling people were to eradicate this last Cheung stronghold on their road to market. It is equally interesting to see with what contempt the Ta Kwu Ling villagers treated the County Magistrate and his order: as soon as it was issued they treated it as \"stupid and muddled\", ignored it, and continued as though it had not been issued. What is more, they were willing, with their talk of a \"fighting with guns\" and consequences \"that cannot bear being thought about\" at least to hint that, if the Provincial Governor failed to give them what they wanted, they would go to war.\n\nThe Sha Tau Kok villagers had not supported the Ta Kwu Ling villagers in 1860, but the road from Sha Tau Kok to Sham Chun was vital to the Sha Tau Kok people, and, clearly, by 1921 they had come round to accepting that nothing but the removal of all Cheung controls would do. The first petition makes it clear that the Sha Tau Kok", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212347, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 289, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "266\n\nabout a mile below the Sha Wan River, and finally the Ching Shui River which drains the northern part of the valley from Po Kat (Buji) down, and which enters about half-a-mile below the Sheung Yue River. The main river is navigable for small skiffs as far as Kim Hau, but for junks only as far as the confluence of the main river and the Ching Shui River. However, the river at the mouth of the Ching Shui River is not navigable for junks at low tide. Furthermore, the navigable part of the river is not wide enough for a junk to turn around in easily when under sail. The Ching Shui River, at the junction with the main river, splits into two branches, with a low, marshy island between them and the main river.* Junks could come up the main river, enter the Ching Shui River, pass behind the marshy island, and back into the main river via the second branch of the stream, thus turning round without cutting across the channel, using a \"one-way\" system. The landing place used by the cargo junks and ferry boats, therefore, was the channel of the Ching Shui River behind the island. Junks would come up the river with the tide, and would load and unload while at rest on the mud at low tide, and would cast off and go down the river with the next high tide. Three significant roads pass through the valley, crossing at Sham Chun: the Yuen Long to Wai Chow (Huichou), Nam Tau (Nantou) to Sha Tau Kok, and Po Kat to Kowloon roads.\n\nIn the Ming, this valley had a number of markets, of which Sham Chun was only one. There was another at Kim Hau, and others to the west, including one at Lung Tsun Hui (Longjinxu), which was part of the Fuk Tin (Futian) village cluster. By the nineteenth century, however, all these other markets had either become extinct, or else survived only in a very small way as satellites of Sham Chun. Sham Chun had developed until it had become a very large market, with probably 500 and more shops. The market was ringed by large villages of rich clans—the Cheungs at Wong Pui Ling (Huangbeiling) about a mile to the east, the Tsois at Tsoi Uk Wai (Caiwuwei) about half a mile to the south-west, the Wongs at Fuk Tin about a mile to the south-west, the Yuens at Lo Wu (Lohu) about half a mile to the south and the Hos at Sun Kong (Sungang) about half a mile to the north. These rich and ancient clans were almost perennially in dispute, as they jostled for power and position in the district.\n\n* See Map.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212349, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 291, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "In the Ming, it may have been the Wongs of Fuk Tin who dominated the area, with their market at Lung Tsun Hui. It was at Chek Mei (赤尾, Chimei) within this village cluster that the sub-Magistracy for the area was established in 1370. By the nineteenth century, however, the dominant position in the district had been secured by the Cheungs. Sham Chun was essentially their market, built on their land, in that part of the district most closely controlled by them. The market stood, as a result, at an economically less than ideal site. It was built away from the Sham Chun River and the landing place, about half a mile down the Ching Shui River, at a point navigable even by the smallest skiffs only at the highest tides. Goods exported from the market had to be carried by coolies the half mile to the landing place at the junction of the rivers before being loaded onto the boats. Politically, however, the site was ideal for the Cheungs. The landing place, however, was within the area of dominance of the Yuens. The landing place was built on their land, in the centre of their village area.\n\nDistrict politics throughout most of the nineteenth century centred on attempts by the Cheungs to bring the landing place within their area of control, and by the Yuens to preserve their independence. The other clans of the district tended to be brought into the conflict as allies of one side or the other. The document translated below suggests that conflicts over control of the landing place broke out in 1836, 1856, and 1875.