[ { "id": 204481, "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-1962", "page_number": 113, "title": "RAS-1962", "content_text": "102\n\nJ. W. HAYES\n\nthere are sometimes several. As a general rule they are small buildings, but the major clans have constructed large high spacious buildings with several courtyards and side rooms. Among the largest in the New Territories are the ancestral temples of branches of the TANG clan at Ping Shan and Ha Tsuen near Yuen Long. These are fine and impressive buildings but are not, unfortunately, kept in good repair. Much of the opposition to the British troops in 1898 was planned in the ancestral hall at Ha Tsuen. Beside the Ping Shan hall there is a school/library building, now used as a private residence.\n\n53 The reason is always said to be lack of funds though I suspect a lack of leadership is also a prime factor. The clan usually waits until something is seriously wrong, by which time it is often too late; a storm completes the ruination. There seems to be some truth in this as I have found newly built ancestral halls in several villages, e.g. the CHEUNG ancestral hall at Lo Wai, Pui O which was rebuilt in 1960 on a new site, the old one having been in ruins for twenty years.\n\n54 Clan worship at the graves still goes on, but is much more informal than in 1898. Mr. TANG Kiu-fong of Fui Sha Wai, a retired schoolmaster, previously quoted, who was born in 1894, tells me that when he was a boy the ceremony was taken very seriously. Everyone wore the long robe, elders were carried to the graves in sedan chairs, and male members of the clan were drawn up in ranks by generations and worshipped in strict seniority, under the direction of a master of ceremonies.\n\n55 These ancestral obligations often imposed considerable inconvenience and up to several days' travel for the whole family. Mr. CHEUNG Yau of Tai Ping village, North Lamma, (b. 1883) tells me that his grandfather settled on Lamma Island from his native village of Wai Tau in the Lam Tsuen valley in the present Tai Po district. Ever since he can remember, and until old age interfered with visits a few years ago, he has gone back to his ancestral village at least three times a year, as dictated by custom. For the first twenty-five years there was no railway and his family used to go by junk to Kowloon and walk the rest of the way, children included. Others went further afield. Mr. LAM Shue Chun, Chairman of the Peng Chau Rural Committee, told me that his family went regularly to their ancestral village of Nam Leng Wai in Po On, north of the border, and were interrupted in their journeys first by the Japanese and latterly by the Communists. He has been twice since 1942 and an uncle has been visiting fairly regularly up to last year. The family travelled to Kowloon by junk, then used the railway and had a long walk from Sham Chon Market. Sometimes there was no need to go from home as contact had been lost with the ancestral village which was too far away.\n\n56 They were full at any time. There is an interesting count of travel on the Colony's border roads and the Shum Chun ferries taken 11th and 12th December 1905 in Enclosure E to Despatch No. 59 in Correspondence relating to Kowloon-Canton Railway already quoted. The first was a market day, when the count of persons, with and without goods, roughly doubled the figures for the second, or ordinary day. On the two main ferries, for instance, the count on December 11 was with goods 1126, without goods 1379 and on the Shum Chun-Sha Tau Kok road 521 and 1302. On the day following the figures were 468 and 1124, and 158 and 550 respectively. At New Year and the two grave festivals the number must have been very much increased.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1962.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205322, "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": 84, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY\n\n77\n\nincome of this man is then at least HK$25. It is also interesting to note that costs in the villages are often estimated in terms of British currency.\n\n40 See e.g. Baker 1965, p. 30.\n\n41 Marriage connections were then cast outside the standard market area of Tai Po. This is in contradiction to an assumption by G. W. Skinner (Skinner 1964/65, p. 36), who suggests that standard marketing communities were endogamous in traditional times.\n\n42 Sometimes children by this mating were brought back to the village. In Big Stream Village there is a man whose mother was a Jamaican woman, and his features are quite distinct. However, I have the impression that he is fairly well integrated in the village. He was, for instance, the only male I saw performing ancestral rites at the graves at the Ch'ing Ming festival. He is working as a policeman in Sha Tin. Otherwise I have not come across any secondary marriages in the valley.\n\nREFERENCES\n\nBAKER, H.\n\n[1965] 'Marriage and the Family', Aspects of Social Organization in the New Territories, (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch) n.d.\n\nBALL, J. DYER\n\n1925 Things Chinese, or Notes Connected with China, 5th edn, rev. by E. C. T. Werner, (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh).\n\nBARNETT, K. A.\n\n1957 'The People of the New Territories', Hong Kong Business Symposium, a Compilation of Authoritative Views on the Administration, Commerce and Resources of Britain's Far Eastern Outpost, J. M. Braga (ed.), (Hong Kong, South China Morning Post).\n\n1958 'Introduction on Hong Kong Place-names', Hong Kong Gazetteer to the Land Utilization Map of Hong Kong and the New Territories, with Chinese and English Names, T. R. Tregear (ed.), (Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press).\n\nBot. Report 1906\n\n1907 'Report on the Botanical and Forestry Department for the Year 1906', Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1907, (Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers).\n\nCensus 1911\n\n1911 'Report on the Census of the Colony for 1911', Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1911, (Hong Kong, Noronha and Co., Government Printers).\n\nCHEN TA\n\n1939 Emigrant Communities in South China, (New York, Institute of Pacific Relations).\n\nCHIU TZE NANG\n\n1964 'Land Use in the Extreme East of the New Territories', Land Use Problems in Hong Kong, S. G. Davis (ed.), (Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong Press).\n\nEITEL, E. J.\n\n1895 Europe in China, The History of Hong Kong from the Beginning to the Year 1882, (London and Hongkong, Luzac and Co.).", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206087, "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-1970", "page_number": 167, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "162 \n\nS. F. BALFOUR \n\nbefore it reached the coast line the Tang clan acquired considerable influence all over the semi-independent regions of South-east Kwangtung. They became feudal overlords of the populations and, as long as they could, helped to govern the territories they controlled for the Sung Emperors. When the Sungs were finally overcome and the Tartars reached the coast, their rôle became more that of farmers concerned in opening new areas to cultivation. They were pressed more closely into our region, and their political influence declined, although their cultural influence, absorbing as it did all the aboriginal elements and changing them into the Chinese mould, was potent and lasting.\n\nThe only source of the accounts of the Tang migration is in the family genealogy which was compiled in the Ming dynasty. It is based on authentic family records and although it contradicts itself in certain particulars, especially in dates, it must be regarded as an exact account. According to this genealogy the first ancestor of the local branch was Tang Han Fei who held an official post under the Sung dynasty in Kiangsi province. A preface to the genealogy says that he visited Kwangtung province but admits that it is not clear whether he reached this region or not. His great grandson Tang Fu Hsieh is considered the founder of the local branch. This man was a scholar who passed the public examination either in A.D. 1069 or 985 according to different versions. He, too, held an official post in Kiangsi and on retirement settled at Kam T'in, a fertile area north of the T'un Mun Valley. He brought from Kiangsi the bones of his forefathers which were buried in selected sites. The graves still exist and are particularly venerated by the Tangs.