RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 260 OVERSEAS ORDINARY MEMBERS STRAUCH, Dr. Judith, Dept. of Anthropology, William James Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. STURM, Prof. F. G., Dept. of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87131, U.S.A. WATSON, Dr. James L., Dept. of Anthropology, School of Oriental & African Studies, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HP, UNITED KINGDOM. WEBB, Mrs. S. M., Cambridge School, Munster, B.F.P.O. 17, WEST GERMANY. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CONTENTS (Cont'd.) A Tun Fu ceremony in Tai Po district 1981 - JUDITH STRAUCH - 147 Lychees of Tsang Shing county, Kwangtung — JAMES HAYES - 153 Local Reactions to the disturbance of Fung Shui on Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong 1978-80 - JAMES HAYES - 155 Another missing library - JAMES HAYES - 157 Yet another library — JAMES HAYES - 158 A missing Chinese library - H. A. RYDINGS & JAMES HAYES - 159 Maryknoll in China, with W. J. Howard's letter to the Hon. Librarian - JAMES HAYES - 162 Library of the North China Branch, R.A.S., Shanghai - H. A. RYDINGS - 164 BOOK REVIEWS - 166 The popular culture of late Ch'ing and early twentieth century China: book lists prepared from collecting in Hong Kong - JAMES HAYES - 168 A bibliography of Taoism in oriental languages - WILLIAM Y. CHEN - 184 A short glossary of Geomantic Terms - CAROLE MORGAN - 209 vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES 153 tinuing solidarity and sense of community is, I believe, quite noteworthy. The indigenous multilineage alliance feels threatened by the changes imposed on its quiet valley both by the influx of immigrant farmers and by the new government development plans. In the tun fu ceremonies, I would suggest, it fights back symbolically at both foes. The government is committed to keeping, at least symbolically, the promise made by Blake that Chinese "usages and good customs will not in any way be interfered with." Although these villagers are in reality helpless in the face of tumultuous change, they can in the short run pressure the government to give them "face" by providing financial support for the ritual reaffirmation of their exclusive symbolic rights in the lands of their ancestors. The presence of the outsiders in Fung Yuen, ritual statement notwithstanding, is very real, as is the power of the state which is likely to claim more than the domains of the Green Dragon and the White Tiger in the very near future. In the meantime, the tun fu ceremonies, like other rituals, provide us a glimpse of the structure of social as well as religious meaning in a sector of Chinese society that carries on old traditions in a changing world. Berkeley, California, 1982 JUDITH STRAUCH LYCHEES OF TSANG SHING COUNTY, KWANGTUNG. In May 1979 I was invited to inaugurate a new term of office-bearers of the New Territories Tsang Shing Fellow Countrymen's Association*4, and at dinner enquired into special local products. Among other items, a rare type of lychee was mentioned. The lychee is a kind of sub-species, and is supposed to be red with a green stripe. None of the persons at the table had seen it, and in conversation they presumed that it came into the category of folk myth. (1921), 2. The latest edition of the country gazetteer chüan 9/3a has this to say about the lychees of Tsang Shing District: Sei Mong Kong in Sa Pui, Tsang Shing County, produces the prime quality of lychee in Kwangtung because the soil there is rich and sandy. Species ranging from "Kwa Luk" (##) to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 216 FABER, Mrs G.A.G. FAWCETT, Mr B.C. FRASER, Mr A.P. GALVIN, Mr J.A.T. GEORGE, Mr Timothy J.B. GIEDROYC, Mr Michael J.H. GOLDNEY, Miss C.M. HARDEN, Mrs Guy T., Jr. HAYDON, Mr E.S. HECHTEL, Mr F.O.P. HOWARTH, Mr Richard H. HUGHES, Mrs Marion HURT, Miss Evelyn J. INGLES, Miss Jean M. IRETON, Mrs Polly H. JOHNSTON, Mr James J. JORDAN, Dr David K. KIDD, Mr S.T. 7 KNOWLES, Miss Moria G. KNOWLES, Mrs W.C.G. KURATA, Mrs Lucien LANCHESTER Mrs G.W. LAUFER, Mr E.M. LAUFER, Mrs B.M. LI, DR Choh-Ming LINDSAY, Mr T.J. LOTHROP, Mr Francis B. MANSFIELD, Miss M.B. MICHAELIONES, Miss E.O. MILL, Major C.S., USMC MILLER, Mr Carl F.O. NICHOLS, The Hon. Mr E.H. O'BRIEN, Father J.R. PLAG, Rev. Albrecht POLAND, Mr Thomas D. RITCHIE, Mr Douglas J. ROBINSON, Prof. K.E. ROTHE, Mr Ulrich. SINFIELD, Mr G.HC. SPERRY, Mr Henry M. STEVENS, Mr Keith G. SWIRE, Mr A.C. TILL, The Very Rev. Barry TURNER, Sir Michael WARD, Miss Janet E.A. WELCH, Mr Holmes H. WHITELEGGE, Mr D.S. WOLF, Mr John ORDINARY OVERSEAS MEMBERS ANDERSON, Dr