\n\nControl of the landing place brought with it, effectively, the right to collect the tolls charged for the movement of people and goods there. There were two theories on the collection of toll. The one was that toll was the right of the people who owned the land behind the landing site: they had had to give up land to build a road to service the landing stage, and the toll was the compensatory payment for the loss of income from the land thus rendered useless for agriculture. The other was that the landing place was outside the area privately owned: it lay on the riverbank muds, and was \"Government Waste\". Toll was the right of the Government to levy or grant away, and the adjacent owners of agricultural land had no rights over it. Travellers had the right to pass freely along the field-bunds as elsewhere. The Yuens, as the owners of the adjacent land, naturally tended to consider the first view was the correct one: the District Magistrate, and usually the Cheungs, tended to believe the second.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212351, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 293, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "270\n\nthe rights over it. However, the Yuen clan is weak, and was not able to maintain its right to the road at the landing place. The Tsoi clan of a neighbouring village snatched this right for themselves for many years. In an attempt to recover their rights, the Yuen clan allied themselves for approximately twenty years with the dominant clan of Sham Chun, the Cheung clan. The road at the landing place was eventually taken back from the Tsoi clan, but it was not returned to the Yuen clan\n\nthe Cheung clan kept it for themselves.\n\n―\n\n―\n\nFifteen further years passed. The Yuen clan at this point allied themselves with their erstwhile enemies, the people of the Tsoi clan, in order to advance their claims against the Cheung clan jointly with them.\n\nThe next development was, that the two allied clans jointly built a new market, immediately next to the landing place. This was about twenty minutes walk from the old market. The old market was the property of the Cheung clan, and it was hoped that the new market would damage the old one. This was, four years later, the occasion of serious conflict.\n\nThe allied clans had to prepare themselves against an attack from the Cheung clan during the building of the new market. They built their market within the protection of a small fortification, surrounding it, on the side facing the old market, with an earth wall. At the same time, the old market defended itself with a long wall. Anyone passing the two markets could see that a village war was on the way here.\n\nBoth sides at this stage collected their strength for the conflict, until, in the Spring of this year, the Yuen and Tsoi clans started the fight against the Cheung clan in deadly earnest. They had, in particular, procured a cannon which was big enough for them to use to fire into the houses of the Cheungs. The Cheungs also had a cannon, but it was smaller than that of their enemies, and caused little damage. The hostilities began in March of this year.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212352, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 294, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "and from then on for quite two months we naturally heard cannon-fire every day. However, this did not develop as just an artillery duel. Small arms fire, both from eight foot long Chinese jingals, and from guns of European pattern, played the main role in this struggle.\n\nYou should not think of the conduct of this village war in terms of European conflicts. The martial elements of the clans built up their spirits to the levels necessary for fighting with loud cries, insults, and the help of alcohol. They then, when ready, went out against the enemy's position with loaded muskets and spears to over-run it. At the head of a wild crowd of people ran the strongest and most skilled of the young men: behind them, the weaker and more timorous encouraged them on with a tumult of loud cries.\n\nThe fighters pushed ahead fiercely in the hope that they could overthrow and set fire to the positions of their enemies, take control of them, break through in the same way, and thus eventually return each to his own village. To achieve this, everyone ran as fast as they could.\n\nThere was one man of the Cheungs who did not take enough time for his retreat, or else it happened while he was fleeing, and who fell into a ditch - an easy thing to do amidst fields many of which were full of water. He was taken by the enemy. Since he was brave, he took up his spear to continue the fight. His people did not come quickly enough to his aid, and he was captured and taken by the superior forces of his enemies, or, as so frequently happens, he was recaptured. His victorious enemies were heartless enough to take his life. Without more ado, they transfixed him with their spears. They thought this would be a means to make them courageous and ready for battle. However, as far as this extremely shameless act goes, it would appear that, even if, by some means, the conflict had not come to Sham Chun, yet, nonetheless, such outrageous deaths are not rare where full-time soldiers, or robbers, are concerned.