\n\nIt was Tang Fu Hsieh who carved the inscription which commemorates Han Yü on the summit of Mount Tun Mun and he also founded a school and a library at Kam T'in. His sons and his grandsons, however, did not stay there. They migrated further north into Tung Kun district where they founded houses which exist to this day. Owing to the presence of the family tombs, Kam T'in remained the property of the family and was probably visited every year, although they did not actually reside there. Three generations after Tang Fu Hsieh, five of his descendants, known as the \"five Yuans\" from their first names, made a division of the whole family properties which by then extended all over", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206094, "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-1970", "page_number": 174, "title": "RAS-1970", "content_text": "HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH\n\n169\n\nwhich had belonged to the last Emperor and in it the seal of the dynasty which was brought back as a token of the complete extinction of Sung. At Ch'ek Wan on the peninsula called Nam Shan just north-cast of our region there is a tomb which purports to be that of Ti Ping. It bears the inscription \"Grave of the Little Emperor Hsing Hsing24 of Sung\" and it is tended by a family named Chiu which was the surname of the Sung emperors. There are graves of both Tuan Tsung and Ti Ping in other places along the coast of Kwangtung province and it is not certain that this one is genuine. Most likely it was a \"garment grave\" containing some relic of the Emperor and made to deceive his enemies as to his real burial place.\n\nMany Chinese families in the district claim to be descended either from royal blood or from ministers and soldiers of Sung. These claims may be unsubstantiated individually but the fact that they are made in the mass points to a tradition that much of the Sung army settled in South China after their defeat. It may be asked whether the Tang family helped the Emperors whose kins-men they were. Tang Shou Tsu who lived about this time was a minor officer in the Yuan armies and probably fought against Sung. The Tang family nevertheless lost its paramount influence in Tung Kun district after these events, and this may be the reason why members of the elder branch settled more permanently at Kam Tin and in other parts of the region.\n\nVIII. T'UN MUN AND THE PORTUGUESE\n\nMention has been made in a previous section of the prevalence of pirates in the South China Seas in early times. The earliest record of any piratical action within the region is as early as the 10th century when a pirate named Wu Ling Kuang attacked T'un Mun but was defeated. A later event was a revolt of the population of Lantau Island in 1278 when the Yuan government attempted to enforce a monopoly of the salt production and arrested the private salt makers. It is recorded that soldiers tried to land on the island but were prevented by means of wooden stakes placed along the coast, and that the Tanka inhabitants then sailed up the estuary and attacked Canton. The civil population fled, but the sailors defending Canton, by using incendiary arrows\n\n24 The reign title of Ti Ping.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1970.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206280, "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-1971", "page_number": 97, "title": "RAS-1971", "content_text": "CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG\n\n91\n\nas the American Trading Company of Borneo, with the intention of developing the concession the Sultan of Brunei had granted to an American, Charles Lee Moses. The Chinese partners supplied most of the capital. The Company established a settlement, but after a few years of ship-building, experimental planting, and trade the project was abandoned. The company did not have sufficient capital to finance the undertaking properly.24 This drain of capital may have been the primary cause of the bankruptcy of Pang Wah Ping in 1866. He had acquired his original capital from profits of trade in unprepared opium, and during his years of prosperity his name appears on the various documents used as criteria for élite status.\n\nThe Li family, however, was more firmly established and survived the failure of the American Trading Company of Borneo. Its interests were diversified. It had large real estate holdings in Hong Kong which regularly brought in rental income. It was perhaps the largest broker for coolie labor and charterer of ships for these emigrants. In 1868 gambling was legalized in Hong Kong and the monopoly was bought up by the Li family firm. They also had interests in the opium monopoly.\n\nTheir financial investment in Hong Kong appears to have led them to identify their interests with the British at the time of the Second Opium War, and a Chinese source states that they \"gave contributions to foreigners to the extent of over a lakh of ready money and recruited native braves who went to the front at Tientsin. When peace was declared they shared in the War Indemnity as well as in the Imperial effects and curios of the Yuen-ming-yuen (Summer Palaces)\".25 They were accused of supporting France in its efforts to gain control of Annam. The Chinese authorities of their home district tried to derive some benefit from the fortunes of the family, by requesting large contributions for the reclamation of waste land. When the family seemed somewhat hesitant to meet the full demands of the authorities, they sought to provoke generosity by seizing a member of the family who happened to have returned to his home district, imprisoning him, and eventually putting him on trial.\n\nThis account of the troubles the family encountered in its relations with Chinese officialdom illustrates the predicament the wealthy merchants and compradores found themselves in", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1971.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206843, "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-1973", "page_number": 120, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "114 \n\nSUNG HOK-P’ANG \n\nto Kam T'in he was much taken by it, considering the people were more friendly and honest than those of his own country, and it was said that he came to live there in the 6th year of Hoi Po (HT) A.D. 973 of Sung dynasty. During the 8th year of Shing Fa (APC) A.D. 1472 of Ming dynasty when the Kam T'in people revised their family tree, they added a note which cast doubt on the veracity of this, and instead they were inclined to believe that Tang Foo (#) the great grandson of Tang Hon Fat was really the first to come to Kam Tin, and that he transferred the bones of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather to Kwangtung from Kiangsi. Be that as it may, and although there is no actual proof that one or other was the original Tang to settle in Kwangtung, Tang Hon Fat remains a \"first ancestor\" as his is the oldest Tang grave near Kam T'in. It can be found at Ah Kai Shaan (Y), Waang Chau (H) village.\n\nSix generations after Tang Hon Fat there were two brothers, Kwai (3) and Sui (). Kwai had two sons called Yuen Ying (* ) and Yuen Hei (†), both of whom left Kam T’in and founded branches of the family elsewhere. Sui had three sons, Yuen Ching (元祯), Yuen Leung (元亮) and Yuen Woh (元和). The first and last of these also left for other districts but Yuen Leung remained behind, and the Tangs in Kam T’in to-day are his direct descendants. These five cousins were known as the \"Five Yuens\", and after their death their descendants who by then were scattered in various parts of China built an Ancestral Hall, common to all the Yuens, called To Hing T'ong (*). It is at the South gate of the district city of Tung Koon (✯✯), on the Kowloon-Canton railway not far from Sheklung (). In the hall Tang Hon Fat has been given premier place, but the \"Five Yuens\" are venerated in the same way as he and Tang Yue are, as being \"first ancestors”.