Eugene N., Jr. BARR, Mr J.W. BEVERIDGE, Mr R.J. BOND, Mr Michael W. CHAR, Mr Tin Yuke CHINN, Mrs Caroline Lee CLARK, Mrs A.T. COOPER, Dr Eugene DE FAZIO, Mr & Mrs M.F. EASTON, Ms. Linda FESSLER, Mr Loren FITZGIBBON, Mr Desmond GARD, Dr Richard A. GILMAN, Ms Claudia GOODRICH, Prof. L. Carrington HARRISON, Prof, B. HEMMING, Miss Janet M. HODGSON, Mr A.F. HODGSON, Mrs Kirsty Hamilton HOGAN, Mr James HUYSMAN, Mr J. KNEEBONE, Mrs Susan KRAMERS, Dr R.P. LIU, Prof. Ts'un Yan LU, Mrs Sylvia MACLEAN, Mr Roderick MATHIAS, Dr John R.G. McCOY, Mr John MORGAN, Mrs Carole MYERS, Mr John T. PARR, Mr M.J. REDFERN, Mr O'Donnell S. REID, Mr A.J.H. SCHWARZER, Mr C.A. SELWYN, Mr J.B. SMITH, Dr Ralph B. STEEDS, Mr David STOKES, Mr John STRAUCH, Dr Judith STURM, Prof. Fred Gillette VILLIERS, Dr John WATSON, Dr James L. WICKBERG, Professor Edgar ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 261 Baker, Hugh D.R. 1966 Bibliography of Sources Cited: "The Five Great Clans of the New Territories". Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Vol. 6. Brim, John A. 1974 “Village Alliance Temples in Hong Kong", In Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, edited by Arthur P. Wolf. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Dumont, Louis 1970 Homo Hierarchicus: An Essay on the Caste System, translated by Mark Sainsbury. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Fei Hsiao-tung 1946 "Peasantry and Gentry: An Interpretation of Chinese Social Structure and Its Changes". American Journal of Sociology 52(1), Freedman, Maurice 1958 Lineage Organization in Southeastern China. London: Athlone Press. 1966 Chinese Lineage and Society. London: Athlone Press. Fried, Morton H. 1970 **Clans and Lineages: How to Tell Them Apart and Why with Special Reference to Chinese Society”. Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 29 (Taipei). Geertz, Clifford 1963 Peddlers and Princes: Social Change and Economic Modernization in Two Indonesian Towns. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Holy, Ladislav 1979 "The Segmentary Lineage Structure and Its Existential Status”. In Segmentary Lineage Systems Reconsidered, edited by L. Holy. Belfast: The Queen's University Papers in Social Anthropology. Kuhn, Philip A. 1970 Rebellion and Its Enemies in Late Imperial China: Militarization and Social Structure, 1796-1864, Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Pasternak, Burton 1969 "The Role of the Frontier in Chinese Lineage Development'. Journal of Asian Studies 28(3), Polanyi, Karl 1944 The Great Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press. Moore, Barrington 1966 Social Origins of Dictatorship and Discovery: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World, New York: Penguin Press. Strathern, Marilyn 1984 "Localism Displaced: A "Vanishing Village" in Rural England", Ethnos 49(1-2) (Stockholm). Strauch, Judith 1983 "Community and Kinship in Southeastern China: The View from the Multilineage Villages of Hong Kong". Journal of Asian Studies 43(1), Wolf, Eric 1982 Europe and the People without History. Berkeley: University of California Press. Page 285 Page 286 262 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 172 means of legitimizing their permanent residency in the district and increasing their local influence and power. When some seamen returned home, after foreign steamships had significantly reduced the recruitment of sailors from Hong Kong in the 1950s, they had become so unfamiliar with local affairs, as a result of their long leave from home, that even if they were elected village representatives on the Tung Chung's Rural Committee established in 1950 under government auspices, they served mainly as liaison men. Newer settlers at Ma Wan Chung, with their wealth and their leading role in organizing activities to commemorate the Houwang's feast day festival, have actually been among the leading local social élites, though not necessarily holding formal official positions. Adaptability and Tenacity: The Tradition of the Houwang Worship In effect, the Houwang worship transcends blood ties and bridges the gap between old and new settlers, and thus functions to maintain a strong village coalition in Tung Chung. As a multi-lineage community, Tung Chung can be used as a case to support Judith Strauch's argument that economic and ritual cooperation and overarching unity, implicit in shared "native place," instead of constant internal conflict and all-round uneasiness, can prevail in a mix-surname settlement.