RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 90 J. W. HAYES in the area, where presumably they would be seen by the worshippers who congregated there in large numbers at festival times. FE There is a spirited account of a dispute between tenants and a new and rapacious landlord at Kat O in 180243 which was complicated by the clerks of the yamen who, obviously for a consideration, deluded their magistrate and were in collusion with the landlord. The tenants petitioned no less a person than the Viceroy of the Two Kwang provinces in his yamen at Canton and his instructions, relayed through the Governor and Prefect, are set out in stone so that justice could be done, and seen to be done, ever after. Everything worthwhile, every precedent or decision of importance, seems to have been set forth on stone: to ensure compliance44; for observance by both parties45; 'to follow the judgment';46 for fear that this would be forgotten as time goes by, thus leaving endless troubles in the future47; for the general information of the people48 and so forth. The tablets were either set up by the people, or as in most of these cases, by order of the magistrate with the written approval of the Viceroy; by the community of Tung Chung, Sai Chung, Keung Shan etc.; by the fishermen of Peng Chau since approval had not been given for the erection of a tablet by the Viceroy49, (later given by the magistrate); by the Inspector General and like cases.49 K 46 44 Perhaps to compensate for the severities and uncertainties of this life the inhabitants of the District fortified themselves by a devotion to religion that was marked by its generous diversity. To the usual galaxy of gods such as Tin Hau6, Kwun Yam 觀音, Hung Shing 洪聖, Kwan Tai 關帝, Pak Tai 北帝, Tam Kung, and Yeung Hau Wong, they added local officials who had acted as their benefactors and anyone else who took their fancy. Whilst there may be some who are not so well known and whose memory has faded in the minds of the people, the two who have left an indelible mark in the New Territory are WONG and CHOW, successive Viceroys of the two Kwang provinces who were responsible for obtaining the cancellation of the edict of 1662 which ordered all inhabitants of coastal areas to remove50 inland in order to deny their assistance, forced or otherwise, to the pirate bands which were attacking the new dynasty in the name of the Ming ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1963 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v CHEUNG CHAU not put back when the house next door, wall, was renovated about ten years ago. of these tablets. 97 which shared a party There is now no trace However, two inscriptions still remain from these institutions. One, removed to the Wai Chiu section of the Kwok Man School in 1952, is dated the wu-shen year of Kuang-hsü (1908-9) and is an ornamental granite head-slab with two side pieces, all with carved and painted characters upon them, the gift of wealthy members or else a sign of general prosperity in the Wai Chiu community. The present leaders of the association say that the date refers only to the handsome inscriptions and not to the establishment of their school, which is believed to have been in operation for many years before. This is likely as the office building is an old one and was already registered at the time of the lease of the New Territories as the Wai Chau and Chiu Chau Club, and the association has a reputed existence of over two hundred years. 24 Similarly a head stone is still in position inside an old building on the Praya belonging to the Sei Yap Yik Sin Tong, which records its repair in the 23rd year of Kuang-hsü (1897-8), the inscription being the work of WONG Wai Sum ✯✯✯, said to be a teacher in the Tong's school. This Tong has an interesting origin, if the tale told by its present managers is reliable, in that it arose from a shipwreck which washed up a body carrying money on one of the Cheung Chau beaches. The ship was supposed to have been carrying emigrants back to China from San Francisco. The body was given decent burial by some Sei Yap persons who hit upon the idea of forming a Tong for the unity and betterment of their fellow countrymen on the island, and with additional subscriptions the initial windfall was used to build or purchase the present building, which was the only property owned by the Tong in 1898. A feature of the building was the establishment of an altar on the ground floor on which were placed the tablets of the original organisers and principal subscribers, but these have now all gone, though a shrine remains.29 The fourth of these district associations of long-standing is the Po On which has no connection with the old Po On study run by the Tung Kwun association. Its leadership in 1898 ! 1+L F ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 64 K. M. A. BARNETT Ng 103 Ngraahcrinn-chynn, 104 Ngrhtrung-shaann, N. L. 105 Ngrr-droi, £1 (+908—+959, with local variations). 0 106 Obliterated villages:- Nai Tong Kok,101 Pak Hok Tuns and the original Tai Pak,35 some way from the present site. P 107 Phuunniryh, #5. 108 Preangzhaw, , an island five miles west of the western tip of Hong Kong Island. 109 Preangzhaw, H, an island in the north-eastern part of Mirs Bay,41 110 Pre-Chinese languages: I should exempt from this stricture Professor Princeton S. Hsu,23 whose books, "History of the People of South China”72 and "A Study of the Thais, Chuangs and the Cantonese People"133 are of great interest and should be read by anyone anxious to learn more in this field. But I think he goes too far in suggesting a Malay origin for the Tanka-or is it a Tanka origin for the Malays? 111 Prengshaann, Ħ4. 112 Pruunn-gwuur, 1. R 113 River Capture. The break-through of the Kwun Yam Ho62 from the Lam Tsuen74 valley to Taipo:33 formerly it flowed through Fanling48 and Sheung Shui130 into Deep Bay;152 and that of the two streams which now flow into the sea at Sham Tseng,119 the headwaters of which used to flow through Tin Fu Tsai137 into Tai Lam.38 $ Sei-braak, see 35, 114 Shaahtraw-gok, YA★ · 115 Shaahtrinn, 3⁄4w. + 116 Shaahtrinn-xoe, , still better known to the local people as Lik Yuen Hoi. Shaamm-braak, E★ see 35, 117 shaann-ghoh, Hakka saan-go, L. 118 Shaannloo, #. 119 Shamm-zearng, ##. + 120 Shamm-zeon, . The second word means an artificial channel with earth banks and suggests that the present river was cut to drain the swamps to the east and south-east of the present town. 121 Shann Ngrrdroi-sir, ĦARK - Page 75 Page 76 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 126 JAMES HAYES in Chinese territory. The village elders retained much of their authority, though I am not yet in a position to assess the degree to which they were recognised, and to that extent supported, by the British administration.27 Two of my informants recall that stealing crops in their villages was a matter for the village elders. If the offender was an outsider the elders would take him back to his own village and expect his own leaders to deal with him. Failing an agreeable settlement the offender would be taken to the nearest police station. For a long time, it seems, the realities of local power lay with the elders. It is significant that as late as 1895 Eitel was able to write:28 "The Chinese people in town are at the present day under the sway of their own head men (the Tungwa), and the people in the villages are ruled by their elders as much as ever". The same degree of local autonomy existed above the village level where the village organisation was augmented by small regional groupings which were usually based on a temple.29 For example, Mong Kok, Ho Man Tin and adjoining smaller settlements patronised the Kwun Yam [Kuan Yin] Temple (†) at Tai Shek Kwu near Ho Man Tin village. Their fore-bears had apparently built this temple soon after their arrival in the area. It was removed to make way for development in 1926,30 and as the preamble to the commemoration tablet in the new building has it:31 44 "The Shui Yuet Kung Temple was first built at Tai Shek Kwu over a hundred years ago. It was famed for the exact prophesy of its gods and had many worshippers". My informants confirm that it was a very popular temple and consequently well-supported. It was given a major repair about 1908 when all the local villagers and the Yau Ma Ti shop-keepers contributed money towards the project. The temple building stood on top of a rocky feature to which access and egress was by two flights of granite steps each with thirty steps. Local people referred to it as the Tai Shek Kwu Miu (★☎★A). At the beginning of the 20th century the temple was looked after by four managers, (f) as they were styled. One of them was a prosperous villager called WONG Lan-sang (*) a self-made man from Mong Kok village of whom more ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 OLD BRITISH KOWLOON 127 below; another was the owner of a herbal medicine shop in Yau Ma Ti, and the other two came from Ho Man Tin. One of these was the village elder, and the other was a woman who was a keen Taoist and the wife of the richest man in the village. The temple was the focal point of village life at this time and contributed much to relieve the boredom of hard work and ordinary routine for the cultivators, stone-cutters, shop-hands and their wives who were among its devotees. The highlight of the year was the celebrations at the time of the birthday of Kwun Yam, the patron goddess of the temple. This falls on the 19th day of the third lunar month. At this time the managers arranged for a variety of ceremonies and entertainments to take place. First, there was the annual chanting of religious books, called locally ta chiu (T). This was performed by Taoist priests known as nam mo lo (亮樣羅)12 and during this time it was customary for the villagers to follow a vegetarian diet. Having done their religious duty the elders made arrangements for entertaining both gods and men. They employed a troupe of actors to perform Cantonese opera for the traditional period of four days and five nights. My informants tell me that these shows took place every year when they were small, and indeed right up to 1926. Rev. E. J. Hardy, who served as a military chaplain in Hong Kong for three and a half years at the turn of the century writes, with special reference to the villages of the Hong Kong region:33 "The great event of village life is the occasional visit of strolling players. In a very short time a temporary mat-shed theatre is put up on some barren spot on the outskirts of the village: around it cook-shops, tea-shops, gambling booths and the like, all made of bamboo, palm-leaves, and matting are erected. The place is like a fair. At mat-shed theatres the audience in the pit stand; above there are seats for subscribers and local magnates". Another feature of the celebrations on Kwun Yam's birthday was the firing of lucky rockets. It was usual to fire three rockets, and the assembled men and youths scrambled for the fragments of the rockets, which were believed to bring luck to the successful keepers. The first rocket was the most prized. This local entertainment could take place at various festivals. It is described for ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 184 NOTES AND QUERIES that the bay presented for boats taking shelter in bad weather, these pirates were gradually displaced by fishing people and shopkeepers, leading in time to a permanent settlement. (See 香港百年史 Centenary History of Hong Kong 南中編譯出 Hi Ep 7 n.d. pp. 74-75). The name Ngo-yan-wan appears to have been used officially, too. Government Notification No. 69 of 1857 which appears in The Hongkong Government Gazette for May 9, 1857 describes District No. 2 Show-ke-wan as being "from Hoong-heung-loo to the village of Ngo-yan-wan, taking in Wong-kok-tsai, Chut-che-mooey, Shui-cheang-wan, Show-ke-wan and Ngo-yan-wan," but it is not clear to which part of the present extended Shau Kei Wan Ngo-yan-wan belonged, The oldest part of Shau Kei Wan, where original settlement took place, is along the Main Street East which we shall visit today. Many old houses probably dating from the 1850's to 1870's are still in existence. It is likely that the style of building followed that in contemporary Victoria and the Western district, though successive waves of redevelopment have left few traces of them there. They are all shop houses, and a count of the present shops in old premises shows besides groceries and general stores 9 Chinese herb shops, 7 josspaper shops, 7 fishing suppliers, 5 goldsmiths and 5 rice shops, indicating long established lines of trade with a predominantly fishing clientele*. In Main Street East is the Tin Hau Temple. The existing building dates from the 1870's, but since the inscription above the entrance states this to be a reconstruction, it is likely that a smaller building stood on the same site for many years before. A stone tablet dated 1876 states that it was badly damaged by the famous typhoon of 1874, necessitating a major repair. In this connection there is an interesting parallel with the Tam Kung Temple below which had also to be rebuilt a short time after its first construction owing to a more than usually destructive typhoon. The temple contains two other major shrines to Kwun Yam (Goddess of Mercy) and Lui Cho (one of the most prominent among the later Taoist patriarchs). see * A prominent local shopkeeper has told me that, pre-war, fishermen would not go outside Main Street East for business or pleasure. The shop houses are shown in plates 21-22, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g CHINESE ELITE IN HONG KONG 113 corporated as a more integral part of government, and its members may be regarded in many ways as the élite of the élite. But these developments are beyond the time limit set for this particular study. NOTES 1 See the studies by Chung-li Chang, The Income of the Chinese Gentry (Seattle, 1926) and The Chinese Gentry: Studies in their Role in Nineteenth Century Chinese Society (Seattle, 1955) and by Ping-ti Ho, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China (New York, 1964). 2 The South China Morning Post, 12 July 1933, in column "Old Hong Kong". 3 Colonial Office Records (hereafter given as C.O.), Series 129-12. 4 The Friend of China, 6 Nov. 1861. 5 George Smith, The Consular Cities of China (London, 1847), p. 82. 6 Yen-p'ing Hao, The Compradore in Nineteenth Century China (Cambridge, Mass., 1970), p. 195. I have not been able to check the sources he cites. 7 These were Loo King A owner of I.L. 99, LL.102, I.L. 103; Lo Lye or Alloy A owner of M.L. 16 C., M.L. 19; Loo Foon owner of M.L. 16 D.; Loo Sing A owner of M.L. 17 C.; Loo Chuen alias Loo Chew alias Young Aqui alias Loo Choo Tung owner of M.L. 16 A., M.L. 28 A., M.L. 35 A. The family lived in Aqui's Lane, or as it is now known Kwai Wa Lane† running from Hillier to Cleverly Street and lying between Queens Road and Jervois Street. Here in 1872 lived Loo Wan Kew, Loo Yum Shing, compradore of D. Sassoon, Sons and Co., and Loo Achew. 8 The China Review, Vol. 1 (1872), p. 333, "The Districts of Hong Kong and the Name Kwan-Tai-Lo". This source also confirms the deleterious effect of Aqui's activities in Hong Kong: "In 1843, when there were but few merchants or shop keepers, one Sz-man-king, unto whom those who were in distress, in debt, or discontented, resorted, opened a place for gambling along Chung Wan to which all among the fishing-boat people, who loved gambling, came." 9 Quoted by R. M. Martin in his report, 24 July 1844, in G. B. Endacott, An Eastern Entrepot (London, 1964), p. 97. 10 E. J. Eitel, Europe in China (Hong Kong, 1895), pp. 168-169. 11 Endacott, op. cit., pp. 96-98. 12 Ibid., p. 107. 13 Ibid., p. 96. 14 A Singapore house was a pre-cut timber house ready for assembling imported from Singapore. At the time of the gold-rush in California, a similar type house was shipped from Hong Kong to San Francisco in large numbers. The trade enriched a number of Hong Kong carpenters. 15 C.O. Series 129-12, No. 97, 10 July, 1845. 16 C.O. Series 129-7, 23 July, 1844. 17 C.O. Series 129-3, Treasurer's Report 1847. 18 The Friend of China, 5 Jan., 1856. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1971 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/z029vt43g bination with rattan NOTES AND QUERIES 199 () for net frames only. The ropes were usually up to 20-28 in length and could be even 30+ ★, in which case the rope was turned round and carried part of the way back the rope road. Mr. Yue recalled that the first type of rope had been used by trawlers up to and through the Japanese Occupation but had stopped shortly after the Liberation. The second type had been made and used in local fishing craft up to his brother's death some 7-8 years ago. The ropes were twisted from three strands, so that there were three stands with handles at one end of the rope road and a single one at the other. Up to ten persons were employed in the work. Unlike dyeing, this business had been in the Yue family for several generations as both Yue's father and grandfather are reported to have engaged in this work. There were several pools at Ta Lam Lo filled with sea water and lime in which the ... was soaked for 10 days to soften it and preserve it. If fresh water was used salt had to be added. There is still some rope-making on Ap Lei Chau at a place beyond the Kwun Yum temple but the material used is nylon and wire. This place had also been used to manufacture the other kinds of rope in the earlier period and was known locally as Lam Lo Mei (44), being subsidiary to the main area. A short description of the calendering process is given at p. 190 of the 1970 Journal. This dates from the 1860s, and probably relates to Central China, Hong Kong, April 1971. JAMES HAYES CHARCOAL BURNING IN HONG KONG In his compendious work on China published in 1878 Archdeacon Gray of Canton wrote: "As coal is not used for domestic purposes, charcoal is in great demand, and charcoal-burners are to be seen daily on the hills. The hillsides of Pun-yu, Fa-yune, and Tsung-fa -districts of Kwun Tung- are studded with their fires; and on the slopes of the Lew-Shan range of mount- Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r 128 SUNG HOK-P’ANG 1) as his son Hoh Wing (f) was a subordinate officer of this general. Hoh Wing was executed, and all his family punished. Hung Chi being considered a relation although it was only by marriage, was sentenced to banishment. His elder brother, who was the father of three sons, thinking him too young and ignorant and having no children to carry on his family, insisted on taking his place. So in the 26th year of Hung Mo (**) A.D. 1393 of Ming dynasty, Hung Yee went up North to Liao-tung (i★★). His banishment only lasted three years, but when he was free again to go where he liked Hung Yee appears to have been without means to get back to Kam T'in, because there is a story of his arriving in Nanking on foot, so poor that he was forced to beg in the streets and earn money by writing poems. One day a rich man named Ch'an (§) passed him in the street and noticing that his appearance and writing were those of an educated man, spoke to him and asked him his history. Touched by his story Ch'an befriended him, and made him the tutor of his children, but all the time Hung Yee longed for his own home and his own children. Eventually Ch'an suggested that if he provided him with a second wife he might be happier, so he arranged a marriage for him with his adopted daughter, Wong (*). Two years later a son was born called Kuen (§§), but after another year Hung Yee died. Then Ch'an provided the widow with money, and taking her little child, she set off to find her way to Kam T'in to bring Hung Yee's ashes back to the place of his ancestors. After many difficulties she arrived in Kam T'in only to find that Hung Yee's three sons Yam (†), Chan (14) and Yui (†) all grown up by now and not knowing anything of their father's history and second marriage, did not believe her story. Then Wong told them many old tales about Kam T'in that her husband had amused her with in the past in Nanking, and finally persuaded them to acknowledge her identity when she produced a fan with characters on it written in Hung Yee's own writing. So funeral preparations were at once made and customary rites performed in Hung Yee's honour, and Wong and her child were taken into the family. A year later the baby Kuen died and Wong was so upset that she threatened to take her life, and she was only prevented from doing so by Yam who promised to give her his son Naam K'ai () to be her grandson, that is, a son for her dead child. He also built her a house on Kwun Yum Shaan (4) where she could serve her husband's spirit tablet and study Bud- ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 144 K. M. A. BARNETT O.S. S.S. 20 king geng 21 kon # ghonn 22 kon # gorn 24 22 23 kwu +45 kwun gwuur # gwhuunn 25 25 kwun * * gwuurn 篼 Meaning or Remarks sometimes heard (see item 20). Book rendering of (19). This word, meaning 'dry' is almost always tabooed in names, being replaced by kwun (24). This word, meaning stubble, and a word of the same pronounciation meaning a broomstick, are also tabooed, either because of their resemblance to (21) or because of the homophone meaning to drive away. They are replaced by kwun (25). See sok-kwu (83). Except in the combination Kwun-yam (26) (Goddess of Mercy), this word however spelt means 'dry', being used in place of the tabooed kon (21). This word meaning a tube is used in place of kon (22). See also (21). kwun- #★ gwhuunnjhamm Most flat-topped rocky protuberances seem to acquire the name of the Goddess of Mercy. Smaller upright stones are called mong-fa-shek (48), but some have both names. Many of these stones are still in receipt of offerings and have local reputations Page 150 Page 151 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 172 SUNG HOK-PANG He then returned to the capital, and stayed in General Ngai's house where he was able to make friends with many famous scholars. He wrote a book named "Yin t’oi san ngai” which had a preface written by Ts'oi Shing Yuen ## Noi Kok Hok Sz a political minister of high rank. Three years later Tang passed his Tsun sz degree, and was appointed district magistrate of Lung Yau Yuen in Chekiang province. Tang Man Wai was of a kind-hearted disposition and some say that through this the wall of T'aai Hong Wai was built. The story goes that when Tang passed his Sau Tsoi degree he was sent to Kwai Shin district, now Wai Yeung, to collect the rent due on cultivated lands, belonging to his family property. While there he came across a young man named Lei Maan Wing * hanging upside down as a punishment. On asking the reason why, Tang learnt that Lei had contracted gambling debts and was unable to pay them. Tang was sorry for the young man, paid all his debts and was able to use his influence in obtaining a military post for him. This happened during the end of the Ming Dynasty. Later on when the Manchus drove out the Mings in the North and the Ming Emperor Wing Lik✯✯ had retreated to Kwangtung, Lei was a colonel under Cheung Ka Yuk ✯ who was fighting against the Manchus. When Cheung was defeated in battle in the 4th year of Shun Chi A.D., 1647 of Ts'ing dynasty, and drowned himself, Lei, who was with him, fled with about a hundred soldiers. Gradually many of Cheung's soldiers were able to rejoin him, and with a strong army he attacked both Tung Kwun ✯✯ and San On ✯* districts. He drove out the Manchus, and made his headquarters in what is now known as the New Territories. One of Lei's camps was situated in the district round K'ei Lun Wai LP'ing Shan A and T'sing Leung Fat Yuen ****. Before the latter, which is a nunnery, was built, the locality had been known as Ying P'oon Tei, "The ground of the camp," and while the building was in progress the workmen dug up many old coffins which were supposed to be those of Lei's soldiers. Among them was found a general's sword, broken in many pieces. Anyone going to Kwun Yam Shaan to visit the Ling Wan monastery would notice half way up Taai Mo Shaan, far above the cultivated land, a stretch of hillside that has been terraced and flattened out in some former time. This is supposed to have been another of Lei's encampments. Lei burned and pillaged, and most of the + ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES 173 inhabitants of the New Territories fled. It was said that for three years the country presented the appearance of a battle-field, “The ground was covered with bones, in the day time nothing could be heard but the hum of flies, and at night the voice of weeping." Kam T'in might have shared the same fate as the other villages but for Tang Man Wai. Lei, remembering his former kindness, forbade his soldiers to go near the place, and seeking out Tang he taught him how to build strong walls to protect his village from other marauders. This story is still told by old people in the New Territories now, and, if true, what was stated in H.K.N. Vol. VII, page 255.... “during the civil wars of the Hong Hei years A.D. 1662-1721 of Ts'ing dynasty these three villages were walled is not correct.* Lei Maan Wing occupied the New Territories from A.D. 1647 until he surrendered to the Manchus in A.D. 1656 which means that the walls of Taai Hong Wai, at least, were built some time during that period. Tang Man Wai is also remembered for having built the old Yuen Long Market ⇓, in the 8th year of Hong Hei A.D. 1669. The date is inscribed on a tablet in the wall inside Taai Wong temple in the market. Tang also made three fish ponds to the west of the market place which can still be seen by the side of the main road. + + Tang Fong was a notable scholar who passed his Kui Yan degree in the 27th year of Kin Lung of Ts'ing dynasty, A.D. 1762. He studied a great number of books especially the canons of Confucius and Books of Histories, and was considered very skilful in writing both poetry and prose. While he was still a Lam Shang he was employed as a professor of arts in Man Kong Shue Yuen * a high grade school in San On district situated in Naam T'au Shing the capital city. Students were prepared there for the Sau-tsoi examination, and it was said that while Tang Fong was there “learning was at its highest pitch." ♬ Tang Ying Yuen was a military officer and passed his Mo Kui Yan A degree in the 54th year of Kin Lung A.D. 1789 of Ts'ing dynasty. Although of a martial disposition, Tang was fond of books and his penmanship was highly thought of. Some of the characters that he wrote to be carved on stone tablets can still be seen in Ling Wan nunnery on Kwun Yam Shaan 音山 and in So Lau Yuen 泝流園 and Tsoi Shui Yat Fong 在水✈both school buildings in Kam T'in. He was a simple man and * See p. 168. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES 183 road,” now Victoria city, and So Kwun Po (7). From the fact that these references occurred in the Leung Ch'aak (##) or Register Book of Tung Kwun district, one may judge that the land was owned by the Tangs before the 1st year of Maan Lik, A.D. 1525, as after that the San On district was formed. To the East of Shui Mei village there is an ancestral Hall called Mau King T'ong (N). It was built by the descendants of Tang Chan (1) Tang Yui (*) and Tang Kuen (#) the three younger brothers of Tang Yam (3) the father of Tang Tsing Lok. When the descendants of Tang Yam completed the building of Sz Shing Tong, the descendants of the three younger brothers felt it was a disgrace that there were no ancestral halls for their respective ancestors. However they were far from being rich, so they decided to combine together and build one hall under the leadership of Tang Man Wai (4X4), who was a man of rank and a descendant of Tang Chan. On the top of the front door they carved the characters §; › §¡› ✯ ✯✯ “Chan, Yui, Kuen, the three Ancestors Hall," and on a signboard the three big characters ✯✯ Mau King Tong, were written by Ts'oi Hok Yuen (4) a scholar of San On, and hung in the hall in the 22nd year of Ka Hing, A.D. 1817, of Ts'ing dynasty. The reason why the name Mau King Tong was chosen was on account of the old story "Tin Shi King fa fook mau” ( # A#*M*) “the Judas-tree of T'in family again becomes luxuriant." The story is as follows:-- T'in Chan (₪) and his two younger brothers T'in Hing (w A) and T'in Kwong (□), natives of Chiu Shing district (#K) of Shantung, during the Hon dynasty, decided to divide their family property between them. Among other things, they owned a Tsz King (**), judas tree, and the evening before the dividing up was to take place they found to their surprise that the tree was withered. This upset T'in Chan's feelings very much, he sighed and said to his younger brothers, "The different branches of the tree come from one root; now that they have heard that they are to be divided up, they have become melancholy and look sorrowful. Now we brothers are human beings, but although we have separate bodies we all came from the same parents, so why should we divide the family property and live separately? Do we not feel ashamed in seeing the appearance of this tree?" Then the younger brothers were moved by this, and they never mentioned the idea of dividing the family property ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 232 Sam Tung Uk NOTES AND QUERIES The Sam Tung Uk (village), is a small, square-walled lineage village dating back to the 18th century. It was settled by the Chan (陳) family. Before the Ch'ien Lung period of the Ch'ing Dynasty (清朝), the Chan clan lived in Ning Fa District, Ting Chow prefecture in Fukien Province (福建省). One of the branches then moved to Lo Fong, of Po On District* in Kwangtung Province (廣東省). Later Chan Yam Shing (the 13th generation) came to Tsuen Wan (old name Chin Wan meaning shallow bay) with four sons. Guided by his uncle (ancestor of Kwan Mun Hau Village, Tsuen Wan), they took up farming. They worked very hard, put up sea walls, reclaiming much land, and were content. Straw huts were built firstly at Lo Uk Cheung (羅屋丈) (where Block 2 of Tai Wo Hau Estate, Tsuen Wan, is now located) in the 22nd year of Ch'ien Lung, (1757). The elder son, Kin Sheung (堅常) was a herbalist doctor, renowned in fung shui and possessed a wealthy home. The other sons, Ying Sheung (應常), Wai Sheung (維常) and Cheuk Sheung (卓常) were farmers, living moderately. Kin Sheung, after settling down, searched around Tsuen Wan hoping to find a suitable site to establish a village. He found that a piece of land situated on the right side of Ngau Kwu Tun (牛牯墩) (present site of Tsuen Wan Government Secondary Technical School) would be the best, but it belonged to the Sun clan of San Tsuen at that time.† His brothers were told to contact the Sun family, hoping for a possibility to purchase it. One day a member of Sun clan turned up being, at that time, urgently in need of money. He offered to sell the much-desired land but no decision could be made as Kin Sheung was not at home. Mr Sun then said that he would go to Shing Mun to consult with other rich men who were likely purchasers. The brothers debated what should be done but in their elder brother's absence were unable to make any decision. When their elder brother returned home and heard of the Sun Clan's proposal, he was delighted and rushed to Wo Yee Hop (old name Woo Lee Hop meaning Fox's Valley), and the bargain was made. * Strictly speaking, San On (新安) at that time. †新村孫旗 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d NOTES AND QUERIES 323 to the government for a lot on which to build a school. In granting the lot for charitable and educational purposes, it was stipulated that "the school should be built on that portion of the ground furthest away from the front of the native temple which is opposite. The villagers have asked that no houses be erected immediately fronting the temple, but they could not object to a playground. The latter should be fenced around.” (C.S.O. No. 700 of 1885) In 1898, the Roman Catholic Church bought a large piece of land behind the village for a church and a school. The Canossian Sisters, however, already had two lots on Bulkely Street in 1894 where they conducted a school (No. 59 & 60). (c) The Kwun Yam (††) and Pak Tai (†) temples. An old memorial board in the Kwun Yam Temple dated 1873-74 lists eleven individuals or shops who may tentatively be identified as the management committee.* I can only identify one, Li Shing Fat, listed as a rate-payer in 1875 and possibly as Lee A Fat on the 1867 squatter licence list. A Hop Shing shop is listed, and it is possible that the owner was Chan Hop Shing who appears on the 1873 rates list or Chang Hop Shing of the 1867 squatter list. Another possible identification might be the Kwong Lung shop with the Kwong "Leong" grocer in the 1884 Rate. In 1896 the Temple Committee applied for the grant of a Crown Lease for the lot on which the building stood. It was noted that "This Temple is a public temple, owned by the committee of Hung Hom. A notice was posted at Hung Hom on the 23rd (March, 1886) saying that anyone who objected to the issue of the proposed lease should report to the Registrar General within ten days. No communication has been made on the subject.... therefore recommend the issue of the lease." (C.S.O. No. 704 of 1896). In consequence, a lease was granted to Chung Kam Fuk, Chan Ying Cheung, and Ching Ki, Trustees. Of these, Chan Ying Cheung was a large property owner at Hung Hom who was also a wealthy contractor in Hong Kong. Upon his death, his will left his Hung Hom property to his sons. The two named temples date from this early period and have survived: one of them in its original location and another on a new *The names are listed as follows: 福隆號,兴有容,新順扣,勝扣廠,廣隆號,李富利,陳日新,怡興行,廣勝同,合勝號,李勝發。