\n\nAs mentioned before, Tang Foo, the great grandson of Tang Hon Fat is said to have found the sites for the graves of his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, himself. They were all acknowledged as being lucky places by the \"fung shui\" men, who were, of course, consulted. That of Tang Hon Fat is called Yuk Nui Paai T'ong (£#*) jade girl reverence; and his son's grave which is on Yuen Long Hill (₪), is called Kam Chung Fau Tei () gold bell cover ground. The grave of Tang Foo's father is called Poon Yuet Chiu T'aam (#AM) half moon shine lake,\n\nPage 120\n\nPage 121", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206851, "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-1973", "page_number": 128, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "122\n\nSUNG HOK-P'ANG\n\nwho her father really was, and Yuen Leung was very troubled as to what to do with her. However when she became of marriageable age the elders of the village advised him to marry her to his son Tsz Ming (A) which, as she was quite willing, he did.\n\nMeanwhile the fighting between the Tartars and the Sungs had ceased. Peace was made, and Hong Wong had now become the Emperor Ko Tsung, who ordered that enquiries should be made concerning his daughter. All the district officers throughout the Empire were instructed to help and when the official notice was posted up in the vicinity of Kam T’in, Tsz Ming was much frightened at having married the princess without the emperor's permission. But the princess said, “Do not fear. My life was saved by the Tang family and I have willingly become your wife. Go and tell the District officer who I am.\" When the official heard the news he came at once and did obeisance to the Princess, and then sent a petition to the Emperor. Ko Tsung ordered Tsz Ming and his wife to come to the capital, where they stayed for about a year, but the princess pined for Kam T'in and begged to be allowed to return to the place of her adoption. So the Emperor let her go, but first he bestowed on her many wharves in the district as \"powder expenses\"; and a large area of hill and forest land as \"toilet expenses\". On the thirteenth day of the seventh month of the 8th year of Siu Hing (2) A.D. 1138 they started back for Kam T’in. When they got there, the princess gave orders that the hills and woodlands should be thrown open to the public, so that anyone could make graves on her land without paying tax. In the 51st year of Hong Hei (‡) of Tsing dynasty, A.D. 1712, when the princess' grave was repaired, her dowry was still being used by the country people for a free burial ground. In the 5th year of K'in Lung (†) A.D. 1169, the princess gave thirty-six wharves to the Tsz Fok Monastery (*) the oldest monastery in Tung Kwun. Among these wharves was that of Shek Kit (5) near Shek Lung. When the history of Tung Kwoon was revised in the 12th year of Sung Ching (†††) of Ming dynasty, A.D. 1639, only three out of ten of the wharves were mentioned as still being in use, but Shek Kit is still in existence now.\n\nIn some books the princess is referred to as Sung Tsung Kei (***). Sung being the name of the dynasty, Tsung meaning royal, and Kei high lady. She is known, however, in the Tang family as Wong Kwu (2), the Emperor's Aunt, as her nephew became", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 206854, "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-1973", "page_number": 131, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES: KAM TIN\n\n125\n\nbeen repaired and colour-washed in red and white. For a long time this grave was lost, much to the sorrow of Tsz Ming's descendants. In the 33rd year of Hong Hei (R) of Ts'ing dynasty, A.D. 1694, Tang Lui Taan (12) of Ha Ts'uen (†) happening to read the old history of Tung Kwun came across this passage. \"Tang Tsz Ming's grave is in Kau To (A) on Fat Au Leng Shaan. It is now called Ng To (£) of San On district.\" Lui Taan reported this to a relation, Tang Ng Shaang (£) who immediately collected a party of Kam T'in men to go out to the hill and find it. They found a grave there, but on it was a stone stating that it belonged to Tang Maan Lei (£) a cousin of Tsz Ming and the first ancestor of the Ping Shaan family of Tangs. The Kam T'in men were preparing to go away disappointed, when Ng Shaang discovered another and much older stone nearby with the characters almost obliterated. He took the tea he had brought to drink, carefully washed the stone with it and found the following on it ẞ and part of the two characters Kwan # and Ma which were in Tsz Ming's title. After consultation it was decided to dig up the grave and a sham tomb with bricks inside it of a very old style were found exactly the same as in the princess' grave. At last they found the real tomb itself and Tsz Ming's bone-pot could be seen through a hole in the top. So the Kam T'in men were very glad indeed, and to show their gratitude every year about the third month, at the Ts'ing Ming () festival of worshipping at the graves of their ancestors, the Kam T'in people always presented Ng Shaang with some roast pork taken from the offerings for the husband of the princess.\n\n[3]\n\nDuring the Sung dynasty the titles of She Yan (4A) or Siu She (J) were used to address young men of high rank. As the four sons of Tang Tsz Ming and the Princess were the nephews of the Emperor they received the title of Kwok She (4) which means \"Kingdom's young men.\" The eldest, Lam (*) was known as Taai Kwok She, the others Kei (2) Waai (†) and Tsz (†) were called Yee, Saam and Se Kwok She respectively. It is the custom in Kam Tin even now for the young people to address their fathers as \"She\" instead of “Ah Dae\" (E) the Cantonese equivalent to \"Daddy.\"", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207095, "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": 166, "title": "RAS-1974", "content_text": "LEGENDS AND STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES.\n\nKAM T'IN 4 (continued).\n\nSUNG HOK-P'ANG\n\n[4]\n\nAll the members of the Tang family living in Kam T'in now are the direct descendants of Hung Yee, so besides Hon Fat, whom they venerate as the first ancestor to settle in Kam T'in and Yuen Leung as the first ancestor for the new generations that dated back to the \"five Yuens”, they also venerate Hung Yee as their Hoi Tsuk Tso (*) “the ancestor who started the present clan\"; but no new series of generations was made dating from him and on his gravestone Hung Yee is named as the 15th generation ancestor after Hon Fat.\n\nAs Tang T'ing-Ching (***) a grandson of Hung Yee passed the Kui Yan (A) degree in the 7th year of Shing Fa (✯Ł) A.D. 1471, and was appointed the district officer of T'ang Yuen (B) Kwangsi province, Hung Yee, according to Chinese custom, received the honour of Man Lam Long (p). Both the graves of Hung Yee and his second wife Wong are to be found at Tung Haang Leng (*) about a mile away to the East of Kam T'in. According to Wong's gravestone she is supposed to have gone with Hung Yee to the place of his banishment, but this is different to the story in the Kam T'in family-tree book where it is stated that Hung Yee married Wong in Nanking after he was set free from his banishment. Hung Yee's original house was situated outside the North Gate of Kam T'in Market, but it no longer exists and the place where it stood is now called Naam Wai Tun () “South surround mound\". The ancestral hall in Kam T'in Market which is to be found there now, is the one that was built for Hung Yee by his descendants.