\n\n271", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212354, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 296, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "whom the whole district trembles. He is certainly a somewhat uneducated man, not only without fine manners, but a man who actually insults with the coarsest expressions when he sits to do justice. Yet it was nonetheless he alone who was ready for these obstinate clans, who broke their year-long overweening clannishness, and who brought the issue to a full and satisfactory solution. May it remain a successful conclusion to this affair in Sham Chun!\n\nOn his arrival he first of all required that all the weapons and armour of the allied clans be handed over to him. We heard that the Cheung clan had also made a delivery of their weapons, so that they could make an immediate appearance before Tin On-pong's seat of justice. Several houses of the Tsoi clan were burnt as a punishment. The Yuen clan were threatened in a similar way. The latter clan had among its members three graduates of the second rank (counting up from the bottom), and these were called before the Magistrate to defend their clan's claims.\n\nThis was so far successful that when the final decision was read out, it was that the \"Transit Toll\" should be divided, with four parts going to the Yuen clan, and six parts to the Sham Chun she hok.” (The she hok is a public building where, when disputes or other matters arise, the elders of the clans, the graduates, and the title-holders of the surrounding district meet together to take council on them.) However, since the Cheung clan is closest to the she hok it is likely that it will get the major share of the she hok's six parts. Furthermore, to conclude peace between the parties, it was decreed that the Yuen clan should sell the site of the landing place, and the rights over it, to the Cheung clan. This decision clearly favours the Cheung clan, since the people of the Yuen clan will lose all their rights to the matter under dispute. The Cheung clan will never again allow them to intrude into what is now to be the Cheungs' portion, whether the time be short or long.\n\nFinally, the Yuen clan were required to surrender one\n\nPage 273", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212355, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 297, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "274\n\nman, and the Tsoi clan four, to the authorities as being responsible for the murder of the man who fell in the ditch. This, however, is only a formality. Everyone knows that the District Mandarin will be only too happy to exchange these men for an eloquent sum of money. It is sad to be forced to see in action how the best of these Chinese officials are blind in the face of corruption of this type.\n\nThe total cost of this village war was more than sixty thousand dollars. This money will have to be found by a stiff payment from every person affected. The parties will be reduced to such extreme poverty that it will be many years before they can recover. It is as well that the bone of contention is removed from the clans.\n\nHowever, as it is said \"There can be no peace, where men do not sing of the love of Christ\". May that love soon be sung throughout this fruitful valley of Sham Chun!\n\nI greet you with the deepest respect and affection,\n\nYours,\n\nG. Reusch\n\n8th July, 1875.\"\n\nThe 1924 aerial photograph of Sham Chun, and the War Department map drawn up from it, show a broad earth-wall in the position suggested by Reusch, and this is shown on the Map. This probably represents the earth-wall of 1875. If so, the \"New Market\" of 1871 was not a success. Although the roads from the south (Kowloon and Yuen Long) ran through the centre of the site, the site was not as well sited as was the \"Old Market\", being further from the nodal point of the road system in the area. It was better located for the river trade, but only so long as the \"New Market\" and the landing place were in the same hands. Once the landing place had been handed over to the She Hok and to the Tung Ping Kuk which ran the She Hok, and which was dominated by the Cheungs, the \"New Market\" lost the advantages it gained from proximity to the river. By 1924, there were only a few buildings within the earth-wall\n\n—\n\na", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212356, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 298, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "275\n\nfew fishermens' houses, and a newly-built hotel.