The board carries the large characters 法雨同沾and is dated 同治甲戌年仲春吉旦 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 324 NOTES AND QUERIES site to which it was removed in 1929. The first, and larger, of these was the Kwun Yam Temple already noted, with its associated public buildings. The bell and the earliest presentation boards (*) are dated 1873-74. The main entrance of the temple was rebuilt in 1889-90, and the undated Kung Sor (公所) or public office built onto one side of the central structure may also be attributed to this time. A separate clinic or public dispensary building was added in 1910, according to a memorial tablet of that year, which bears the names of very many subscribers. The second of the Hung Hom temples is almost as old as the first. According to a plaque recently placed inside the building by the Chinese Temples Committee, this Pak Tai temple dates from the 2nd year of Kuang Hsü (1876-77) when it was built at the eastern end of Ching Chau Street, Hung Hom, but as stated above, was later removed for development. The oldest dated items in the present building are a bell dated 1893 presented by a Wo Hing Tong (*) and a set of incense burners dated 1901-02 presented by 'the whole community of Hung Hom Dockyard Village (紅磡澳通圍). This temple development, and the basis it provided for local community effort, is reminiscent of the similar developments in Yau Ma Tei reported in this Journal some time ago.† The Kaifong (街坊) or neighbourhood organisation centering as in Yau Ma Tei on a local temple is credited with these community services; references to a Kaifong school and a volunteer fire brigade are also available. This self-help and enterprise of the local community, was, however, not a new phenomenon but one created to a pattern long familiar in Chinese urban communities. Hong Kong, 1976. CARL T. SMITH JAMES HAYES HONG KONG: TYPHOON PREPARATIONS IN 1903 Readers will recall Mr. A. J. S. Lack's article 'Yaumatei Typhoon Shelter, Hong Kong, 1903-1915' in the 1973 Journal. The following description is of interest in this connection. It is taken from the Memoirs of Robert Dollar, pp. 55-56 published privately in America in 1927, and describes a visit to Hong Kong in 1903. Ed. Commonly styled in Cantonese, + JHKBRAS, 6, 1966: pp. 129-131. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q SOCIAL RESEARCH IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG, 1963 201 the Man and their allies rallied local support to form a new market on the other side of what in British times has come to be known as the Kwun Yam River. This was the beginning of the market town of Tai Po in its present form. (The story up to this point is told by Sung Hok-p'ang, 'Legends and Stories of the New Territories. I. Tai Po', The Hong Kong Naturalist, vol. VI, no. 1, May 1935. The stone slab recording the magistrate's decision no longer stands in the temple; when the temple was recently rebuilt the stone was cast into the yard where it now lies, often encumbered with rubbish, a neglected minor monument of late Ch'ing history). 19. The new market in a short time consigned the old one to a decrepitude familiar to anyone who has walked behind the Jockey Club Clinic which now stands next to the Tin Hau Temple. Soon the founder of the new market put up the first of the bridges to span the Kwun Yam River; the subscription list for the bridge is recorded on two stone plaques set into the wall of the Man Mo Temple which had been built as a centre for the new market. A room in the temple still houses the public weighing scales from which the founders and their successors have derived an income. 20. The story goes that the Man who led the revolt against the Tang monopoly called a meeting of the leaders of seven yeuk around Tai Po, each of these taking a share in the new market in the form of shops. The land on which the market was built appears to have been for the most part the property of the Man. Now it is probable that the Ts'at Yeuk dates from this point in time. My informants take this view. And there is one piece of information which tends to confirm it: one of the constituent yeuk is Cheung Shue Tan which, according to what I was told in Sha Tin, was previously a member of a yeuk-complex in this latter area; so that it may well have changed its allegiance at the time of the founding of the new market at Tai Po. But even if the Ts'at Yeuk came into being so recently, the yeuk themselves can hardly have done so for they appear to have been the material out of which the complex was formed. Many locals assert that the yeuk did not antedate the Ts'at Yeuk, but I am inclined to think that we are dealing here with a very old form of grouping, as comparative evidence will suggest. The seven yeuk were Lam Tsuen, Cheung Shue Tan, Ting Kok, Shuen Wan, Hap Wo, Tai Hang, and Fan Leng. Together they had over seventy villages, but the yeuk were of unequal size, so that while, for example, the Man settlement at Tai Hang formed a yeuk ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 170 DAVID FAURE now be described. In general, villagers from Ho Chung all the way east to Ko Tong, and those from the islands in Rocky Harbour, went to Sai Kung Market. Tung Sam Kei, and Hoi Ha villagers went to Tai Po and Tap Mun, but a boat from Pak Tam Chung came regularly to collect firewood, which was sent to Sai Kung. Pak Sha O villagers went to both Tai Po and Sai Kung. Shap Sz Heung, and Sham Chung, were in the Tai Po marketing area rather than in that of Sai Kung. To the south, villagers from Tseng Lan Shue and Pik Uk obtained their supplies from Kowloon. Villagers from the Tseung Kwan O to Seung Sz Wan area went to Hang Hau. Tin Ha Wan had several shops, but its residents, as well as those from Po Toi O and Tai Wan Tau usually went to Shaukiwan. In general, if the transport linkage between Hang Hau and Sai Kung is taken into account, the Sai Kung marketing area went from Seung Sz Wan to Ko Tong, beyond the present administrative boundary of Sai Kung District,29 So far as can be discovered, except for several from Tam Shui (Wai Chau), the shop-keepers of Hang Hau came from its own marketing area, i.e. from Mang Kung Uk, Pan Long Wan, Tseung Kwan O, and Ha Yeung. There were several general stores, selling food, including grain, meat, oil, salt fish, and salt. There was a goldsmith, a stationer, a tailor, and there were several ferries.3 By 1916, when the Sai Kung T'in Hau Temple was renovated, Sai Kung had for some time been the bigger town. There were at least eight general stores, two butchers, a teahouse, a tailor, a Taoist priest, a herbalist, a draper's, and two shipyards. Many of the owners came from outside the Sai Kung marketing area, from Shuen Wan and Sham Chung, both in the Tai Po marketing area; Sham Chun, Po Kut, and Sha Tseng, all three in Po On county; Wai Chau; and San Wooi.31 Brief information on some of these shops can be found in Table 1. The biggest shop in Sai Kung Market was Saam Shing general store, followed closely by T'aai Shing. Saam Shing was the older, but T'aai Shing caught up quickly. Mr. Lei Yiu T'ing, who worked in T'aai Shing just before World War II, remembered that letters for Sai Kung villagers were brought to the shop with goods from Hong Kong. Mr. Lei Shiu Yam remembered that T'aai Shing used to help villagers collect their overseas remittances. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 173 the kaifong, which was fixed by auction, the keeper of the scale could keep the charges paid for the use of the scale by merchants. The fee was used for the management of the temple and the annual celebration of the birthday of T'in Hau, usually held towards the middle of the Fourth Lunar Month. To prepare for this festival, the committee had to arrange for donations from Sai Kung residents to make the necessary purchases and to contract with a troupe for the opera. Besides the birthday of T'in Hau, the kaifong also had to arrange for a puppet show at the Great King Earthgod's shrine, and the offering of a pig at the temple at the beginning of the year, on the day of the T'in Hau Festival, at the Kwan Tai Festival, and at the end of the year.35 The activities of the kaifong committee became routine. Some time in the 1930's, a younger generation of merchants in Sai Kung formed themselves into the Chamber of Commerce. The leader of this new body was Lei Shiu Yam, of Lan Nei Wan. When World War II broke out, it was this group that was the more active in Sai Kung Market. DAILY LIFE C. 1920 Population The census of 1911 counted 9,243 people in Sai Kung District, which at the time also included Shap Sz Heung and villages near Sham Chung and Pak Sha O. The same census reported that there were 2,633 Punti-speaking, 6,599 Hakka-speaking, and 11 Hoklo-speaking villagers in the district. It probably neglected the boat population, the size of which must now remain unknown. As recorded, the Sai Kung population amounted to 13.4 percent of the total population of the New Territories. Village, lineage, and voluntary association The reported population was distributed through 126 villages. The great majority of these had a smaller population than 100, and many could not have been more than isolated houses. By no means the smallest, Tin Ha Wan had 37 people, Mok Tse Che 51, Tai Nam Wu 33, Ma Lam Wat 43, and Tso Wo Hang 24. Only 21 villages in what is recognized now as Sai Kung ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES THE FUNG-SHUI OF KAM TIN 215 (A short explanatory introduction on the fung-shui of Kam Tin is here attached. The ancestral hall of the Tang clan, Ching Lok Tso Tong (#), which is situated at Pak Wai Tsuen of Kam Tin, has its Fung-shui main branch near Tai Mo Shan (*). It curls its way through the valley of Kwun Yam Shan ( ). From Wang Toi Shan (#) rises the "dragon". Its uprising, so to speak, is very magnificent. The Dragon then starts to serpent up and down, passing through Chiu Keng (£) with more strength. Forging forward vigorously to the left, there comes the Kei Lun Shan (t) to protect it. On the right, a branch stretches out from Tai Mo Shan to Shek Wu Tong () and Ma On Kong (4), to pave its way forward. A short distance from Au Tau (1ƒƒ) see the circling round of all these ranges. It is from this setting that the Dragon threads its way out, with various small and big ranges on all sides. Here, the Dragon once again finds its way via Kai Kung Shan (A) with Kwai Kok Shan (圭角山) on the right and Chat Sing Ngor (七星崗) on the left. The Dragon surges up and then down, turning left and right, like thousands of horses racing together, and when it comes to Tai Kong ( j ), the land slopes down gradually. Ngor Nar Lan (A) on the left leaves space for its soaring down and the Cheung Shan (✯ J.) on the right blocks any obstacles that would harm it. This range then dips into the water, passes through the grasslands and comes up to Gau Gan (i). Here it stretches out its wings to protect the Dragon to settle on the cave. The naturally formed reservoirs on both sides of Gau Gan (4) resemble the Food Store (4) and the Wealth Store (✯). The place where the Dragon settles is the ancestral hall of Ching Lok Tso (##). The Dragon dives down into the water and the surface becomes peaceful. So now the Dragon is hiding here. With this setting, the place is bound to be very prosperous. To begin with, the green carpet of grass just in front of the hall means the outcome of a big "esteemed clan" (†) Furthermore, with all the water from nearby fields flowing towards the hall, and the streams from Tai Kong Po (which follow the Dragon and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 216 NOTES AND QUERIES head for the hall, the result is that the hall would bring about Great Wealth (大富) On the ancestral hall itself, it is apparent that it is being surrounded by green mountains and beautiful streams. Its walls are finely made and its direction is carefully orientated so as to suit the Dragon form. The rooms inside are spacious, comfortable, and neatly packed together. In front of it is Shau Sing Kung Shan (壽星宮山) ("Long-life mountain") and on the left of it is Kwun Yam Shan (觀音山). All these signs imply that from here “Great Nobility" (貴) would appear. Its form, so magnificent, calls for the Red Bird (朱雀) to lead the way (朱雀護送迎) and the Green Dragon and White Tiger to kneel (†). It drives the ranges to curl around it and the stars to look after the outlet. Every mountain, no matter how far comes to guard the cave, and every stream comes to gather round the hall. This indicates "Great Wealth" (大富). Thus the window of Heaven is made open and the door of Hell is tightly shut. This is the best Dragon form. It should foster great wealth and great nobility. It explains why the Tang clan has had so much success in wealth, fame, and in civil examinations, as compared with the other villages in Pat Heung (八鄉). Of course, it owes very much to the keen choice of Fung-shui by the Tang ancestors. Hong Kong, 1973 JOHN THOMAS Kamm BEAN SKIM (豆漿皮); A PRODUCT OF BLOOD & SWEAT FROM THE MAKERS Bean skim is a traditional rural product in the Tsuen Wan District of the New Territories of Hong Kong. The following account was written by WAN Chung-yan of Pun Shan Village, Chai Wan Kok, Tsuen Wan on 12.1.1976, at the Hon. Editor's request. Bean skim is a kind of bean product of rich nourishment. In the age when the electric motor had not yet been invented, such product was really a product of blood and sweat from the makers. The making of bean skim is easily described. Choose the best yellow beans, dry them under the sun and peel them. Then soak the beans in water and crush them into a paste. After filtering off the refuse, boil them in a pot. Skim off the upper layer of foam. Keep heating the paste at a certain temperature until a thin layer ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 187 to Mr. Chan T'aai of Tseung Kwan O, they demanded protection money from the villagers. Eight to ten people would come in a gang, armed with guns. The village elders had to collect money from every one to pay them. Mr. Lei Yun Shau remembered that about twenty days after the Japanese had passed through, bandits attacked his native village of Man Yee Wan. At the time, he operated a ferry boat between his village and Sai Kung Market, and the bandits spared his house. Just outside Sai Kung, in Wong Chuk Long, Mr. Wan Yau was robbed of over ten piculs of grain the first time the bandits came. Thereafter he hid most of his food reserve on the hillside, and his pigs in a damaged kiln. Even then, the bandits found the pigs. Mr. Chan Shing of Tai Long remembered that the bandits came every several days, demanding food and money. All their grain was taken, and the villagers survived on roots and leaves. Fortunately, in 1942, there was a brushfire over Chinese New Year, and afterwards the hillside was overgrown with wild lilies. The villagers gathered them for food. The lilies were bitter, but some of this bitterness could be leached out by covering them with ash and salt before they were cooked. These lilies were the villagers' principal diet that winter. In spring, when they were ready to farm, the only seeds they could find were the small amounts that some people had managed to hide on the hillside. By mid-1942, they were so starved that they harvested the rice before it ripened, ground the grain to flour and used it for cakes. In April, when the bandits came again, there was literally nothing that they found worth taking away.71 Some bandits were local people, but most had come over from Sha Yue Ch'ung and Wai Chau. Mr. Chan T'aai of Tseung Kwan O believed that the gangs that looted his village had their hideout on Junk Island. Mr. Lei Yun Shau was once captured by the bandits, while he was transporting rice between Sai Kung and Man Yee Wan, and was taken to Leung Shuen Wan. He was finally released on the intervention of another bandit, who knew Mr. Lei, and who considered that the local ferries should not be disturbed. Mr. Lei's mother was extremely upset to learn that he had been captured, and might have helped also to arrange his release. Finally, the sum of eight hundred dollars was paid to the bandits.72 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 207 36 1911 Census. 37 For a brief discussion of these ideas, see David Faure, "Hongkong and China in the village world", JHKBRAS 21 (1981). A noteworthy variation is the shrine for the Taai Shing Yan Kung Ma at Luk Mei Village, which is both an ancestral figure and a territorial god. See research notes on Ue Lan Festival at Luk Mei, 5-7.8.81. * Ints. Mr. Cheung T'o 29.5.81, 15.6.81, Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Mr. Tse Ming 8.81, and notes on the ta tsiu at Ho Chung, 27.12.81 - 31.12.81. For the donations of the Uens towards the repair of the temple, see Ch'e Kung Temple tablet and ints. Mr. Uen Chi Ming 16.1.81, 13.2.81, 7.3.81. Our interviews did not discover if only villagers of Ho Chung contributed towards the annual Ch'e Kung Festival, or if other villagers in the villages that took part in the ta tsiu also did. 3 Int. Mr. Chan P'aang Hing 29.5.81. 40 Ints. Mr. Cheng Ip 14.5.81, Mr. Lei Yiu T'ing 23.6.81, Mr. Lei Kau 23.6.81, Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, 21.7.81. 41 Ints. Mr. Tse Wing 9.6.81, Mr. Tsang 25.6.81, Mr. Tsang Yung 25.6.81, Mrs. Wai 27.6.81 42 Ints. Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Mr. Cheung Wing 1981; see also Mr. Sung Kw'an 23.6.81 for similar arrangements for raising pigs in Tit Kim Hang, and Mr. Shing Uen Wan 10.7.81 in Pik Uk. 43 Ints. Mr. Shing Ip On 14.6.81, Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.6.81. Every year, on the 28th of the First Month, all the five surnames of Mang Kung Uk joined in the worship of the earth god. A matshed was built in the village, on which lanterns were hung. See int. Mr. Ue Shun Hing 10.7.81. See also Patrick Hase, “Observations at a Village Funeral", presented at the Conference on Hong Kong Society and History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, December 1981, (papers to be published shortly). 