\n\nThe three sections printed herein conclude the reissue of this article which first appeared in The Hong Kong Naturalist between December 1935-March 1938. The first three sections appeared between pp. 110-132 of the 1974 Journal, together with a memoir of the author. The photographs illustrating all six sections are printed in this issue.", "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": 207976, "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": 15, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S Report TREASURER's Report THE LIBRARY\n\nCONTENTS\n\nPage\n\n1\n\n6\n\n10\n\nTRANSACTIONS :\n\nBrunei: A Historical Relic - LEIGH WRIGHT\n\nBehind Japanese Barbed Wire: Stanley Internment Camp, Hong Kong 1942-1945 - G. C. EMERSON\n\nA Journey to Yenan 1946 - W. A. REYNOLDS\n\nARTICLES:\n\nTwo Essays on the Ch'ing Economy of Hsin-An, Kwangtung - J. T. KAMM\n\nUnder Altars - K. G. STEVENS\n\nSocial Organization and Ceremonial Life of Two Multi-Surname Villages in Hoi-p'ing County, South China, 1911-1949 - YUEN-FONG WOON\n\n\"Little Fujian (Fukien)” Sub-Neighbourhood and Community in North Point, Hong Kong - GREGORY E. GULDIN\n\nReprinted ARTICLES:\n\nCheung Chow - Long Island - W. J. HINTON\n\nMemories of the District Office South, Hong Kong - W. SCHOFIELD\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES:\n\nNotes for the Royal Asiatic Society Visit to Tai Mo Shan, 3rd April 1976 — (I) L. B. and S. L. THROWER (II) JAMES HAYES\n\nNotes for the Visit to the Tang Family Graves, 11 December 1976 - DAVID LIU and JAMES HAYES\n\nRoyal Asiatic Society Visit to Tsuen Wan, 10th December, 1977 - A Village War'. JAMES HAYES\n\nThe Rural History Project in Yuen Long and Field Notes on the Social History and Fung Shui of Kam Tin - J. T. KAMM\n\nBean Skim, A Product of Blood and Sweat\n\nFour Chinese Banks Fail, Partners Blame Head\n\nTwo Letters From Wartime China\n\nA Further Note on Feng Yun-Shan and Gützlaff - Jen Yu-wen\n\nReptiles New to Hong Kong - J. D. ROMER\n\nThe Public Botanic Garden of Hong Kong\n\nBirds of Tai Mo Shan - MICHAEL Webster\n\nOccurrence of the Birds - J. D. ROMER\n\n12\n\n30\n\n(55)\n\n85\n\n101\n\n112\n\n130\n\n144\n\n179\n\n(185)\n\n199\n\n216\n\n218\n\n220\n\n228\n\n232\n\n234\n\n236\n\n237\n\nPage 15\n\nPage 16", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207978, "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": 17, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "PRESIDENT'S REPORT FOR 1977\n\n(Covering the period April 1, 1976 — March 31, 1977)\n\nDuring the past year your Council has endeavoured to arrange a full and varied programme of events and we hope that everybody has found something to interest and enjoy. Altogether there have been 14 lectures, three local excursions and two foreign tours, all events being well attended, although not always by the same people. Let me briefly summarise these events.\n\nIn May 1976 Professor John Fairbank, a leading authority on modern Chinese history and Asia's relations with the West, visiting from Harvard, came to talk to us about contemporary China studies. He also asked us about studies of Hong Kong and China being conducted from here at that time, and was pleased to find many of our own members active in this field. In June, Dr. James McGough, an anthropologist, at that time with the University of Hong Kong, talked about his own research on Chinese marriage carried out in Taiwan, and in July Professor Robert Bruce, an old friend and former member of the Council, discussed relations between the United States and East Asia. In August Mr. Brian Peacock, Curator of Hong Kong's Museum of History and also a Council member, talked on Hindu-Buddhist Settlement and Trade in Ancient Kedah, Malaya; and in October members visited the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals' museum, under the able guidance of Carl Smith and James Hayes. Carl Smith also provided very comprehensive notes on the Hospital which will be published in a later issue of the Journal. Also in October Dr. Peter Wesley-Smith gave a very thought-provoking talk on the convention for the lease of the New Territories. This stimulated much discussion. In November, in preparation for the Sri Lanka tour, Ms. Minette de Silva gave an introductory talk, illustrated with slides, of the various places tour members would be visiting and things they would be seeing on the tour. Also in November Professor Cheng Te-k'un returned to us again to lecture, this time on Chinese Nature Painting, and in December Dr. Leigh Wright, a member of your Council, gave a lecture in preparation for the other foreign tour, to Borneo, which he led in February.\n\nA visit to the Tang family graves was organised by David Liu and James Hayes in December. The Tang lineage is the oldest and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208156, "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": 195, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n179 \n\n32. Before we left the higher ground, however, the most striking feature of the walk was, suddenly rounding a bend of the path and topping a rise, to be confronted with a low roaring noise which some of the party thought was jet engine noise but which turned out to be the din of the Kwai Chung section of Tsuen Wan New Town! This was a noise that accompanied us along much of our foothills walk thereafter. \n\n33. The final stretch took us from the main stream above Lo Wai to Chuen Lung. It was marked by pine forests sowed, we were told by aeroplane, and by various large rocks and boulders. One of these was known locally as the Frog Stone (...), a name that it is claimed was given to it by the founder of the Tung Po To monastery at Lo Wai, the famous monk Mou Fung (***) who was fond of walking in the area, giving names to rocks whose shapes touched his fancy. \n\nHong Kong, 1976, 1978. \n\nJAMES HAYES \n\nBOOKS CITED: \n\nBourne, F. S. A., The Lo-Fou Mountains, An Excursion (Hong Kong, \n\nKelly and Walsh, 1895). \n\nDavis, S. G., The Geology of Hong Kong (Hong Kong, Government \n\nPrinter, 1952). \n\nDingle, E. J., China's Revolution 1911-1912 (London, T. Fisher Unwin, \n\n1912). \n\nGiles, H. A., The Civilization of China (London, Williams and Norgate \n\n1911). \n\nHenry, B. C., The Cross and the Dragon (N.Y, 1882). \n\nHeywood, G. S. P., Rambles in Hong Kong (Hong Kong, Kelly and \n\nWalsh, second edition 1951). \n\nPitcher, P. W., In and About Amoy (Shanghai and Foochow, The \n\nMethodist Publishing House in China, 1909). \n\nROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY---VISIT TO THE TANG FAMILY GRAVES ON SATURDAY, 11TH DECEMBER, 1976 \n\nThe Tang family is the oldest, largest and most famous of the New Territories' Chinese lineages. It has been settled in the area for just over 900 years and has a long history of local dominance. It has also produced many famous scholars and officials in the tradition of large, wealthy Chinese lineages. \n\nPage 195\n\nPage 196", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208157, "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": 196, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "180\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nA visit will be made by coach to five of the oldest graves belonging to the family and, in addition, to a school in Kat Hing Wai at Kam Tin to see some of its heirlooms.\n\nQuite a bit of walking is involved and lady members are advised to wear flat shoes for comfort and ease of movement over hill paths. The visit will start from the Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier at 11 a.m. Members are advised to catch the regular ferry from the Central Terminus, Hong Kong (35 minutes by ordinary ferry, 20 by hover ferry). Please check ferry times with HK Yaumatei Ferry Co. (Tel. 5-220393) and make your own arrangements. Otherwise, come by car and park locally, allowing plenty of time to find parking space (try the western end of Yeung Uk Road, in the area of the Yeung Uk Road Sports Ground, in the same road as the pier).\n\nMembers are advised to bring a picnic lunch. The visit should end between 5--6 p.m., back at the Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier.\n\nThe tour will be limited to two buses and members and their friends are invited on a first-come-first-served basis. Please telephone names to Mrs. Kam at 12-403396 (District Office, Tsuen Wan).\n\nProgramme notes will be available on the day.\n\nDAVID LIU and JAMES HAYES\n\nJoint Organizers\n\n29.11.76\n\nTHE TANG (4) CLAN IN THE NEW TERRITORIES AND ITS OLDEST GRAVES\n\nAccording to the genealogical record kept by the Tang clan at Kam Tin, it originated from a branch settled in Kut Shui County (*) of Kiangsi Province during the northern Sung period (960-1126).