** It also fits Burton Pasternak's model of “villages in which families of different surnames joined forces and played down agnatic differences for the sake of survival."84 It is indeed in the villagers' interest to accept newcomers to the community, in order to make up for shortages of material and human resources. This receptive and inclusive feature of local culture also grew out of a universal cult centering around the village coalition temple. While ancestor worship is only an individual or family/lineage activity and the worship of the earth god and Hsuan-t'an is usually on an individual or village basis, religious and social rituals in honour of the Houwang involve mass participation by the territorial community and work to renew collective consciousness of local identity repeatedly and systematically. During the time when the chino was held in the area, the Houwang as the principal local deity also played a role in that large-scale communal festival. The Houwang worship continued to dominate local religious life, and was even promoted by concentrating | | ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 91 differences between Catholicism, the Non-Conformists and the Orthodox Churches. Similarly, it is not really surprising that there are marked differences within Chinese folk religion (the religion practised by the common folk) and with aspects of Buddhism and Taoism that Chinese popular religion commonly embraces. It is interesting to compare observations in this paper with those of Judith Strauch at a tun fu ceremony held at Tai Po (Strauch, 1983, 147). The ceremony at Pat Heung, described in detail in this paper, it must be stressed again, was largely within a Hakka community. With a Cantonese ceremony there are marked differences and sometimes the comb of a cock is cut, its head is pierced, or it is even nailed to a tree in order to obtain its blood. This is smeared on the talismans and allowed to drip on the pots. Such customs frequently shock westerners (Grout, 1971, 204). Rooster's blood is considered to possess magical properties and is used during the swearing of oaths, for conducting sacrifices and for bringing the statue of a god to life (Burkhardt, 1982, 267). The cockerel is, of course, one of the twelve animal signs of the Chinese Zodiac and its comb depicts a crown denoting literary success. Again, with some village tun fu ceremonies, restrictions are placed on inhabitants who are not allowed to leave their village, in some cases for a period of three or four days after the ceremony (Hayes, 1983, 125). In addition, villagers only partake of vegetarian food - Buddhist fashion. This mixing of folk religion (such as tun fu), Taoism and Buddhism, in varying proportions, is of course in line with Hong Kong's practice of syncretising religion. Nevertheless, irrespective of the religion, obligations frequently seem to be less stringent these days. For instance, with a Chinese funeral, today the number of weekly rites, which used to number seven, is now sometimes reduced to five. Again, for a tun fu ceremony, villagers are often not now confined to their village for a period of days. Life is also easier for Catholics. For a long time they have been able to eat meat on Fridays. Tun fu ceremonies again differ because, although the priests and masters who perform them may practise the same basic rules, they often have different beliefs when it comes to some details. For example, as previously mentioned, exactly where pots should be placed in a village and the number of talismans that should be put in them. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 104 Shum Tin Ho C. 1996, 'Kam Tin: the "Treasure" in the Cradle', Heritage Hong Kong. Treasure our Heritage Benefit Our Future. Vol. 1, Government Antiquities and Monuments Office South China Morning Post 2000, August 4, 8 'Diversions.' Stevens, Keith 1997, Chinese Gods: The Unseen World of Spirits and Demons, Collins and Brown Strauch, Judith 1983, ‘A Tun Fu Ceremony in Tai Po District, 1981: Ritual as a Demarcator of Community' JHKBRAS, vol. 20 (1980) Walters, Derek 1988, Feng Shui, Perfect Placing for your Happiness and Prosperity, Asiapac. Ward, Barbara E. and Joan Law 1993, Chinese Festivals in Hong Kong, The Guidebook Company Ltd, Hong Kong Waters, Dan 1996, 'Chinese Funerals: a Case Study', JHKBRAS, vol. 31 (1991) 1997, ‘Foreigners and Fung Shui”, JHKBRAS, vol. 34 (1994) Watson, James L 1987, 'From the Common Pot: Feasting with Equals in Chinese Society,' Anthropos 82 Yu, Kai Peter 1999, May 28, ‘484 Teenagers Caught in Hostess-club Vice Raids', South China Morning Post Key JHKBRAS = Journal, Hong Kong Branch Royal Asiatic Society ================================================================================