44 ** Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.8.81. * Ints. Mr. Sung 22.6.81, Mr. Tang Kei Faat 25.6.81, Mr. Hoh King 24.6.81, Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81, Mrs. Lau Lei Loi T'aai 28.6.81, store keeper at Wong Chuk Wan 28.6.81, Mrs. Hoh née Lau 29.6.81, Mr. Kuet Po Shing 2.7.81, and notes on the ruined temple at Wong Chuk Wan 28.6.81. The composition of the Shap Heung given by Mrs. Hoh née Lau and Mr. Kuet differs slightly from that in the text here. Other village groups in the Sai Kung area include one that consists of Tse Keng Tuk, Chiu Hang, Ta Ho Tun, and Ma Nam Wat (int. Mr. Chan Uet Shing 24.6.81), another that consists of the three villages at Man Yee Wan (int. Mr. Lei Shiu Yam 8.5.81), yet another the seven villages that made use of the sugar press at Ko Tong (int. Mr. To 19.6.81). Apparently, Tai Long, Pak Tam Au, and Chek Keng, and then Sham Chung, Lai Chi Chong, and Pak Sha O were two groups of villages that had close social ties (int. Madam Chiu I Mooi 7.5.81). 48 Ints. Mr. Tse Wing 20.6.81, Mr. Yau 28.7.81. Fung shui was involved in the dispute in Sha Kok Mei. The villagers considered that part of a hill nearby, known to them as the "tiger's land" (foo tei) was essential to the fung shui of the village. Sha Kok Mei would not permit burial, grass or tree cutting on the foo tei. "Mr. Chau T'in Shang 9.7.81, Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, Mr. Yau Taai Hin 8.81, Mr. Tse Ming 8.81. Major temple celebrations before World War II were held in at least the following places: Leung Shuen Wan, Sai Kung, Tai Miu, Hang Hau, Pan Long Wan, Tseung Kwan O, Kau Sai. Pak Kong and Ho Chung had a ta tsiu every ten years, and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 208 DAVID FAURE Tseng Lan Shue an on lung ceremony every thirty. Sha Kok Mei also had a regular ta tsiu. * Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 31.7.81, Mr. Chau T'in Shang 9.7.81. The ceremony, taken more as a game of fun, was known as "puk sha ngau tsai". 49 Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, Mr. Lei 9.7.81. 60 Before the War, puppet shows were performed at the earthgods' festivals at Sai Kung Market and Pak Tam Chung, and the ta tsiu at Pak Kong and Pak Sha Wan. With the exception of Pak Kong's ta tsiu, which was held once every ten years, these were annual celebrations. See ints. Mr. Kong Hei 21.6.81, Mr. Chau T'in Shang 7.5.81, 9.7.81, Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81, Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.6.81, Mr. Lok Tsau On 21.6.81. "1 See, for instance, descriptions of the feasts in int. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81, feast at grave worship in int. Mr. Cheung T'o 15.6.81, at wedding ceremony in int. Mr. Tsang 25.6.81. 52 For general comments see Mr. Tse Wing 9.6.81, Mrs. Lau 21.6.81, Mrs. Tse 21.6.81, Mrs. Cheung née Wan 26.6.81, and for samples of these songs, Mr. Lok Kau Kei 26.6.81, Mr. Ip Wan 2.7.81. 53 C. Fred Blake, "Death and abuse in marriage laments: the curse of Chinese brides", Studies in Asian Folklore 37, pp. 13-33 quotes extensively from a text of Hakka songs found in Sai Kung. The Oral History Project has found records of these songs in other villages, but not in Sai Kung itself. 5 Hong Kong Government Administrative Report 1913, p. N 16. 56 From the Hong Kong Government Administrative Report 1922, the Hong Kong Government Administrative Report 1923, and interview reports, schools were found in Sai Kung Market (Sung Chen and two others) and the following villages (names of schools in brackets): Mang Kung Uk (Ts'ung Kong), Pak Tam Chung, Wo Mei, Ho Chung (Tsik Shin), Tseung Kwan O (Lap Tak), Yim Tin Tsai, Tai Po Tsai, Sha Kok Mei (Yuk Yin), Tai Wan (Sui Ying), Tai No, Nam Wai, Pak Kong (Man Shang), Tai Long, Wong Chuk Yeung, Pan Long Wan, Sheung Yeung (Ling Wan), Ta Ho Tun, Pak Ngah, Kau Lau Wan, Kau Sai, Seung Sz Wan (Wai San), Hang Hau (Man Uen), Tseng Lan Shue (Lung T'ang), Tan Ka Wan (Shung Ming), Yung Shu O, Ko Tong, Tai Wan Tau, Wong Mo Ying, Ma Yau Tong, Man Yee Wan, Nam Shan, Che Keng Tuk, Pak Kong Au, Ma Nam Wat, Siu Hang Hau. 56 Ints. Mr. Lok Shang 21.5.81, Mr. Chan Kei Shang 28.5.81, Mr. Cheung To 29.5.81, Mr. Chan Shau 19.6.81, Mr. Uen Chan Wan 22.6.81, Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81, Mr. Wong Yung Ts'ing 20.5.81, Mr. Lam Kaap Shau 8.6.81, Mr. Lai Foh 8.5.81. 57 Mr. Lei Shiu Yam 8.5.81, Mr. Wong Yung Ts'ing 20.5.81, Mr. Kong Hei 21.6.81 went to Sung Chen. Mr. Wong went from Sung Chen to the Roman Catholic School in Wai Chau and then Canton. Mr. Cheng Chung T'ing 21.5.81 went to the Yau Ma Tei Government School, Mr. Uen Chiu Ming 13.2.81 went to the Tai Po Teachers Training School, but did not graduate. The Chans of Ho Chung sent their sons to Nam Tau or Canton; see Mr. Chan P'aang Hing 29.5.81. Mr. Chau T'in Shang's elder brother was educated in Canton, see int. 3.6.81. See also int. Father George Carusso 20.5.81. 58 Mr. Wong Ts'ing 23.6.81, Mr. Tsang Yau 23.6.81, Mrs. Tse née Lau 24.6.81, Mr. Lau Wan Hei 25.6.81, Mrs. Yung née Wan 2.7.81, Madam Chiu I Mooi 18.7.81, Mrs. Yau née Tse 22.7.81, Mr. Chan T'aai ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 138 7. Sha Lo Wan NOTES AND QUERIES Built in 1774, repaired in 1852, 1925* and 1975*. Bell 1774. 8. Tung Chung-inside the Fort but now ruined. No information. Kwan Tai Temple — 1. Mu Wo (Man Wu Temple) Built in the Ming Dynasty, repaired in 1901 and 1960*. Bell 1961 2. Lo Wai, Pui O— no longer in existence No information. 3. Tong Fuk - No information. No bell. 4. Tai O Market Kwun Yam Temple Built in the Ming Dynasty, repaired in 1741, 1835, 1852*, 1903*, 1959* and 1975*. Bell 1741. 1. Fan Lau- ruined, no information. 2. Tsin Yu Wan near Yi O — ruined, no information. 3. Keung Shan Built in 1910, repaired in 1964 and 1970. Bell 1756, was originally in one of the Pak Tai temples in Kowloon. Hau Wong Temple 侯王廟 1. Shek Pik-Inundated by Shek Pik Reservoir in 1960. 2. Po Chue Tam, Tai O - Built in 1699, repaired in 1877* and 1966*. No bell. 3. Tung Chung-Built in 1765, repaired in 1878, 1910*, 1962* and 1978. Bell 1765 Wah Kwong Temple Hang Mei, Tai O — Built in the Ch'ing Dynasty, repaired in 1896, 1954 and 1973. No bell, Saam Shan Kwok Wong Temple San Shek Wan Yuen Tan Temple No information. Shek Mun Kap, Tung Chung no longer in existence. No information. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1982 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mk61z420p 159 These words occur in certain Hakka dialects, not in others, and we do not know whether they occur or not in non-standard Cantonese dialects such as Tung Kwun. Are these words, then, Hakka loans into Cantonese? Cantonese loans into Hakka? or loans into both Hakka and Cantonese from a third language? The evidence is difficult to interpret. Furthermore, that most Hakka-Cantonese bilinguals are native speakers of Hakka, not Cantonese, makes Hakka more likely to realign itself with Cantonese than the reverse. Indeed, the Hakka dialects of the New Territories (Sung Him Tong, but also Sathewkok) have undergone in their recent history a series of phonological changes that bring them closer to SC: loss of the /n-/ vs. /l-/ contrast; loss of the /-iu/ vs. /-eu/ contrast; loss of medials [w, y] in combinations that are not permissible in SC; etc. In sum, a certain amount of interloaning may be expected to have taken place between way t'au wa and Hakka since these two languages have come into contact. Yet there is no doubt that way t'au wa existed well before the first Hakka settlers arrived in the area, and that way t'au wa is not the result of dialect mixture. The 'dialect of the walled villages' must then be regarded as the main local variety of the Cantonese group of dialects. It is now threatened in its existence by the expansion of SC, and deserves further studies before it becomes extinct. 1 NOTES Baker, H. D. R. (1966) "The Five Great Clans of the New Territories" J.H.K.B.R.A.S., 6:25-45. 2 All my thanks are due to Mr. So Chung, Mr. So Nam, Mr. Tang Kee-hon for their kind help during the first stage of the project. * "Fangyan Diaocha Zibiao" (Character charts for dialect surveys). Shangwu, 1981, Beijing. * McCoy, J. (1965) "The Dialects of Hongkong Boat People: Kau Sai" J.H.K.B.R.A.S., V: 46-64. 5 Yuan, J. H., et al. (1960) "Hanyu Fangyan Gaiyao" (Elements of Chinese dialectology). Peking. Barnett, K. M. A. (1974) "Do Words from Extinct Pre-Chinese Languages Survive in Hongkong Place-Names?". J.H.K.B.R.A.S., 14:136-159. Ball, J.D. (1890) "The Tung-kwún dialect". China Review 1890, Vol. 18: 284-299. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v NOTES AND QUERIES Dog Divination from A Dunhuang Manuscript CAROLE MORGAN 184 An Ode on Hong Kong Composed by the Major of Canton in 1845 P. BRUCE 193 Relics of Hong Kong and China in British Army and Regimental Museums P. BRUCE 196 An Imperial Chinese Banner Preserved in Kendal, England P. BRUCE 202 A Relic of St. Francis Xavier P. BRUCE 204 A Ch'ing Cannon from Wyndham Street, Hong Kong J. W. HAYES 208 Chue Mo Peng, A Fever Reported from Villages in the Hong Kong Region, and Its Cure, Together with Other Village Remedies for Excess Heat J. W. HAYES 209 The Kwun Yam Tung Shan Temple of East Kowloon 1840-1940 J. W. HAYES 212 A Community Shooting Bungalow Near Chinkiang, Kiangsu, and Its Library About 1905 J. W. HAYES 218 Ancestral Images: A Bibliographical Note HUGH D. R. BAKER 221 Old Hau Wong Temple, Tai Wai, Sha Tin P. H. HASE 233 Traditional New Territories Farming: Manuring P. H. HASE 241 The Cultivation of the "Incense Tree" (Aquilaria Sinensis) IU KOW-CHOY 247 vi ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 59 (g) The drawbacks are numerous. It is preferable that each member should appear at each meeting if he is not to be deprived of his chances. No member can back out of the association until the full period has elapsed, since otherwise the sum won by the successful tenderer will be depleted. Most disputes arise by reason of a successful tenderer attempting to back out at an early stage, having obtained a sum of money by means which are hard to define as either larceny, false pretences or embezzlement. 15. Names (a) Throughout his life, a Chinese will often use bewildering series of names or aliases, each of which usually denotes some stage in life. The practice between men and women is slightly different. (b) When a child is born, he or she is given a milk name (乳名), chosen well before the full moon feast which normally takes place when the child is a month old. This milk name is used by the child's family and relatives. (c) At the full moon feast, the parents choose a proper name for the child and then worship the gods (Goddess of Mercy Kwun Yam, Queen of Heaven Tin Hau, Kwan Tai etc.) who are informed of the name and asked to give their blessing to its holder. (d) When the child first goes to school, he or she is traditionally required to kneel before the teacher who invokes the aid of Confucius in assisting the child in studying knowledge and who gives the child a school name (學名). This school name is used by pupils and teacher in school but at home does not normally displace the milk name which the family will continue to use. (e) On marriage, a man will give up his milk name and will be given an adult name (表字) by his fellow clansmen. Usually the second name will be that of the second name of the clan, e.g. TANG Ping Cheung (炳祥) after the TANG Ping Hak Tso (鄧炳克祖). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 126 matters only. It was not a kaifong that looked after the general affairs of the area. This duty seems to have been performed in the early period by a committee of merchant and trade guild elite figures drawn from a wider area. This body sat in the Man Mo Temple in nearby Hollywood Road, and a special kung sor (kung so) or 'public affairs office' was built for its meetings in the first year of the T'ung Chih reign (1862-1863). This is the date of the inscription above the door of the building, which is still in existence. This Kaifong was later (from 1871) effectively subsumed in the Tung Wah Hospital Committee.”1 The Earth God Shrine at Li Po Lung Path, Kennedy Town There was another, lesser Fuk Tak Kung shrine in an adjoining, equally old urban area at Li Po Lung Path, Kennedy Town. When I made enquiries in 1974, no one could tell the whole history of the shrine or in which year it was established. According to an old kaifong Mr. Chow Kwok-kwan, one of the former managers of the shrine, who was 90 years old in 1974, the shrine was already located on the slope behind 14 Li Po Lung Path when he first came to live in the district in 1914. At that time the shrine was only a wooden hut measuring about 12' x 5' with a height of about 8'. He was told by some elderly kaifongs that the shrine had been there for more than twenty years, which may link its origins to the great plague of 1894, as with the altar at Sheung Fung Lane. At first the shrine only housed the Sam Shing Kung, the deities representing Heaven, Earth and Man, the three Powers of Nature; another deity was added to the shrine: the Fuk Tak Kung or earth god (To Tei) who is responsible for the peace and prosperity of the district. Finally, an image of Kwun Yam, Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, was also placed there. In view of its shabby state, Mr. Chow himself reconstructed the temple as a brick structure of more or less the same size about the year 1940. Later In June 1966 it was destroyed by torrential rain, but up to 1974, when I made my enquiries, none of the interested parties had come forward with a reconstruction or resiting project. Since 1940, it had been the regular practice for the residents of Kennedy Town to celebrate at the shrine annually, usually on... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 212 THE KWUN YAM AND TUNG SHAN TEMPLE OF EAST KOWLOON 1840-1940 J. W. HAYES This note details the origins, rise and fall of a temple, over the course of a full century, in what was originally a rural district of East Kowloon. The community connected with the temple originally comprised farming villages and stone cutters' settlements. To this core, urban and suburban elements were more and more added until they eventually came to dominate the area entirely. These changes led to the virtual extinction of the original community and, with it, its temple. The Tung Shan Temple is now in ruins; only the walls remain. It became derelict during the Japanese Occupation, and was not repaired after the war. There are, in fact, two temples, standing side by side. The stone inscription above one door states that it is a Kwun Yam (*) or Goddess of Mercy temple, rebuilt in the 13th year of the Kwang Hsü reign (1887). The inscription above the main door of the other states that it is the Tung Shan (*) or Eastern Peak temple, dated the equivalent of 1904. The two are here treated as an entity, as (it is stated) they were always under the same management. According to two elders from the Chu Family (朱) of Tai Hom village (born in 1891 and 1896; interviewed 1967-1968), the Kwun Yam temple is built on land belonging to their clan. The Chu's were Hakka latecomers to rural east-central Kowloon, arriving in the 18th century and taking up higher land under the encircling hills. The spot where the temple was constructed was originally padi land, growing poor quality rice; but after a great grandfather had placed an image of the Goddess of Mercy near the fields they began to yield good crops. At the insistence of this same man, the village elders erected a small temple there in the Tao Kuang reign (1821-1850). My informants had this story in their youth from their clan uncles. The next chapter in the history of the Kwun Yam temple opens with its repair in the Kwang Hsü reign (1875-1908). No ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 213 A commemorative tablet is to be found in the ruined building, and neither of my elderly informants can recall this period: but during this time it is said that the temple continued to be managed by the Chu family of Tai Hom because of their ownership of the land. The 1887 date given in the Kwun Yam temple door inscription presumably gives the date of this rebuilding. A change took place in the opening years of this century, when my informants were boys. The clan uncle who was then looking after the Kwun Yam temple found work as a foreman at the Tai Tam Tuk water scheme on Hong Kong island, and handed over its charge to a Taoist monk. This man, described as “a very capable person”, decided to build a second temple, and went to the Nam Pak Hong (Nam Pak Hong) or group of merchants trading overseas from Bonham Strand, then the main business centre of Hong Kong’s Chinese community, to raise funds. He was successful in collecting sufficient money, and the new, or Tung Shan, temple was built in 1904.1 Again, no memorial tablet can be found. When the monk died a few years after the construction of the new temple a further change of management occurred. The