* \n\nIt all started when one of the ancestors by the name of TANG Fu-hip (###) passed through this part of Kwangtung on his way to his new official assignment as the magistrate of Yeung Chun County () after he had successfully passed the imperial examination and was awarded the chin-shih degree during the reign of Hsi Ning (1068-1077).\n\n* With the exception of \"Kiangsi” romanizations used in this Note are in Cantonese.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208160, "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": 199, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES\n\nThe five graves may be summed up chronologically as follows:\n\n(1) TANG Hon-fat\n\n(2) TANG Kun\n\n(3) TANG Yuk\n\n(4) TANG Fu-hip\n\n(5) TANG Wai-kap\n\nHong Kong, Nov. 1976\n\n183\n\n(Yuk Nui Pai Tong) near Wang Chau.\n\nYuen Long.\n\n(Kam Chung Fook Fo) on a small hill\n\nbehind Pok Oi Hospital.\n\n(Pun Yuet Chiu Tam) Tsuen Wan on\n\nCastle Peak Road.\n\n(Sin Yan Tai Tso) near Wang Chau,\n\nYuen Long.\n\n(Wu Lei Kuo Shui) near Au Tau cross-\n\nroads.\n\nDAVID LIU\n\nACCOUNT OF THE VISIT\n\nOn Saturday, 11th December, 1976 some thirty members of the Society visited the five main graves of the Tang family of Kam Tin and other old established villages in the New Territories (see the programme notes above).\n\nWe first visited grave No. 3 in Tsuen Wan which is located on a small hill that was bought by the family in 1927 to protect the grave in the face of various encroachments. In addition to the grave, there exist two round granite pillars (similar to those at graves 1 and 4 but without their lion-dog tops). These are situated each at a distance of 132 feet and angles of 125 and 217 degrees from the centre of the grave, as measured standing at the main table with the compass pointing north.* Lower down, a little off the main road there is also part of an entrance, built of inscribed rectangular granite pillars, erected in the 4 year which the Tang elders say is, in this case, 1894.\n\nMr. Peplow was Land Bailiff, Southern District at the time the Tangs purchased the land in 1927, and his account,† quoting from a silk scroll given to him by one of the Tangs, is as follows:\n\n† S. H. Peplow Hong Kong About and Around (Hong Kong Commercial Press 1930) pp. 148-149.\n\n* I have since learned from the Tangs that the two pillars stood further to the front of the grave, nearer the former shore line, and that they were moved to their present location when the first Castle Peak motor road was constructed about 1917-1919.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208161, "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": 200, "title": "RAS-1977", "content_text": "184\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\n\"The burial ground is situated near Chai Wan Kok, Tsun Wan. Some time ago, about ten years after the Territory was leased to Great Britain, some natives of Tsun Wan village applied to the H.K. Govt. for a piece of land near the grave to erect some houses, but the proposed area affected the Fung Shui of the said grave. The village Elders of the various branches of the Tang family assembled, and a joint petition was submitted to the District Officer in the names of the descendants. Thanks to this Official the proposed sale was withdrawn. It was afterwards put on record that the site of the grave was to be preserved for ever. Subsequently new roads were constructed by the P.W.D. and the line of one proposed road was across the grave site. The Elders of the Tang family, fearing that this might affect the \"force of the movement of the green dragon,” again assembled and petitioned H.E. the Governor, praying that the line be moved to the foreshore of the site. This was done. In the 6th moon of the 12th year of the Chinese Republic, (1923) a villager of Tsun Wan dug earth on the right side of the ancestral grave, that is, in Chai Wan Kok village, thereby affecting the \"force of the movement of the coming dragon.\" Another petition was sent to the District Officer, who inspected the grave personally. After that earth cutting was prohibited, and the ancestral grave preserved.\"\n\nWe then proceeded to Kam Tin itself where, in front of the Kam Tin Rural Committee Office, we were greeted by an impressive body of lineage elders, treated to a dim sum (*) repast and shown a number of interesting relics handed down through the centuries. These included a painting with imperial calligraphy stated to date from Sung times, and a number of other paintings.*\n\nOur next stop was at Au Tau cross roads to see grave No. 5, that of TANG Wai-kap, the husband of the Sung refugee princess referred to in the Notes.\n\nFrom Au Tau cross roads we went on to the Pok Oi Hospital near Yuen Long and walked into an area of low hills, across a stream, where we inspected grave No. 2. This is located in what is obviously considered to be a very favourable fung shui area because the adjoining ground is thickly covered with graves.\n\nAfter returning to Pok Oi Hospital, we went by bus to Wang Chau behind Yuen Long where we walked through the village and across the fields to the foothills of an adjacent hill area. We went first to grave No. 1 and from there along a winding path to grave No. 4 which is located some 500 yards to the south. Both graves are in excellent positions, and like No. 3 have granite pillars with lion\n\n* These have been reproduced at pp. 112-115 of the Inauguration Publication of the Tang Clansmen Association (Inc. 1965), in Chinese, of which there is a copy in the Chinese Library, University of Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1977.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 208277, "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-1978", "page_number": 1, "title": "RAS-1978", "content_text": "180\n\nDAVID FAURE\n\nearthgods, and the decennial ta-tsius (festivals to thank the gods and feed the ghosts). Besides these festivals, births, weddings, and deaths, also called for celebration.47\n\nMany of these festivals are still celebrated, but some of the rituals which used to mark them are no longer practised. In the Mid-Autumn Festival, for instance, it used to be common practice for women and young people to sit outside their houses at night and repeat certain lines until one of them went into a trance.48 After mid-night, on the Tsat Tse Festival, villagers gathered water, which could be preserved in a jar and used as medicine throughout the year.49 Temple celebrations were hardly as well endowed before World War II as they are today. In the place of the operas that are presented to the gods nowadays, there used to be puppet shows only except at Sai Kung Market, which alone could afford opera pre-war.50 Feasts were essential to all celebrations. At temple festivals, each worshipping group held its own feast; at grave worship ceremonies, lineage members ate together at the graves, and for all other festivals, each family celebrated on its own. Feasts at weddings and funerals were open to all villagers from all of the villages in the same neighbourhood alliance.51\n\nCelebrations were meant to be colourful. They fulfilled the need for entertainment in village life at a time when other forms of popular entertainment were unknown as well as expressing deeply ingrained religious beliefs.\n\nThe musical culture\n\nSinging was an important ingredient of village life. At weddings, brides sang for \"several days and nights\" to express their sorrow at having been \"forced\" into marriage. At funerals, women relatives keened to express their grief, and to recount their relationship with the deceased. \"Mountain songs\" were sung between young men and young women. In some villages, the singing of these \"mountain songs\" was institutionalized, so that it was understood that Sha Kok Mei, for instance, would sing \"against\" Pak Kong in an annual \"mountain song\" contest. Punti, Hakka, and the boat people, all had their own songs. In addition, there were professionals, who came into the villages to sing for money. Quite a few villagers still remember the little clappers these singers carried.52", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209024, "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-1980", "page_number": 186, "title": "RAS-1980", "content_text": "154\n\nNOTES AND QUERIES\n\nnumerous minor grades excel those of other places in their colour, fragrance and taste. Chu Yi-chuen of Sau Shui remarks, \"There is no fixed standard as to which place in Fukien and Kwangtung produces the best quality of lychee, but in my opinion “Kwa Luk” from Kwangtung tops all.