\n\nThis dispute in 1875 did not end the matter. It broke out again between 1902 and 1905. The documents which discuss this last conflict make it clear that the decisions of Tin On-pong in 1875 had not been fully implemented. In 1902, all the land behind the landing stage, which Tin On-pong had ordered to be sold by the Yuens to the Cheungs, was still in the hands of the Yuens. The right to collect toll, however, was wholly in the hands of the Tung Ping Kuk, and the Yuens were not collecting their four-tenths. Presumably the Yuens had passed this right to the Kuk, so long as their land-owning rights were left untouched. The Cheungs seem to have been left with nothing, other than what they could get by their dominance of the Tung Ping Kuk of the “Transit Toll\" income.\n\nBetween 1875 and 1902 conditions on the Sham Chun River had changed. Firstly, from the mid-1890s steam launches had begun to trade with Sham Chun. These vessels were less dependent on the tide than were the junks, since they were more manoeuvrable, so that they could turn within the river. They were, therefore, less dependent on the landing place behind the Ching Shui River island. They had come to dominate the local trade by 1902: by 1904 the Wa Lu company had achieved a virtual monopoly in the steam launch business here.\n\nIn addition, in 1898 the New Territories lease had included within the territory of Hong Kong all the waters of the Sham Chun River up to the high water mark on the north bank.\n\nThe Yuens saw in these circumstances the opportunity to regain their position. They sought a lease from the Hong Kong Government of a 2,000-foot-long strip of the main river bed on which to erect a wooden wharf. This would connect with their agricultural land by a wooden bridge which would pass over the wastes of the river banks, thereby side-stepping any claims to ownership of the tolls put forward by the District Magistrate on the grounds of imperial ownership of the wastes. The wharf so built would have blocked the exit from the channel behind the island at the mouth of the Ching Shui River. The Yuens produced this plan in conjunction with the Wa Lu steam-launch company. The plan would have ended at one stroke the use of the old landing place, and would have rendered all sailing junks using", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212357, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1990", "page_number": 299, "title": "RAS-1990", "content_text": "276\n\nthe river more or less helpless unless a steam launch either towed them out, or at least assisted in turning them round. The wharf proposed was to be built very close to the Imperial Maritime Customs station: the Customs supported the proposal since it would make their anti-smuggling work in the area far easier.\n\n―\n\nA lease (for a smaller area of 850 feet not so obviously blocking the channel) was granted by the Hong Kong Government. The Tung Ping Kuk, however, (represented by two Cheungs and a Wong; by this date the Wongs were normally allies of the Cheungs, being united by their mutual antagonism to the Tsois whose land lay between them) complained to the San On Magistrate, who promptly had the Yuen elders imprisoned for the \"fraudulent attempt to divert the toll from the Kuk to themselves\". The District Magistrate also made a strong statement of the rights to take toll being a Government right, founded on Government ownership of the wastes of the river bank. The Kuk sent young men to tear the new wharf down. The affair then petered out - the Magistrate was willing to take a far more active role in 1903-1905 than in 1875 or earlier, and the opening of the railway a couple of years later made all discussions of rights to toll somewhat academic, since trade now began to flow in different directions altogether.\n\nThese documents show three points of interest: the ineffectiveness of the Magistrate in settling affairs of this sort in the mid/late-nineteenth century; the critical importance of control of markets, roads, ferries, bridges and other nodal points of the traffic system in local politics; and the blood-thirsty and implacable nature which inter-village disputes could assume.\n\nThe disputes over the ownership of the landing place at Sham Chun lasted some seventy years, from the 1830s to 1905. Effective action by the District Magistrate seems to have been limited to the period 1903-1905: the actions of the Magistrate in 1875 were ineffective in the extreme, and there seems to have been no action at all in earlier disputes. In 1875, it was only when the dispute had escalated to such a state that the army was forced to intervene that any effective Government action was seen but it came very late. In other inter-village disputes in the area in this period the same ineffective inaction by the District Magistrate can be seen. There seems to have been no action taken by the District Magistrate in the bloody fighting (about 1850-1860) between Wong Pui Ling and Ta...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299", "rank": 0 } ]