\" The three most outstanding selections of \"Kwa Luk” are \"Siu Fa Shan”, “Luk Law Yi” and \"Kau Kei Wan”.\n\nA species named \"Sheung Shu Wai\", literally \"being carried (wai) by the Minister (Sheung Shu)\", originated from a minister Cham Man-kang who brought back a pip of lychee from Windy Pavilion. Most lychees fall into this category. The most valuable lychee tree whose fruit is priced scores of times more than others is the one growing in the West Garden located outside West Gate of the County Seat. In fact, there were other lychee trees which were as good as, or even better than, that tree. Another species called “Crystal Ball\" of Cha Kong is of the same grade as \"Kwa Luk”, and also on the list of the delicious lychees are \"Sai Kok\" (rhino's horn), \"Kwai Mei” (taste of osmanthus), \"Nor Mai Chee\" (like glutinous rice), \"Sung Ka Heung\" (fragrance of Sung Family), \"Chun Fung Yuk” (jade offered to emperor) and Ho Pau (wallet).\n\n(translation by District Office, Tsuen Wan)\n\n3. By chance, I heard recently of the existence of at least one tree of the special type of “Kwa Luk” mentioned in the opening paragraph from the father of a friend. This gentleman, a Hakka from Ng Wah District, served pre-war in the provincial administration of Kwangtung at Canton. He had a friend Mr. Wong Ping-kwan (*A), who was the district magistrate (*) of Tsang Shing at that time (about 1937-38). This official used to send a parcel of this special lychee to his superiors in Canton. The fruit came from trees in the courtyard and gardens of his office in Tsang Shing. It was not for sale, and although my friend said he had heard of some being available on the market in recent times, he was sure they were not the genuine article.\n\nHong Kong.\n\nDecember, 1979.\n\nJAMES HAYES", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1980.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209823, "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-1983", "page_number": 82, "title": "RAS-1983", "content_text": "60\n\n(f) Finally, in entering business or commerce, a man will frequently assume yet another name, “pit tsz” (筆子), for purposes of business only.\n\n(g) Apart from the milk name, proper name and school name, a girl will at marriage assume her husband's clan name in front of her own, e.g. HO Fung Ling (何鳳玲), on marrying TANG Man Lin (鄧文連), becomes TANG HO Fung Ling (鄧何鳳玲).\n\n(h) The reluctance of married women to reveal their full maiden name often leads them to leave off their final name and instead to add the suffix \"shi” (氏).\n\nNOTES\n\n1 The notes were later amended and in this amended form were put on a file (Ref1/477/54) which is now in the Public Records Office. The notes as given here represent the original form, with footnotes, introduction and minor amendments by the author (Hon. Ed.).\n\n* Wills, of whatever sort, were, whatever the legal position, very rare among New Territories villagers. I remember only one, of a wealthy Cantonese landowner.\n\n* I met such a case in Tai Po where the wife, fortunately, did not contest the husband's claim that she was not a virgin.\n\n* I must have come across up to half a dozen cases of sam p'o tsai, including two or three disputes where the girl refused to marry her intended groom. The groom's family did not attempt to force marriage, but were concerned about a formal separation. The groom's family had of course for some time received the free use of the girl's services as a household worker, and so could not validly demand compensation from the girl's natural parents. A sam p'o tsai is quite different to a mui tsai who was to all intents and purposes a slave girl. (Mui tsai were banned in Hong Kong before World War II.)\n\n* Up till the 1950's, huet chong graves were normally left untouched for 5 years, this being the period needed for bodies to decompose completely. But, from the 1950's onwards, bodies took longer to decompose, and 7 years is now the standard time. I know this, because from 1958-60 I was in the Urban Services Department in charge of disposal of the dead. I was also in the Urban Services Department from 1968-71, when again I was connected with this aspect. In those days, the coffin section at Wo Hop Shek cemetery used to be cleared every 5 years, but there were so many unfit graves that this period was extended to 7 years. The need for the longer period arose apparently from the wider use of antibiotics and other drugs which seem to have the effect of preserving bodies and which were then coming into much greater use.\n\nSee in general on Burial Customs the author's Chinese Burial Customs in Hong Kong, journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volume 1, 1960, pp 115-124.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1983.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211596, "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": 11, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "23 March\n\nDr. Elizabeth Sinn\n\n\"Management of the Chinese in 19th Century Hong Kong and the Role of the Tung Wah Hospital”\n\nThe following Visits were made:\n\n29 April\n\n6 May\n\n24 June\n\n1 July\n\nAnita Wilson and Dr. James Hayes\n\nVisit to the Pottery Kiln at Tuen Mun, Ha Tsuen Tang Ancestral Hall and Old Market, Ling Wan Monastery (with vegetarian lunch), Lai Family Study Hall and Mansion at Sheung Tsuen, Hakka Mansion at Sham Ka Wai, and Yuen Long Old Market\n\nDr. James Hayes and Ted Brown Visit to Kowloon Walled City, Again! Phillip Bruce\n\nVisit to Old Marine Police Headquarters at Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon\n\nPhillip Bruce\n\nRepeat of the Visit of 24 June\n\n14 September Dr. Patrick Hase and Lee Man-yip\n\nVisit to Wo Hang for the Hot Air Balloon release at Mid Autumn Festival\n\n25 November Dr. James Hayes\n\n9 December\n\nVisit to places of interest on Hong Kong Island, including Waterfall Bay, the Aberdeen Country Park Management Centre, Chung Hom Kok, Shek O Village and Lei Yu Mun Barracks and Leisure Centre Rosemary Lee and Richard Gee\n\nRepeat of the N.T. Visit of 29 April\n\n13-14 January Anita Wilson, Dr. Dan Waters, Rev. Carl Smith and\n\nDr. Joseph Ting\n\n22 January\n\n18 February\n\nWeek End Visit to Macao\n\nPhillip Bruce\n\nVisit to some interesting Naval and Military Graves in the Colonial Cemetery\n\nPhillip Bruce and Dr. Anthony Siu\n\nVisit to the Tung Chung Area, the site of Hong Kong's Future Replacement Airport\n\nThis varied and interesting programme has again been due to the Activities Committee, which has worked hard under Dr. Elizabeth Sinn's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212872, "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-1992", "page_number": 181, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "166\n\ndescendents experimenting with the locations in the light of family events over that time, since anything untoward would be attributed to bad siting of the urn.* If, however, good fortune smiled on the family, it might then be decided to prepare a formal, horseshoe grave on that site, or perhaps on another equally auspicious or even better location. The services of a geomancer were obligatory on such occasions as few families would possess a member with the necessary skills. Thus, by the time a new grave appeared on a hillside, there had been a great amount of prior thought and activity among the responsible persons in the family, as well as considerable expenditure. Sometimes, this included paying those villagers living in the vicinity of the grave, persons with customary rights of grazing, and somebody to cut the grass around the grave occasionally.\n\nSome Typical Grave Inscriptions\n\nThe following inscriptions on two old graves recorded from the Tsuen Wan District, with translations and comments, will indicate the care taken with burials, and the obvious importance attached to the process. The first is from a grave belonging to the Tang family of Kam Tin, New Territories. This inscription, dated 1853, has been chosen from among many others of the kind, because it exemplifies the strong family feeling that motivates descendents in regard to ancestral worship and their duties toward the living and the dead:\n\nAncestor Wing-shing, alias ...-yue, alias Shan-fung, was the second son of Ancestor Kwan-leung. He was born in Chien Lung ping-san year (1736) and died in Chia Ch'ing kap-shut year (1814). By his wife, who was from the Man family, he had one son, Ying-yuen, a kui-yan of 1789.\n\nAncestor Hin-sing, alias Kwing-yue, alias Kang-sham, was the only son of Ancestor Kwan-chak.\n\nThese two gentlemen were grandsons of Ancestor Kwok-yın.\n\n[Hin-sing] was born in Chien Lung mou-san year 1748, and died in Chia Ch'ing san-mei year 1811. By his wife, who came from the Liu family, he had two sons. One, Ying-..., who held fu kung-sang degree had a [second] wife from the Man family, by whom he had two", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212873, "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-1992", "page_number": 182, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "sons. The second son of Hin-sing, named Ying-yiu, was a kwok-hok-sang, and the third, named Ying-[...] held the kung-sang degree.\n\nToday, the two brothers [Wing-sing and Hin-sing] are being buried together in the one grave located at the local place name Shing Mun Au, whose fung-shui direction is as follows [details]. The geomantic name of this grave site is *the lion looking at... [...].*\n\nThe burial has been arranged for an auspicious day in autumn, and the memory of the deceased will endure for ever.\n\n167\n\n*All descendants live at Kam Tin,* states the tablet. The date of burial was in Hsien Feng 3rd or kwai-chau year (1853), and the time of burial was the third day in a period listed in the almanac as kuk tan,\n\nThere is much damage on the tablet where the two names of the deceased appear, but the title of kwok-hok-sang appears above Hin-sing's name, and of a conferred military degree above the other's. Among the names of the living descendants appearing on the tablet are sons and nephews Ying-yiu and another, Ying-kwai. There are also grandsons and great-grandsons. It will be noted that this was really a reburial, since one man had been dead for 39 years and the other for 42. Their achievements were felt to require this filial action on the part of surviving sons, nephews and after generations of the two deceased.\n\nIt should be remarked that, as in the next case, the text of this inscription is in line with the Confucian admonition 'to glorify the ancestors and preserve the posterity.' The two ancestors' achievements are recorded, as an act of pride of family, as are their sons' in their turn. The record of their lives can be read by all descendants thenceforward, and can serve to spur them to further achievement in their turn.\n\nThe second of these old graves is located in the Shing Mun area on the slopes of Tai Mo Shan. The grave was repaired on a lucky day in the middle month of the autumn season in the 10th year of Kuang Hsu, that is in 1884. The person buried there had been born about 1710 (by inference from the tablet's wording), and the reburial was carried out by all three branches of the family, in the great and great grandsons'", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212875, "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-1992", "page_number": 184, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "169\n\nfamily in the present generation and after:\n\nOur ancestors first came to live in Tsuen Wan about 235 years ago [1740]. Two brothers came from Chik Sek Market of Shi Kwan Tong sub-district (heung) of Hoi-fung County to Lai Chi Kok in Kowloon. Later, one brother moved to Sha Tsui (Yeung Uk Village), Tsuen Wan. Our founding ancestor was first buried on Tsing Yi Island, but because the authorities wished to develop that part of the island into a dockyard his remains were reburied in a formal grave at Fa Shan, Tsuen Wan. His wife was, and still is, buried at Hau Tei of Chai Wan Kok, Tsuen Wan. It has been found that both these ancestral graves have ever brought good fortune to our clansmen.”\n\nThis letter was sent in response to my enquiry about the settlement of the lineage in Tsuen Wan. I had not realized it would be a catalogue of information on founding ancestors and their graves, ending in the statement that the graves were responsible for the flourishing condition of the lineage today!\n\nAlarm and Indignation at Official Notices\n\nSometimes, there were more direct examples of the kind, originating in the posting of official notices on site. When old graves on Tai Mo Shan were being inspected and registered by our land staff in 1980, notices were posted which were guaranteed to upset their owners. One of the many affected parties, the Tang clan of Wang Toi Shan Village in the Pat Heung, sent in a very strongly worded letter to the Office:\n\nWe refer to your notice posted at the ancestral graves of our Tang clan at Sze Fong Shan, Tai Mo Shan summit, stating that the burials were in violation of public health regulations. Descendants of the clan called an urgent meeting at which it was resolved to make strong objections. The Tang clan are indigenous villagers of Wang Toi Shan in the Pat Heung, and have a history [of settlement there] which is older than the Hong Kong Government. The ancestral graves in question date back to more than a century ago, and were repaired in the 31st year of Kuang-hsu [1905], as shown by the tomb inscriptions. The prosperity of our clan is attributed", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212880, "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-1992", "page_number": 189, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "174\n\nto indigenous status, though now living in multi-storey apartment blocks following an earlier removal from their village. The grave was in thick bushes and clearly had not been visited at the two grave-worshipping festivals for a very long time. The elder confirmed this, but added that the fung-shui had turned bad.2\n\nWhere adverse influences were detected by experts, stones were placed at the grave, so as to block off the tablet. An instance of blocking-off is given in one of the files. It comes from Northeast Lantau. The grave belonged to a family from Tai Lam Chung on the mainland. A branch had also been settled for a hundred years at Tai Pang Po, Lantau, where this particular grave was located, on account of the good stake-net fishing there. The land officer provided a photograph of the grave. He reported that it was some 60-70 years old, but added, \"The inscription cannot be seen as the tombstone is covered by small rocks, because of poor fung-shui.\" The claimant told him there were four burial urns inside the grave, and gave the names of the persons whose remains were interred there.\" In another case, also seen on Northeast Lantau, the names of the deceased had been deliberately chipped off the tablet.\n\nObligations Outside The Family\n\nWhen it came to securing the removal of old graves, we found that the obligations to take up and rebury could sometimes ramify beyond the clan concerned. I had several cases of this kind when serving in Tsuen Wan. In another instance, the link was not so direct or as clear, but it was just as well-established as an obligation in the minds of those involved. The case involved an old grave, required to be removed for further development at Sam Pak Tsin, Texaco Road, Tsuen Wan. Since it had been repaired in 1813, it assuredly dated from the 18th century. Moreover, the grave tablet referred to the earlier burial of the remains of the husband and wife at other places, one of them at Kwai Chung. A lineage of a different surname, belonging to Hoi Pa Village, had responded to our notices posted on site, and came forward to state its obligation to arrange for removal and reburial of the remains. This was not simply a matter of taking compensation (if we were satisfied with the claim) as the reburial would involve the family in much trouble and expense. Such cases were not encountered frequently. Elders of this lineage (and the village representative who also belonged to it) said that the link with the persons buried in the grave was through the female side of their family but was no longer known clearly to even its oldest living members. Whatever it was,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 212883, "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-1992", "page_number": 192, "title": "RAS-1992", "content_text": "porcupines and barking deer flourished there. During holiday times, many persons visited the island for shooting excursions. In 1923, a Mr. Chan came to hunt. He noticed that there were human remains on the hills, lying on the surface. Moved by compassion, he contacted our local headman, Mr. Tang Yuen-kwun. It was then established that these bones were the remains of former villagers of this island. However, it seemed either that no one looked after them, or else the persons concerned were miserably poor. Willingly, Mr. Chan raised the necessary funds and entrusted Mr. Tang Yuen-kwun to construct a charitable grave to re-bury the remains, so that local villagers could worship there. This happened over 50 years ago.\n\nWomen's Graves\n\n177\n\nFemales' graves should not be excluded from this survey. From the evidence available from the Tsuen Wan district, there can be no doubt that some women were greatly honoured. This was particularly the case with the wives of founding ancestors. Many old graves containing the remains of such persons have been buried and reburied over the centuries by their descendants. Single burials of married, and often elderly women are also common, again in formal graves and often repaired many years later. Sometimes these women are not first but tin fong wives, married after the death of a first wife. Also when, as sometimes happened, it was decided to erect a clan grave, the remains exhumed and brought from elsewhere included just as many women's as men's. In recent times, when development required the removal of many old graves, those of women as well as men's or married couples' were reprovisioned by descendants.\n\nIt is difficult to establish why women were so well favoured in this respect. Some women were revered by husbands and family because of their noble character and capabilities at home and in the family, and this is sometimes stated on the inscribed tablet at the grave. Others may have been buried in style because of the general respect shown for age and the high status of a wife and mother who had become head of the family on her husband's death. Some inscriptions would reflect truth, others would be more eulogistic than factual, reflecting the family's desire to gain face from giving the deceased formal burial. Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that the hillsides contain many formal graves where the sole occupant is a female.\n\n18", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1992.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 213304, "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-1994", "page_number": 126, "title": "RAS-1994", "content_text": "106\n\nwas made \"holy\". Now it is too commercialised. To think that by moving your desk by a few feet you can change your luck!' \n\n'One does not like to dispute anything to do with the \"cosmic arts\".' \n\n'Things like fung shui till a need, and people have to create something, like God, Allah or fung shui, to fill that need. Fung shui is also a rationalisation of good planning.' \n\n'I don't believe that fung shui really has any effect on anything. But it is an intelligent use of land, such as flow of water and siting of buildings etc.' \n\n'If your ancestors are comfortable in their graves then you are comfortable. My Chinese friend felt someone was trying to tell him something. He then went to the cemetery and found the family graves were flooded. Fung shui can be a source of terror.' \n\n'I'm sceptical, although, like some superstitions, much is commonsense. Like walking under a ladder. It may fall on you.' \n\n'I don't believe. But, as a government servant working in the New Territories, you have to go along with villagers' customs.' \n\n'Everyone has their own pattern of beliefs: and so they should.' \n\n'Fung shui is a good belief. People need beliefs. There are different kinds and degrees of belief.' \n\nlike Christianity. But \n\n'I don't believe in the mumbo jumbo. Fung shui has been distorted and commercialised. But the planning aspects are sensible. For instance, water is important. In village life you need to retain it, but, if it is a few inches too high, it can flood all your paddy.' \n\n'Yes, man needs things like fung shui to hang on to.' \n\n'My husband and I built a new house on the Peak in the late 1980s. But after we moved in I felt unwell, so we called in the fung shui man. He said there was not a great deal wrong but he put in the odd plant here and there and made minor changes. After that, we held a \"fung shui party\" and invited all our friends. I did not feel off-colour any more.'", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1994.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 215312, "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-2001", "page_number": 89, "title": "RAS-2001", "content_text": "37\n\nor She Ji was still a political manifestation up through the Tang (618-907) and the Song (960-1260) dynasties, articulating neighbourhood and local belonging. In the Ming (1368-1644) period of early modern China, government regulations required that every hundred households maintain one She shrine and the ceremony conducted there should include the slaughtering of animals. It was then a day of feasting.4\n\n48\n\nThere is reason for caution here. While it cannot be denied that the ancient rituals of the remote Zhou dynasty share something with those performed more than two thousand years after in late Imperial China, the similarities must be deemed to be no more than a certain family resemblance. There is no reason to assume that the late counterparts of pristine sacrifices were caused by a true structural continuity through the ages. Forms are similar, so are the offerings of meat and wine, and a political component was permanently involved; but having recognized this, we must also remember all those agrarian, religious, social and political changes that have had such a profound impact on life in China in these millennia. Whatever ideas and notions that informed the rites of ancient and early China, these must have been modified and transformed in the course of these two thousand years of history. Still, these resemblances over the millennia continue to fascinate.\n\nThe observation that the archaic links between the cults of the She and the dead re-appear in contemporary rituals in southern China, invites some further speculation. If death was an essential semantic component in the ancient notion of the She, a robust structure of meaning may well have survived—or been generated and generated again—despite ever changing symbolic environments; if it was true that the She could not be separated from the dead, or, possibly, was a manifestation of collective death, this close connotation [death<>vegetative force] may have been a presupposition for any ritual activity concerned with the earth and its generative power.\n\nWhat can be said here, in our present context, is that in some places in the central Yangzi valley there were visits to the graves of the dead in connection with the celebration of the She. The rituals to the agricultural god of the soil solicited blessings for the coming season by offerings and prayers which were sent in a downward direction to reach\n\n48 Aijmer 1991: 191-92.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2001.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g", "rank": 0 } ]