clan uncle was still working away from home, and he and the other elders of Tai Hom handed control to another man. This person was not from the same village. He lived in Po Kong (#), one of the older and more important Kowloon villages, settled in the Ming Dynasty or earlier. However, he was a Hakka like the Tai Hom villagers, though he lived in a Punti village. The reasons for his acceptability to the Chu clan and to the leaders of the wider community that took an interest in the two temples were stated to me by the Chu elders as follows: “The Kwun Yam temple belonged not just to we Chus, but to the thirteen villages of Kowloon, and Mr. Chan [the new permanent manager’s name] was well-off, elderly and respected by local people”. This demonstrates the progress that the temple had made in the affections of Kowloon people and its growing territorial influence. The new manager was born in Kwei-shin (歸善) (now Hui-yang (惠陽)) in 1855. He was a building contractor ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 214 and general merchant, who came to Hong Kong with his brothers when young. As the eldest, he controlled the family finances and the distribution of work. The second brother went on to Australia, and then returned to Hong Kong. The third brother was a small ship-builder, running his own sampan construction business near the old Kowloon City pier. The fourth brother was a policeman. The eldest Chan's son, my informant, succeeded him as manager of the temple on his death in 1925. During these years the temple's following had been steadily growing. It is reported that in the younger Chan's time, and before, over twenty villages of central and east Kowloon2 took a regular part in the religious celebrations conducted at the two temples. This represents a striking difference from the days, a century before, when the Goddess of Mercy shrine and temple were the private concerns of the small and unimportant Chu family of Tai Hom, 3 This statement of interest is substantiated by the practices described to me by elders of villages in the area. Two managers, styled chik li (1) were provided by each village. Each year, some weeks before the main Kwun Yam festival, the chief manager called them together for a discussion as to whether the usual arrangements would be made. These consisted of chantings by nam mo lo (), the staging of the customary puppet shows for the four days and five nights usual in this region, and a dinner held in front of the temple the day after the festival. Upon agreement to proceed as usual, each village was allocated one or more subscription books, and the chik li or their helpers collected funds from those among their fellow villagers who wished to take part in the dinner and the general celebrations. The chik li were not elected by the villagers: they seldom if ever were in the villages of this region. They came from among that body of working elders who managed the affairs of each village. They were either the elders themselves, or persons deputed by them. The Chairman of the body of chik li was selected through a procedure basically the same as that described for other temples and shrines in the Hong Kong region. All the village chik li gathered at the temple at a fixed day and hour. The divining blocks were cast an agreed number of times and the 3 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 215 person with the highest number of positive responses would become the principal for that year's functions and observances. As permanent manager, responsible for the land, structure and property of the temple, Mr. Chan was in a separate category, and his duties were not subject to the throws of the blocks. He kept his position through his continued interest and activity, and his status as a prosperous man who devoted his time and money to temple business. The temple was crowded at festival time, but not at other times. All sources of information agree that about thirty tables, seating around 250 persons, were regularly put out each year in the 1930s for the yearly feast in front of the temple, and large crowds flocked there to worship and to attend the puppet shows given at this time and, it was said, much earlier. The villagers often came in the large groups organised for worshipping purposes and known locally as pao wui (✨). An old lady from Po Kong village recalls going there regularly with such a group shortly after her marriage into Po Kong about 1900. In her youth it was mostly men who went to worship from her village. Her father-in-law often went to the temple for thanksgiving (he died in 1914, aged 66), and there were usually at that date twenty to thirty people in the visiting party from that village, very few of them women. Roast pork was divided among the members of the pao wui after the worshipping. The temple owed its popularity to the supposed efficacy of the goddess. The old lady mentioned above stressed that the Kwun Yam image there was very kind-hearted, and hence greatly revered locally. The village people attached great importance to the personal connection between their families and the goddess: and, as she put it, ‘many girls of my day became her god-daughters, and my brother-in-law had become her god-son'. In case of sickness or perplexity, the villagers would have resort to the goddess. From what I have heard from old persons in the other villages of the adjoining area, this was the prevailing sentiment in pre-war days, and accounts for the general popularity enjoyed by the temple. The fung shui of the temple was also held to be good, providing additional assurance to worshippers. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 216 The popularity of the Kwun Yam temple must be seen in relation to the followings and reputations of the other village temples of the area from which the temple drew its patrons. There was a long-established Tin Hau temple (A) inside Nga Tsin Wai village, a mile or so to the west over towards Kowloon City and its suburb Kowloon Street. According to a late 19th century tablet in the temple, this had existed at least as early as 1727. It had long provided the normal place of worship for the residents of the seven villages of the League of Seven (1) centred on Nga Tsin Wai, and some of the elders of these villages described their villages to me as 'coming under the rule of the Tin Hau of Nga Tsin Wai'. Other old villages had their own temples, including another dedicated to Tin Hau in the large old village of Po Kong. Another well-known temple outside the north-west corner of Kowloon walled city, dedicated this time to Hau Wong (E), had its followers from Kowloon Street and the villages nearby. However, if my informants are to be believed and their natural bias discounted, in the early years of this century none of these commanded such wide support as the Tung Shan temple and its Kwun Yam image, and none enjoyed the wide territorial support shown by the existence of chik li chosen from, and the circulation of subscription books within all of the thirteen main villages of Kowloon. Herein lies the importance, and the interest, of the combined Tung Shan and Kwun Yam temple of east Kowloon. By contrast, the post-war neglect of this temple, and the fact that it has not been rebuilt, is, at first glance, hard to reconcile with its relatively recent rise to fame and period of glory. Elders give various reasons, and there is no doubt that a number of factors were at work. Firstly, the privations of the Japanese Occupation were more felt in Kowloon than in most places, because the military authorities razed Po Kong and other old villages nearby to extend the airfield, and this is said to have shaken villagers' faith in the gods. Secondly the high cost of the necessary repairs in a period of general impoverishment after the war are given as another factor. Thirdly, the removal of the Kowloon villages one by one for redevelopment purposes, before and especially after the war, was clearly another factor. The degree of disruption and personal struggle involved for the village families in these removals ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1983 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j9607p61v 217 was great and must have left them with little time or money to spare for their ruined temple. Finally, and almost certainly the most seriously, the influx of a new population, and immense schemes of redevelopment completely altered the generally rural background of village and market town life that still characterised pre-war East Kowloon. Thus, in the Tung Shan Temple we can see a temple, founded for purely rural reasons slowly growing until it became the predominant community temple of the whole of rural East Kowloon. During this period its management changed from a purely private, clan-based system to a typical community temple structure of committee members and chairman of a type typical not only of the rural community temples in the rest of the New Territories but also of those in urban Hong Kong at this date. Founded in a rural community this temple could, and did, develop both physically and in its management structure to reflect the needs of that community. It could not, however, survive the complete destruction of that community, and its ruination directly reflects the collapse of its founding community in the face of massive urbanisation, and the establishment of the new urban communities created by that urbanisation. The new urban communities have formed their own shrines, and their flourishing condition, alongside the continued ruin of the main temple of the defunct rural community, show more clearly than anything else can the essentially community basis of the temples of this area and their management groups. NOTES In the 1904 Block Crown Lease for Survey District No. 3, New Kowloon, the ownership is recorded in the monk's name Shing Kin (Hsing Star Bridge) and the property is listed under Lot 1101 as temple 0.7 acres, house 0.2 acres, and potato ground 0.33 acres. An entry "Kwun Yam Temple, Ngau Chi Wan" had been crossed out by the Assistant Land Officer who recommended that a lease for the temple buildings and site be given to the Registrar General, 28 April 1904. From south-east Kowloon, Ngau Tau Kok and Cha Kwo Ling; from east Kowloon, Ngau Chi Wan, Ping Shek, Sha Tei Yuen, Upper and Lower Yuen Ling and Chu Shi Liu; from central Kowloon, Tai Hom, Po Kong, Nga Tsin Wai, Upper and Lower Sha Po, Nga Tsin Long and Kak Hang; from Kowloon City, the commercial areas, Sai Tau, Tung Tau and Hoklo Village. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 done across the territory. Inscribed tablets have been copied from old temples and other public buildings, together with documents and family papers, and interesting old persons have been interviewed. The nature of this work, and its results so far, were reviewed. On 30 May, the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong invited members of our Society to attend a lecture meeting at which Professor Michael Sullivan, Christensen Professor of Oriental Art at Stanford University spoke on "The Present State of Chinese Painting”. On 19 June, Dr. Rosemary Quested, Reader in History at the University of Hong Kong and an authority on Sino-Russian relations, spoke on the subject "Whither Sino-Soviet Relations: some reflections in the light of history and current events.” On 28th June, Ms. Patricia Cuenot gave a slide presentation entitled "The Magic of Pushkar", which dealt with the Camel Fair held during October and November each year in Pushkar, Rajasthan. On 24 October, one of our members, Mr. Phillip Bruce, a Principal Information Officer of Government Information Services, gave a fascinating illustrated talk, entitled "The Forgotten Fortress". Based on his own research, it dealt with the coastal defences of Hong Kong from the 1840s up to the 1939-45 war. Following this, on 13 November, Professor Grant K. Goodman of the University of Kansas, who is Japan Foundation Visiting Professor of History at the University of Hong Kong and a specialist on the history and politics of Japan, gave an interesting lecture entitled "Vanguard of Empire? — Japanese prostitutes in South East Asia". On Friday, 7 December, Mr. Francis S.Y. Sham, a veteran translator and language teacher and a member of our Society, gave an interesting talk on "Fortune Sticks from Hong Kong's Temples". Mr. Sham has published two volumes on fortune sticks from Kwun Yum and Wong Tai Sin Temples and is currently working on Lui Tso oracles from the Ching Chung Kwan monastery in Castle Peak. On 29 January, 1985, I spoke on the subject "Hong Kong before Lord Palmerston: a “Go” at the Barren Rock Myth”. The talk ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 44 JULIAN PAS 6. Hou-wang ling-ch'ien 14, published by Tsui-ching tang f**, Canton, n.d. (block print edition; 64 oracles). 7. Pei-ti ling-chien w, published by Wu-kui t'ang in Canton, n.d. (block print; 50 oracles, identical with above Shang-ti ling-ch'ien). (iv) Oracles reproduced in the Tao-tsang 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. ✯ (−TT), 1977 Taipei reprint. Szu-sheng chen-chin ling-ch'ien 145, vol. 54, pp. 44056-44080, TT. 1298 (1 scroll; 49 oracles). Hsian-chen ling-ying pao-ch'ien KERAK, vol. 54, pp. 44081-44137, TT. 1299 (3 scrolls; 365 oracles, divided over 12 daily hours each of which has 30 slips, i.e. 360 plus one slip for each of the five agents). Ta-tz'u hao sheng chiu-t'ien wei-fang Sheng-mu yilan-chun ling-ying pao-ch'ien KkP;AMP@!#MEW, vol. 54, pp. 44138-44150, TT. 1300 (1 scroll; 99 oracles). Hung-en ling-chi chen-chân ling chien light hi. Vol. 54, pp. 44150-44154, TT. 1301 (1 scroll; 53 oracles). Ling-chi chen-chün chu-sheng ling ch’ien OBZIRAR, vol. 54, pp. 44155-44159, TT. 1302 (1 scroll; 64 oracles). Fu-t'ien kuang-sheng ru-i ling-ch'ien KQE✯, vol. 54, pp. 44160-44190, TT. 1303 (1 scroll; 120 oracles). 7. B-2 Hu-kuo chia-chi chiang-tung-wang ling-ch'ien ARMORIA, vol. 54, pp. 44193-44213, TT. 1305 (1 scroll; 100 oracles). 8. Hsuan-t'ien Shang-ti kan-ying ling-ch'ien K, vol. 60, pp. 48479-48506 (49 oracles). (v) 1. Sham Francis, Trans., Kwun Yum Fortune Slip Predictions. Hong Kong: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Board of Directors, 1983. (This set corresponds with the Kuan Yin set found in Lukang; B-11 and -12). 2. Sham Francis, Trans., Predictions of Wong Tai Sin. Hong Kong: Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, Board of Directors, 1984. Chai, Tung-yeh # !f, "Ling-chien malo-chii” NUE. 3. Heaven-Earth-man Journal Ke (published in Taichung, Taiwan), no. 1 (1968), 117-147. B. Studies 1. BAUER, Wolfgang, China and the Search for Happiness. Recurring Themes in Four Thousand Years of Chinese Cultural History. (Translated from the German by Michael Shaw.) New York: The Seabury Press, 1976 (German Ed.: 1971) 2. EBERHARD, Wolfram, "Oracle and Theater in China", pp. 191-199, Studies in Chinese Folklore and Related Essays, The Hague: Mouton, 1970. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 107 see, had a reputation for civility. The larger farming villages included Little Hong Kong and Wong Nei Chung. The smaller villages and hamlets included Hok Tsui, Chai Wan, To Tei Wan, Tai Tam (at Stanley), Tin Wan (at Aberdeen), Wan Chai, Tai Tam Tuk, Kwan Tai Lo, Wong Ma Kok, So Kon Po, Shek O and Pokfulam, whilst the port villages cum small towns included Chek Chu (Stanley), Shau Kei Wan and Shek Pai Wan (Aberdeen).” Most of these settlements exist today, albeit greatly changed, although a few have gone. What did these places look like in the 1840s when they first came under British rule? Fortunately, in those days before the camera, one of the officers stationed on the island and entrusted with the first contour survey (1843-1845) entered some useful descriptions in his letters home. This was Lieutenant Thomas Bernard Collinson of the Royal Engineers, a gifted young man who died a major-general at the age of 81 in 1902." In a letter he wrote: "There is really a great deal more to be seen in Hong Kong than its appearance promises. Besides the town of Chuck Chu [Chek Chu] there are 10 villages and at least 400 acres of well cultivated ground. Some of the villages certainly consist of only 7 or 8 houses, but they are distinct villages with ground attached. The largest is Shapwont as it is printed," or “Chuckpyewan" as it is called by the inhabitants, and “Aberdeen" as it is called by the Governor. Her Majesty's surveying vessel employed by the Board of Ordinance has been anchored for a fortnight exactly at the figure 6 at Careening island [on the Chart of the anchorage] and begins to know something of Aberdeen and if the old Aberdeen is anything like the new, it must be a straggling village scattered round a small bay, with an ill-paved sort of quay in front and about 50 fishing boats lying about a great rock in the middle, a good supply of shops where bamboo hats, mats, sails, ropes and baskets; rice, fruit, vegetables, tobacco, earthenware and fireworks are all sold together; these being the staple commodities of a Chinese country shop and cakes by the bye, with plenty of pork fat in everything and a thousand of the dirtiest men women and children that ever talked altogether in a singsong: ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 118 JAMES HAYES interior; and it is considered a profitable trade, because stone blocks are constantly in demand, and will always fetch a good price in proportion as buildings are in course of erection." The clearest evidence of this trade in granite blocks comes from the Hoi Sam Temple in Shau Kei Wan. This temple was built in 1845, the year before Gutzlaff's report, and the tablet in the temple stresses that the construction was a community effort extending over some time. The tablet records 232 donors whose names can still be read, of whom no less than 48 were identified as quarries (E) who donated about 28% of the total sum raised. Of the 14 most generous donors to the temple construction project 5 were identified as quarries, with 6 out of the next 14, and 5 out of the next 17. Collinson's survey of 1843-45 shows the coast pock-marked with quarries all the way from Quarry Bay through Quarry Point (both so named by Collinson), to Ah Kung Nam, with each group of quarries with a few houses for the quarry workers and a landing place for boats. Some of the quarries contributing to the Hoi Sam Temple project may have been from the Kowloon side of the bay, where there were numerous quarries in the Kwun Tong area, but most undoubtedly came from the Shau Kei Wan area. 30 quarries donated to the restoration of the Hau Wong temple in Kowloon City in 1822, of which only 4 also donated in 1845, strongly suggesting this." There can be no doubt that quarrying was the dominant economic activity of the whole north-east coast of Hong Kong. The importance of long-distance trade in the blocks is, perhaps, shown in the eagerness of the quarry operators to contribute generously to the construction of a temple to the seaman's goddess. In the same report, Gutzlaff speaks of the fish trade: "The fisheries carried on from Aberdeen and Stanley are in a flourishing condition, and consequently, also the trade in salt fish, which the mass of the people use generally for seasoning their rice. How many smacks belong to these places has never been ascertained; but at New Year, when they make up the accounts with their partners and owners, the harbours are full of them." ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1984 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/5h73wh572 268 P.H. HASE, J.W. HAYES AND K.C. IU family will produce enough tea from one stripping to last that family a year. Before the War, villager families would put in more time, stripping the trees up to four times in a year, to produce in addition a few baskets of tea for sale in the market towns, to supply those villages, mostly the large, lowland villages, who had no tea trees of their own. The villagers have no recollection of their tea ever being traded more widely than in the local market town." As well as at Mau Tso Ngam, several other hill villages in Shatin still prepare tea in this way (including Wong Chuk Yeung, and Kwun Yam Shan) and several others did until recently. Probably most hill villages of the New Territories used to prepare tea in this way. Traditionally, villagers drank tea out of their rice bowls at the end of the meal after the rice was finished. Special tea bowls were used in ritual contexts (e.g., when offering tea to gods or spirits or during weddings when tea is offered by the bride to her husband's mother) or when tea was offered to important visitors. The rice bowls were kept very carefully, and the owners would often scratch their names into the glaze inside the bowl to guard against loss." A set of rice bowls used for tea drinking in Mau Tso Ngam from about 1920 is now preserved in the Hong Kong Museum of Teaware, together with tealeaves produced at Mau Tso Ngam, and a full photographic record of the preparation processes. (2) Traditional Tea Growing in the Southern New Territories (JWH) My recollections of local tea go back to 1957-58 when, newly appointed as District Officer, South, I visited all villages and hamlets in the district within a six months' period and much of it on foot! My recollection was that I drank hill tea in a number of places as well as ordinary tea or hot water in others. Referral to my notebooks has provided some information on tea growing in the villages of the Southern District but not as much as I had either thought or hoped. Hill tea came to my attention when I was offered it to drink, and this was conspicuously the case in the Clear Water Bay villages. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1985 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gt54s866x 195 初學简明歷史指南第1-4册 上海廣益書局印行 民國18年(1929)版 (沙田大圍 蔡錦泉先生藏) 鄭氏各世族譜 香港新界沙田區火炭村 公元一九五七年丁西年元旦重訂 (沙田火炭村 鄭來興先生藏) 第十四册 [ 武城會氏承修族譜]泰勅封宗聖族譜 武城會氏重修 第五册 吳氏家族裔孫煥琪子美界述 民國廿六年丁丑 第十六册 安成祖流水部 民國三十二年癸未歲吉立 安成祖値耕嘗業進借總部 民國肆肆年歲次乙未孟春過部 安成祖 進支總簿 [ 安祖川租簿 同治、光精、民國年間] [ 嘉慶、咸豐、同治年間田契] [ 安成和旧租簿 光緒、民國年間] 安成租年結流水部 民國肆十肆年歲次乙未孟春立 第十七册 [ 成豐、同治、光緒年間日契]Kwun Yam Shan Village, Shatin 癸卯進支腳正總部 The Chan family in Tai Wai Village, Shatin 穎川堂昌世祖族部(第三房)壬寅年立 1962 瓜瓞源長 The Chan family in Tai Wai Village, Shatin 大圍村陳氏家族歷代表 一九八〇年八月十六日表 「有關陳君羨祖業權口名稱」Loose document 5: the Chan family in Tai Wai Village, Shatin 粉嶺文獻: 第一册 喜喪柬式 髙修彭炳 帖式便覽 喪禮用 彭英堯選 第二冊 正一科宇式 粉嶺影妠 靈霪科宇式粉笛影妠甲寅修 第三册 普施燥幽金科 參德堂彭上、下 第四册 關燈 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 112 A HOKLO WEDDING VALERY M. GARRETT During one of our many visits to Sha Tau Kok with Roger, my Hoklo-speaking assistant, to seek out traditional Chinese clothing for the Hong Kong Museum of History, we learned that a wedding would take place on Tuesday, 24th May 1988, for one of the families living in the squatter area of Yim Liu Ha. This is a district within Sha Tau Kok populated by approximately 3,000 Hoklo people who were due to be transferred to new blocks of rural housing during the latter part of 1988 onwards. We were advised to arrive early, and so at 9:30 am on the appointed day we made our way through the village. It was easy to spot the home of the bridegroom, a hundred yards down one of the narrow streets, for around the doorway was draped a narrow length of red cotton, while in the centre, hanging from the lintel, was a freshly cut leg of pork. This was the home of Mr. Lee Sau Choy (李壽財), aged 29, who lived with his parents, three younger brothers, and two younger sisters. His parents were former boat people who had come ashore and settled in Yim Liu Ha some thirty years ago, although his father had continued to go to sea until fairly recently. Mr. Lee worked in Fanling as a fireman, and it was near there, at Kwan Tei, that his bride lived, Miss Lai Miu Han (黎妙嫻), aged 27 and a locally born Cantonese. The marriage had already been registered in Tai Po, and the question of dowry settled. This had been in two parts: the first was a sum of money paid directly to the bride's family of several thousand dollars; the second part consisted of some gifts of gold jewellery given to the bride which, combined with the bride's family's gift of jewellery, would be brought back to the bridegroom's home that morning. Inside the house, on both the left and facing right wall, was hung a blanket known as hei-pei (喜被). Upon each blanket was stitched a cut-out double-happiness character in silver paper, with dragon and phoenix painted on it. Above the character on the blanket on the left-hand wall were stitched two rows of four $500 notes, while ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 90 Kwangtung province formerly, I found the people could earn their living. Latterly since the people have been moved inside the boundary, they have gradually died off. Out of every ten of them about eight or nine have been killed by the removal. The best thing that can be done at present, as we cannot allow them to return to their homes, is to allow the boundary limit to be made larger so that the farmers may find a place to farm and the fishermen room for fishing." Nothing came of the position, but the Viceroy's interest in their plight was remembered by the people and they were grateful to him. In the 5th year of Hong Hei there was a bad drought in Kwangtung and the Emperor gave order that the rice kept in the Government granaries should be given to the people. It was during that year the San On district was abolished, all government appointments there were cancelled, and what was originally San On was added to Tung Kwun (東莞). During this time the Governor Wong Loi Yam (黃律琰) wrote a report to the throne suggesting that six principal causes of growing discontent should be removed. At first no notice was taken of this effort but in the 6th year of Hong Hei, when things were getting worse, the Emperor allowed Governor Wong's suggestions to be carved on stone tablets, and each city gate had one of the tablets displayed there. Beyond that, the Emperor did nothing, but the fact that someone was interesting himself on their behalf helped to soothe the increasing resentment of the people. The Governor Wong was a very good man and he made great improvements in a lot of government affairs. It is said that he dressed as a common man during his leisure and spent much time talking to the simple farming people. In this way he learnt much about his subordinates, which were good and which were bad, and he really benefited his people. But he was unable to get on with the ministers in Peking and in the following year he was dismissed by the Emperor and ordered to return to Peking. When Wong received the message of his dismissal he wrote his valedictory address and in it he mentioned five important steps which should be taken to ease the burden on his people. Two of these were that the numbers of troops should be reduced in Kwangtung, and the boundary be removed, the people being allowed to return to their homes. He then started off for Peking, but a Lei P’aai (里排) (chief of the village elders) named Poon Shai Ts'eung (潘世璋) heard about this, and went to beg the Emperor to allow Wong to retain his post. Wong died, whether... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 124 CHEUNG SHAN KWU TSZ Urinal Ladder Fang (Dachlatt art) NINTELI 000 Total Allor Kwun Yam Aller Cockle mark Guest Quarters Side Holl Offering Table ·Gable Ladder Living Hall Main Hall Living Holl Inscription Steph Craw miscingh Store Slepa Fong Tin Tseng Tin Tseng Living Hall Fong (+ Dwark Bod Side Boer Slaps Pate Wai To Allar Spitil Servan Entrance Hall HAIR Dor Som sebou. Ola Brick und Kitchen 000 Kitchen Gr Urinal Sham Tsun ROAD Sho T40 Kak FEET Q + IN EEN --> Goble ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 125 hillslope at the back and sides. stone As far as can be ascertained, the walls of the nunnery are throughout either of blue brick or of heavily plastered stone rubble, on footings of the standard building technique in the region. The roofs are of tile laid single thickness on beams supported directly by the walls. The only windows are very small (about one foot square) openings with bars and wooden shutters in the front face in the second and fourth sections, and the side wall of the fourth section, and two tiny single-brick openings, in the front wall of the second section, and the side wall of the fourth section. The main temple hall is the third section. The main entrance to the nunnery is here, at the top of a shallow flight of steps. The double-leaved door opens into an Entrance Hall bare of all furniture except for the brick spirit-screen wall, with the altar to Wai To (卫道), the Defender of the Way, against its inner face. The Entrance Hall opens out into the Tin Tseng, which is mostly filled with the large brick paper-burner, and the steps up to the upper level. Above the steps is the Main Hall, with the altar against the back wall, and with a large offering table in front. The altar is to Kwun Yam, and has statues of the Lord Buddha (Sakyamuni), and the King of Hell (Ti Ts'ang Wang, 地藏王), as well as of Kwun Yam on it. To either side of the main altar are very small subordinate altars, where the tablets commemorating certain deceased monks are kept. In front of the main cult statues are five small images: two are unidentified, the others are of Milofu, Shan Ts'ai (善财), and Yũ Nũ (玉女). Below the altar is the usual shrine to the spirits of the Five Directions (五方).* To the left of the Main Hall as you look at it from the entrance, i.e., at the back of the second section of the building, is the Side Hall, containing an altar to the Earth God (To Tei, 土地). This Side Hall has no Tin Tseng or windows, and is in consequence rather dark, being lit only by the light coming in from the arch which links this Hall with the Main Hall. The nunnery is now in a very run-down state, and it is not clear what furnishings were originally in this Hall: presumably there was an offering table of some sort in front of the altar. This Side Hall contains the inscription commemorating the rebuilding of the nunnery in 1868. * I am indebted to Mr. Keith G. Stevens for identification of the deities worshipped in the nunnery. Page 150 Page 151 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 127 above it which could be used as a further bedchamber. A small window lights the cockloft, and there is also a single-brick opening near the ladder to the cockloft which provides a little light. Apart from this, the only light for this area comes through the archway linking it with the Main Hall. In front of the bedchamber was a small living hall, originally with chairs and side-tables this space could also have been used as sleeping space if the number of guests was large. The nunnery Bell and Drum are housed in this area, near the arch. The front part of the fourth section is the kitchen, with a store-room behind it. The kitchen is quite large, with a large wok built into a brick stove, and three charcoal stoves on a stone shelf. The kitchen also contains the big water jars and the guest latrine. There is no cockloft in this area; the kitchen occupies the whole space below the rafters. There are two tiny windows in the front wall of the kitchen, one above the other, to let light in and fumes out. In the kitchen, in place of the more frequently found Kitchen God, is a paper tablet to Na Luo Wang (**捺罗王**). This rare deity, found only in monastic kitchens in the Hong Kong region, is the deity who supervises fasting and vegetarian diets, and his shrine in the kitchen is intended to ensure that the kitchen is not defiled by being used to cook meat.* The ruins of the Lung Kai nunnery seem to show a plan similar to that of the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz. The Lung Kai nunnery was larger, forming a rectangle about 60 feet deep and a little over 60 feet broad. It was divided into five sections rather than the four of the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz. Whereas the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz faces approximately south, with the residential area on the west (to the left as you look at the building), the Lung Kai nunnery faces approximately north-west, with the residential area on the west (to the right as you look at the building). The worshipping halls at the Lung Kai nunnery were three in number, and occupied the back part of the three easternmost sections. They opened into a large Tin Tseng, which occupied the central part of all three of these sections, and which was surrounded on all four sides by a covered walkway. The Tin Tseng was one or two steps lower than the worshipping halls. The three altars were to an eighteen-armed Kwun Yam, to Yuen Tan, (2), and, it is thought, to Kwan Tai. * I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Keith G. Stevens for the information in this paragraph. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 138 the "major lineages". If, as seems likely, the foundation of the nunnery represented, at least in part, a political move to strengthen the villages near the pass against the "major lineages", then it was the first step in what was to become open inter-village warfare two or three generations later. The Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz and the Ta Kwu Ling Luk Yeuk In the nineteenth century, local politics in the New Territories area were marked by the struggle for local political dominance between the rich and ancient “major lineages", and the mutual defence inter-village alliances, or Yeuk, which set out to combat the "major alliances" by uniting the strength of villages too weak to oppose them on their own. The struggle for dominance was centred on control of the markets, and of the vital roads which linked them. 24 Within the eastern New Territories the villagers of the area around Sha Tau Kok formed a network of Yeuk alliances which was responsible for the foundation of the market at Sha Tau Kok about 1825, and which controlled all the roads in the area immediately around the market. The villagers formed ten inter-village Yeuk alliances, and this Yeuk network was called the Shap Yeuk (+*, "Alliance of Ten'') in consequence. The Shap Yeuk owned the market at Sha Tau Kok communally, and their interest in keeping open all the roads which served the market, but especially their vital road to Sham Tsun, is obvious. The Shap Yeuk was united enough, and strong enough, that it was able to ensure that the "major lineages” had no significant influence within the Sha Tau Kok area, but it was never strong enough to control the whole of the road to Sham Tsun. To the south, the area around the ancient market town of Tai Po had been dominated by the Tang lineage of Tai Po Tau since the Ming dynasty. The Tangs not only controlled the market, but also owned the extremely important ferry over the Kwun Yam river in the town, over which all traffic from Kowloon to the north had to pass. This control by a "major lineage” was very irksome to the other villages of the area, who had been trying to seize control of the area since early in the nineteenth century. The foundation of the New Market (Tai Wo Shi, ) at Tai Po, which was to have no Tang involvement, and the building of a new bridge ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 315 piracy problem in the late Ming, the Coastal Evacuation and its aftermath. In 1662, to deny Ming loyalists supply and support, the Qing government ordered the coastal population of Xin'an county, among others, to evacuate inland (see Ng 1983:26-28). Many died. They were only allowed to return in 1669, thanks to the petitions of the Governor of Guangdong Wong Loi-Yam and the Governor-General Jau Yau-Tak. It is to be expected that the population became smaller in the period just after the evacuation. Many new lineages had migrated into the area in this period (Siu 1984:5-6). These newcomers would have been a threat to those who had settled long before the evacuation. Some of the “locals” had probably also learnt from the previous experience the need to get organized. Others would have to follow suit if they did not want to be dominated by large power groups. Students of the region see the Evacuation (1662-1669) as a turning point in its history. Watson (1985:25), for example, pointed out, "Many of south [Xin'an] temples, and large corporate descent groups trace their beginning to this period”. The construction of temples and ancestral halls, she suggested, were steps to strengthen the organizational framework and power of the dominant lineages. 12 The ancestral hall for Ching-Lok's segment, as I have noted above, was probably first built before this period. In Kam Tin a few other ancestral halls and the Jau and Wong Temple were erected in this period. Before this period, therefore, some of the Dangs in Kam Tin had ancestral halls and some had none. From early in this period every one "belonged” to at least one ancestral hall. One of them, the Mau-Ging Tong, was obviously different in nature from the earlier Ching-Lok ancestral hall. It encompassed the three junior branches of the lineage. An inscription for the rebuilding of the Mau Ging Tong included in the Si Gim Tong genealogy acknowledged that it was built subsequent to the Ching-lok ancestral hall, in the Kangxi period (1662-1735). Another ancestral hall, Loi-Sing tong, was also built in this period, in 1701, for the brother of Ching-Lok, as noted above. All of the Dangs of Kam Tin belong to one of these three ancestral halls. Even then, there is no common ancestral hall for all the Dangs of Kam Tin. The Gwun-Yam temple at the site of the present Ling-Wan Ji monastery, to which I shall return later, may have been important to Kam Tin as a whole since very early days. The Jau and Wong Temple built in 1685 dedicated to two officials, and its associated decennial jiu festival also provided all the Dangs of Kam Tin with a unified symbol of identity. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 335 A. Places of worship The gods worshipped in Kam Tin can be divided into four categories. They are gods housed in temples, localized gods in outdoor space, gods on family altars, and the general gods of Heaven. The gods of heaven (Tin-San) are worshipped outside the house door, often with a tablet saying "Blessings from the Gods of Heaven" (Tin-Gwun Chi-Fuk). More important for the community as a whole are temple gods and localized gods. Firstly there are the Ling-Wan Monastery and the Jau and Wong temple, which were important to the Dangs of Kam Tin as a whole. Stone inscriptions show that villagers of Kam Tin as a whole contributed money for rebuilding or repair, doing so on the basis of villages and higher order lineage estates, notably Ching-Lok Jou and Naam-Kai Jou. According to Sung (1973 and 1974) and the Si Kim Tong genealogy the Ling-Wan Ji was established by the Dangs of Kam Tin for the second wife of their founding ancestor Hung-Yi. But it is probable that Sung's source for this information was the author of the Si Gim Tong genealogy himself, and other villages seemed less aware of the connection of the monastery with their ancestor. Perhaps even more important is the idea that Ling-Wan Ji was the jyu-lou, or “head” of Kam Tin. That is why, a Mr. Dang explained to me, all the village gates should face Kwun Yam Shan, where Ling-Wan Ji is, and there is no need for a tall san-teng. Ko Po and Wing Lung Wai are exceptions to this rule. He knew that the position of the gate in Wing Lung Wai had been altered. He thought that the direction of the Ko Po one had been altered too. Interestingly the Xin'an gazetteer has no entry for the Ling-Wan Monastery under that name, but records the existence of a Gwun-Yam Temple on Kwun Yam Shan at the foot of Tai Po Shan, which matches the location of the monastery. The Xin'an gazetteer of 1688 is probably the earliest document mentioning the temple. Under the entry for the temple it mentioned a man of Dongguan county in the Ming dynasty who had lived there. It is not completely clear if this man was a Daoist. When Dang Si-daan's uncle donated the bell now at the monastery in 1755, the inscription referred to the place as the nunnery at Kwun Yam Shan. No one had heard about the temple named in the gazetteer, but Gwun-Yam is worshipped in the monastery, with various other gods such as Gwaan-Dai, and it is the goddess who has a central position, with Page 360 Page 361 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 337 The Jau and Wong Temple also used to house spirit tablets to "heroes". The tablets (three in total, without names) were moved to the Yau-Leun Tong from the side altar in the temple about 50 years ago because they were siu-yan (“small people”), and it was unseemly to house them in the same temple as the two great men (daai-yan). As mentioned before, villagers agreed that the “heroes” were those who had died in fighting (da-saat) between Kam Tin and its enemies. Kam Tin has quite a number of other temples. There are the Man-Cheung Temple and Hung-Sing Temple in Shui Tau, and the Tin-Hau Temple in Shui Mei. Many of the other villages, e.g. Kam Hing Wai, Tai Hong Wai, Kat Hing Wai, Tsi Tong Tsuen, and Wing Lung Wai, which do not have “standard” temples, have a san-teng, a house with an altar for a spirit tablet for about ten popular temple gods. The gods of some of the vanished temples, which include a Yeung-Hau Temple and a Bou-Dak Chi in Shui Mei, and the Hung-Fan Taam Temple of Shui Tau, are still worshipped in the jiu festival, as are the gods of two nunneries, in Shui Mei and Tai Hong Wai respectively, which no longer exist. These temples and nunneries hold tablets or images of some 20 different gods, if we are to include the Earth God for temples, and Wai-To for Buddhist establishments. The other 18 include the popular temple gods Yeung-Hau, Tin-Hau, Bak-Dai, Man-Cheung, Gwun-Yam, Gwaan-Dai, Hung-Sing, the God of Wealth, Gam-Fa, Taai-Seui, the Dragon King, and the Buddha. The Bou-Dak Chi housed spirit tablets for Jau and Wong. There is not much information about this other temple dedicated to Jau and Wong, but it was worshipped probably only by the villagers of Shui Tau, where it was situated. Fui-Sing, and Fa-Gung Fa-Mou are probably respectively responsible for success in imperial examinations and the health of children. Hoi-Saan Suk-Lou is a title found in some other local temples as well, and represents the earliest settlers of the place. Hong-Wong is a title that I have not seen elsewhere in the New Territories. The titles of localized gods found in most of the Kam Tin villages include the God of Earth and Grain, the Water God of wells, and the Earth God for the gates of the walled villages. There are, in some of the villages, a Tree God and Earth Gods for bridges and for the gate to a complex of houses. In addition, there are Ngau-Wong and Pun-Gu, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 344 police. A cluster of smaller temporary structures were built to house the paper images of the Jade Emperor, the City God, the Daai-Si Wong and Baak Mou-Seung. The Daai-Si Wong, also known as Gwai-Wong (King of Ghosts) is a transformation of the goddess Gwun-Yam, who has a fierce appearance befitting his role in the ritual: to oversee the ghosts when they come for the offerings. The Baak Mou-Seung, literally the White Unpredictable, is one of the two Unpredictables, both members of the Underworld bureaucracy who take peoples' spirits when they are to die. Further away from the main paang was a larger structure for general gods, which was to house most of the gods invited from local temples and shrines. Decked out with many fa-paai banners from the villagers and outsiders, the main structure had several partitions. At the entrance in front were two huge paper images of two armed gods, who served as the supernatural guardians of the paang. Beside them were two horses with attendants, and a pair of lions. Furthest from the entrance was a stage divided into three sections, all facing the entrance. The middle one is the Taoist altar where the priests performed many of their rites. To the right was the altar for the Dang ancestors Hung-Yi and his two wives. On the left side was the puppet stage, on which plays were performed. On both sides of the central area of the paang were rooms for each of the five gu villages/groups of villages, plus Ying Lung Wai. On the same rows were two rooms for the guards for the festival site, one for guards drawn from the young men of Bak-Bin and the other from those of Naam-Bin. Nearer the front on the right side was a temporary altar for Gwun-Yam. On the left side was a large partition dedicated to four separate groups of paper images, many with pottery/ceramic heads. The area was known as the yau-saan, a place to harbour ghosts. Each of these groups was divided into three levels. Two large groups depicted the ten Kings of the Underworld on the topmost level. Under the Kings on the middle level were ten shops, each with signs indicating the business: barber's, brothel, sundry goods shop, pawnshop, second-hand clothing, department stores (two), tailors, porters, and “cool” drinks. On the lower levels were some devils, ghosts under torture in the Underworld, and many shoppers. The subjects of the two other groups were more difficult to identify. One of them was labelled Zizhu Lin, “Purple Bamboo Grove”, the place associated with the Goddess Gwun-Yam. She and her male and female attendants were recognizable among the images on the topmost ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 352 F. Theatre After the seven-day rites period, the main paang was modified for use as the opera theatre. The raised area originally partitioned for the Taoist rites, puppet plays and the ancestral altar was converted into the opera stage. The ancestral tablet of Hung-Yi and the statue of Gwun-Yam were moved into the smaller paang for the general gods. The rest of the main paang became a raised audience seating area divided into left and right halves. The right half was for Bak-Bin and the left for the Naam-Bin. Here Bak-Bin included Ying Lung Wai. There was also a clear partition of each half into two sections. One section was for males and the other for females. Between the seating areas for Naam-Bin and Bak-Bin was a separate area, the front part of which was seating for guests, and the rear part of which was left empty, probably for standing audience. 64 In the afternoon before the first opera performance, the rite of exorcism, Jai Baak-Fu, was performed by the opera players on the stage. To the accompaniment of percussion patterns played on large cymbals, gongs, and drums, a man in black fought with a yellow "white tiger”. Although the opera troupe's ritual practice was to perform this ritual only at places where there had never been any theatrical performance before, the Dangs, for the sake of safety, made a special request and paid the troupe an additional fee to have the rite performed. The allocation of theatre seats caused some conflicts among the villagers. I had been told that the seating was allocated on the morning of 24th December, and a chu was allocated seats according to its position in the jiu Memorial. A young man from Shui Tau told me that a fight almost broke out on account of the seating arrangements. There was hot disagreement between some youngsters of Wing Lung Wai on one side and those of Kat Hing Wai on the other. There were more than ten of these young villagers from each of the two villages who were quite ready to fight. 65 Some others solved their seating problems in a more peaceful manner. I learned about the case of a Kat Hing Wai family which was not one of the ritual representatives and had therefore been allocated seats very far from the stage. But the eldest son of the head of the family managed to purchase some seats for his parents to express his filial piety. Another Kat Hing Wai villager had asked him (the son) for a loan of a few ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 360 of the Lineage, or his representatives, went to Ching-Lok Ancestral Hall for Hung-Yi. Each party took with them sets of paper clothing, fruit, tea, wine, yun-bou and a gong. I was told that the two officials Jau and Wong would be invited from the temple before the first five ritual representatives went to the Ling Wan Monastery. They departed for Ling-Wan Ji on a goods vehicle. A nun was there to meet them. The nun said that in the celebrations in the past they always heard the sound of the party's gong before the ritual representative's party arrived, this time the party was so quiet that she had no warning of their approach. (She had known that the jiu was to take place, though). A brief worship was conducted by the nun at the main altar. After that the paper clothing was burnt, and the ritual representatives made offerings of incense, tea, wine and a plate of vegetarian food. Then temporary spirit tablets of paper prepared in advance by the villagers for this occasion were each inserted into a piece of Chinese carrot and put on the altar table. There were a total of seven gods, including Gwaan-Dai, Fui-Sing, Choi-Baak-Sing-Gwan and Man-Cheung. Upon the suggestion of the nun, they added a temporary tablet for Gaam-jaai, a god to oversee observation of vegetarian diet. A concluding baai-san was accompanied by the villagers' gong and the nun's “chime”. Among the gods from Ling-Wan Ji, only Gwun-Yam was invited in the form of an image. Next the party went to the Pat Heung Temple. A woman of about 70 met them and the Kam Tin men explained that they were inviting the gods to see the opera and they would be brought back afterwards. The gods were Tin-Hau, Yeung-Hau, Gwun-Yam and Wa-Gwong. The woman instructed them to make an offering and burn yun-bou before they fetched the gods, which they did. Here they took no statue of the gods. Then they went to the Yuen Kong Temple. The ritual representatives had expected the presence of a temple keeper, probably for guidance. But none was to be found. Only Yeung-Hau and Bak-Dai were fetched, although the Kam Tin men made offerings of incense to the other gods of the temple too. After this the party went back to Kam Tin. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 361 Back at the ritual site, the ritual representatives installed the image of Gwun-Yam in the temporary altar dedicated to her, and the spirit tablets for the others in the san-paang altar for general gods. These, with the spirit tablets for the gods from the villages, gradually filled up the three levels of the temporary altar. Two ritual representatives fetched the tablet of Hung-Yi from the Ching-Lok Ancestral Hall to his altar on the stage. The portrait of the Heavenly Master was fetched from the village gate of Tai Hong Wai, and installed at a temporary altar set up for him in the Mau-Ging Tong ancestral hall. There were also a few deities to be invited from the sky. They included Tin-Dei-Sheui-Yeung, the gods of the realms of Heaven, Earth (the Underworld), Water, and the human world; Gods of the Naam-Dau ("North Dipper") and Bak-Dau ("South Dipper"), both for blessings to men; the City God and the Lei-Wik (who supervises the local Gods of Earth and Grain and the Earth Gods); Tin-Chyun San-Gwan (two common titles of the highest deities); and the Dragon King. In the last stage of the Opening Rite there were complaints that those gods were omitted. But later on that day temporary spirit tablets for them were seen in the san-paang. D. Procession of incense I The first Procession of Incense took place on the main day of the ritual, to the participating villages of the Kam Tin heung. It was to visit all the temples, shrines, and major ancestral halls to worship the gods and higher-level ancestors. There did not seem to have been a clearcut rule about the lower-level ancestral halls. When I mentioned to an elder that the procession had stopped and worshipped at Lai-Gaan Tong, his first response was that the procession should not have worshipped there. But he changed his mind later: the worship in the rite was indiscriminative, it went to every ancestral hall if the doors were open. A very large number of villagers participated. Priests took part in the procession as well, but their part was limited to a brief invocation. Most of the villagers wore hats with special ornaments indicating their villages. The procession was accompanied by the sound of large gongs, a flag saying jeun-heung ("to offer incense"), and the priests' musician playing sona. There was one lion dance group, and Luk Gwok flags and percussion teams playing drum and gong on lo-gu ga frames representing each of the five main villages. There were also flags ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 364 They left the festival site, passing Tai Hong Wai and Ko Po, where those who took part were offered drinks. They next reached Ying Lung Wai, where they were met by the lion dance of the village, and treated to soft drinks. They first worshipped at the altar of the God of Earth and Grain of Ying Lung Wai, then the san-teng and the village gate. They proceeded to Tung Tau Tsuen, where they worshipped at the Tin-Hau Temple and then the Gwun-Yam Temple. No one came to meet them. But nearby two elderly ladies exchanged these remarks among themselves, "The two temples belong to Kam Tin fellows, they wanted to repair them, but Tung Tau Tsuen would not let them". They proceeded to the Old Market. First they worshipped at the market gate then at the Bak-Dai Temple, and then at the Daai-Wong Temple. Then they moved on to Nam Pin Wai, where they worshipped at the altar of the God of Earth and Grain, the san-teng and the village gate. A man in his fifties sitting under a tree cursed the Dangs when he saw the Ambulance which was in attendance in case anyone was overcome by the heat. He said, "Right. Let this Ambulance carry these Kam Tin fellows". At the nearby Sai Pin Wai they worshipped at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. There was a reception. They proceeded to a Lam Yi-Hing Tong” inside Sai Pin Wai, and then the village gate and an altar of the God of Earth and Grain. The procession finished with the Old Market and the surrounding villages, and went on to Yuen Long New Market. When they reached Sau Fu Street, they were offered soft drinks by people who had come from Kam Tin for that purpose. From there they walked back to the festival site at Kam Tin. F. The Procession with the King of Ghosts The procession with the King of Ghosts took place during the evening before the Great Offering to Ghosts. In the first stage the Bak-Bin villagers carried the huge image of the Daai-Si Wong through their villages. Their Naam-Bin counterparts waited near Kam Hing Wai to take over the paper image for the second part of the procession. These were 22 young men, many carrying long bamboo poles with metal ends ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 366 The procession soon turned back without entering the village. By now, I noticed, the team had grown to more than 100 young men. They moved towards Kat Hing Wai. On the way they turned the paper image to "shine on" an alley opposite the food stall at the market, and the paths leading from the main road to Tsi Tong Tsuen and Tai Hong Tsuen. Beside the alley was a shop, where a few women fled when they saw the King of Ghosts facing them. Then the same "shining on" procedure was repeated at the other spots they passed on the way to Wing Lung Wai: the path leading to Tai Hong Wai, the path leading to the Tung Tak School of Shing Mun San Tsuen and a place on the other side of the road. Partly for fun, the young men did the same to the two doors of the Jockey Club betting centre, "to influence the outcome of bets". The procedure was also applied to the village gate of Wing Lung Wai and a spot opposite the gate across the road. Then the procession turned back and proceeded to Tai Hong Wai, where some of the men in the team shouted, "tell people to keep clear and shut their doors". Some of the younger men added, "thank you for your co-operation". I had the impression that they were talking like that partly for the fun of being in command. The procession went back to the main ritual area after "shining on" the village gate of Tai Hong Wai. G. Renewal of the jiu This took place in the morning after the final main rite of Grand Offering to the ghosts, after the Taoist priests had performed the brief purification rites at the individual households. It took place at the temple of Jau and Wong, the two main gods of the festival. To their altar was escorted the image of Gwun-Yam, the other patron god of Kam Tin. In the preparation for the rite an elder explained to a younger ritual representative that this rite is to heui-ping-on, to beseech the gods for well-being, giving a promise that in ten years' time another celebration will be held. Only the no. 1 to no. 15 ritual representatives (which was in accordance with the traditional rule) and the priest participated. The priest chanted a eulogy and the invocation for blessing. H. Sending off the gods This took place after the end of the Opera performance period. I overheard previously the villagers telling one another that those who fetched a god should send them home afterwards in this rite. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h deui-lyun dim-dang Wif ding-hau T`LI Dongguan 東莞 dong-ji Dung Ping Guk 東本局 faan Fa-Gung Fa-Mou (EAEN fa-paai TEMP Fau-Ng ởH Fong 兒 fong fong-jeung Fu Qing (47 fu 伏 Fu-Hip gwan-ma 郡馬 Gwok-Yin Gwong-Yu K Gwong-Yu Tong Gwun-Yam #E Gyun 銷 Ha Tsuen 厦村 Ha Che 下崟 haang 坑 ha-fu F Hak-Sa ha-yan FA Hei-Ye 起野 heui-lok Heung heung Fui-Sing !! Fung Yuk-Daan MƒU!! Gaai-Yut gaam-sang Gai-Jau # heung-on Ho fil hoi-dang EH hou 號 Hung-Fan Taam gam-taap Gam-Tin Gaozong h Gau Ga Chyun **† hung-jeuk FL Hung-Ji 孔子 Hung-Ji 洪贄 Hung-Sing # Hung-Yi 洪儀 geui-yan git-jing #7 Git-Sau gu l Guangdong MAC Guangzong 光宗 guk 榖 gung-chou Y gung-sang Gwaan-Dai BNR Gwai-Ting gwai-waan (?) Gwai-Wong E gwan 棍 Gwan-Haak 7K Gwan-Leung R jaap-fo 雜貨 Jai Baak-Fu Jan 鈞 Jan-Ting Jau M Jau-Man B jau-tung 州同 Jeung Hoi Jeung 張 Jeung-Luk A jeun-si 進士 Jiangxi 江西 Ji-Ga Tong #18 2 Jik-Gin jiu BE Page 369 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 370 ji-wai-deui K jou jou-se 做社 juk-jeung Jung Gaai 中街 Jyu-Jai #ff jyu-lou 主腦 Kam Hing Wai MAB Kam Tin B Man Kam To Man-Cheung Man-Wai Mau-Ging Tong Ming 明 Ming-Hok Ming-Lyun Miu Gok Yun 妙覺園 mou-geui-yan #^ Kam Tin Shi mou-leuk-le-wai Kangxi 康熙 Kat Hing Wai 吉慶圍 Kei-Fong Kei-Wa ✩✩ kiu-fu 轎伕 Kwun Yam Shan 觀音山 Kyun-Hin # laam-sang laat Lai Ga Dei Lai 黎 Lai-Gaan Tong Lam Choi 林財 Lam Pui *** Lam Ngau-Jai *4# Lam Yi-Hing Tong # Lam-Mau ** lat 甩 Lau 劉 Lei-Ging Tong Lei-Wik Leung Leung Gwan-Daat Leung Tung 梁同 lo-gu ga 4 Loi-Fu * Loi-Sing Tong *** Lok-Sin Luk Gwok 六國 Lung Yeuk Tau ✯✯✯ luo-tian mu畝 Mui Jai Yun 梅仔圜 Mung Yeung 蒙養 Naam Tau 南頭 Naam Bin Teng # Naam Bin 南便 Naam-Kai Naam-Teng E Nam Pin Wai Ng Sing-Chi f** Ng 伍 Nga-Chyun R Ngau-Wong [Wui] () paang 棚 Pat Heung 八鄉 Ping Shan 坪山 ping-on 平安 Pou-Am Pui-Hing Pun-Gu qimen dunjia 奇門遁甲 Qing 淸 Sa Bui Leng 沙貝嶺 Sa Jeng 沙井 Sai Pin Wai 西邊圍 sai-man ME San Tin 新田 San Sin Fu 神仙府 San Wai 新圍 San-Fung san-teng ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h san wui Sap Pat Heung -|- A sau宿 sau-choi 3 sek Zi Seui 瑞 seui-jeun-si :: Sha Tau T Sha Po 沙埔 Sham Chun 深圳 Sheung Che 1: Sheung Tsuen Sheung Shui 1: Shing Moon San Tsuen Shun Fung Wai MAN Si-Daan MILL sing-bui Sing-Ngok ! siu-cheng Siu-Geui siu-yan 小人 sona 嗩吶 Song 柒 Sou-Lau Yun VTMN Tin-San toi-wai 枱圍 Tong Fong #† tong Tsi Tong Tsuen Tsiu Keng 蕉徑 Tsuen Wan # Tung Tak 通德 Tung Tau Tsuen Tung Fuk Tong Wa Bou 華寶 waang-mei (?) waan-san Wa-Gwong #* wai wai-jyu Wai-To 韋陀 Wang Toi Shan Wan-Gaan S Wan-Guk Wan-Yu H wing-bou ping-on *RTE Wing Lung Wai 永隆圍 Wing-Sau 永壽 Wong E Wong Loi-Yam E wong-gu Wudan Shan 武當山 suk-jing wui-bei Suk-Leun #KA Sung-Gok Taai-Seui Taai-Yut Jan-Yan AZHA wui Tai Shue Ha AMF Tai Hong Wai Tai Hong Tsuen 泰康村 Xin'an A Yam Tai Kiu 火樾 Tai Mo Shan 1 Tai Po Tau 大埔頭 yamen 衙門 yan-hau A Yau-Leun Tong yau-saan Tim-Kau Yeui銳 Ting-Jing NVI yeuk # Ting-Sam Tin-Dei-Seui-Yeung Tin-Hau G Tin-Gwun Chi-Fuk X Yeung 楊 Yeung-Hau A yi * Yi-Chung Wui 371 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 307 recovering them and their stubborness in this belief undoubtedly saved the lives of 21 British seamen. H.J.W. CHETWYND-CHATWIN REPORT ON VISIT TO TAI HANG FIRE DRAGON DANCE, MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL 1992 On the 11th September, 1992, a party of Society members, family and children visited the Tai Hang Tsuen Fire Dragon Dance at the invitation of the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association.* The Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance started in 1880 when Tai Hang was a small Hakka village of farmers and fishermen on the waterfront of Causeway Bay. According to local legend, on a stormy night that year, just prior to the Mid-Autumn Festival, some villagers killed a serpent at a stone house in Sun Chun Street. They placed the body of the serpent in a bamboo cage, intending to hand it over to the local police station the next morning. However, by then the body had disappeared. A few days later a plague broke out in Tai Hang and over ten persons died. One night a village elder in his sleep was told by Buddha (one version says that the message came through Kwun Yum, the Goddess of Mercy) to make a grass dragon and burn firecrackers and incense sticks during the Mid-Autumn Festival. This advice was followed and the sulphur in the firecrackers drove away the disease and the villagers were saved. It then became customary to hold a fire dragon dance every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival in order to drive away infectious diseases and to bring good fortune. This custom has been followed every year since 1880, with the exception of the Japanese Occupation and during the 1967 disturbances. The arrangements are in the hands of the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association, and the event is very much a community function which continues a long-standing village tradition in the heart of modern, urban Hong Kong. * See Plates 14-15. Page 330 Page 331 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 308 The Dance is performed on three evenings. The official invited to officiate on the first evening is an officer of the civil authority (Man), whilst the official on the second evening is an officer of the military authority (Mo), represented by the Royal Hong Kong Police. The third evening is regarded as the Village's own celebration. The Dragon is 220 feet long and has a team of 120 dancers. It consists of the head, body (32 segments), and tail and is preceded by two dancing Dragon Pearls (Lung Chu) whose purpose is to attract the Dragon forward. It is accompanied by a drum and clashing cymbals, as well as by banners and costumed children carrying lanterns. The dragon itself is composed of grass, the head being on a cane base, and it is liberally stuffed with burning incense sticks; the throwing of firecrackers ended with the 1967 ban on fireworks. The grass is 'pearl' grass, obtained these days from the New Territories. Incense sticks from the Dragon are taken home by the dancers to worship their Tai Hang ancestors who have previously taken part in the Dance. Dragon cakes from the Temple are taken home on the third day for the same purpose. The Dance ceremony starts with the decoration of the Dragon and its stuffing with incense sticks and continues throughout the evening through the streets of Tai Hang. At the end of the three days of celebrations the Dragon is thrown into the waters of the harbour. Chinese Dragons are the essence of the Yang, or male, principle, and the Tai Hang Fire Dragon is no exception. Until recent years female participation was limited to the cutting of grass. Ladies were not allowed to touch the Dragon and they were not admitted during the Dragon's visit to the Lin Fa Kung Temple (sited to the east of Wun Sha Street and dedicated to Kwun Yum). Pregnant women with two daughters and no sons were, however, allowed to pass under the Dragon, with the intention of the birth of a son. The Royal Asiatic Society of Hong Kong is grateful for the assistance given with this visit and in the preparation of these notes by Mr Ho Choi-Chiu, Chairman of the Tai Hang Residents Welfare Association, and by Mr Chan Tak-Fai, of the Association's Dance Organising Committee. GEOFFREY ROPER ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 201 but recognisable environment. On the whole we preferred Cheung Chau and it was to Cheung Chau that I was taken after my appendix operation. During my stay in hospital when I had to stay in bed for some time, I had forgotten how to walk or even stand up! I protested that I could not possibly walk up to the bungalow so a sedan chair was sent for. I had not seen one on Cheung Chau before, though they were a common sight in Hong Kong and were used to carry children up Lantau Peak. I was lured out of my invalid bed by the present of some stunning bathing shoes. These were brightly coloured rubber shoes that were meant to protect your feet from stones on the beach. I do not remember ever actually using such shoes but, with the sound of the waves lapping on the beach, they were enough to remind me of the delights of swimming, and messing about in the sand, and playing with model boats, the largest of which had been made specially by the building contractor in Fatshan. 4 Swimming played a central part in our lives on Cheung Chau. I can remember my first unaided swim, which was rewarded by the present of a trumpet much regretted by my parents in subsequent days. The beach was the highlight for our lives. We would walk through the thick pine woods across the island from our bungalows, down through the screw pine to the beach. The smells of the pine trees, of the screw pine, and of the beach and the sea still evoke the thrill of arriving at the beach and dashing into the sea. Some of the grown-ups were able to swim out to a large rock off the Evening Beach (Kwun Yam Wan) to which the Residents' Association had fixed some iron rungs for climbing out. I was only able to achieve such an exploit when I had come back to work in 1950, but by then the iron rungs had mostly rusted away. The Association also arranged with some fishermen, who fished at night, to anchor their boat in the bay and fix steps and a diving board for us to use by day. This did come in reach, and I can still recall the thrill of climbing up the steps after the swim out. The boat had a delicious smell of fish and sea water and was swarming with the little black creatures with lots of legs. It was a great place to play as well as being an excellent diving platform. The Morning Beach (Nam Tam Wan) was much smaller, but it too had a large rock equipped with rungs to climb out on. We did not go often to the Police Beach (Tung Wan), which adjoined the Evening ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 214 BANDITS IN THE SIU LEK YUEN YEUK P. H. HASE The operation and functioning of the New Territories Yeuk (Village Mutual Defence Alliance) is a particularly fascinating subject, since the Yeuk seem to have been the dominant political feature of the eastern New Territories area in the nineteenth century. For this reason, I felt it might be of interest to provide a translation here of a note received from the village headman of Tsap Wai Kon village, Mr Tsim Fo-sang (?) on an incident in the Siu Lek Yuen area, probably from the mid or late nineteenth century, as he remembers being told it by the elders of his village in his youth. The note illustrates a number of interesting points about the Yeuk. The incident is likely to be factual, since the heroes of the incident were Tsap Wai Kon men, and so the incident is likely to have been frequently spoken about there. At that time there were bandits in the area. Most of these bandits came from Kiangsi. They came in bands of ten or twenty or more. Some were extremely skilled in martial arts, but, in addition to their strength, they had weapons and weighted chains (?). Wherever they went they caused great sorrow to the residents. They forced the residents to give them food or money, and so forth. Of these bandit incursions, the worst was at Siu Lek Yuen. The Siu Lek Yuen Yeuk was formed by uniting together many villages, such as Tsap Wai Kon, Kin Tsui, Ngau Pei Sha, Siu Lek Yuen, Nam Shan, Shek Kwu Lung, Tai Lam Liu, Wong Nai Tau, Fa Sam Hang, Tai Che, Kwun Yam Shan, Mau Tso Ngam, Fu Yung Pit, Lo Shue Tin, and other villages. Since they had to oppose the vexations and attacks of the bandits, the villagers of the Yeuk agreed to meet once a year in a meeting called the 'Everyone Together' meeting (?). This arrangement was instituted solely because of the bandits. At the meeting everyone brought food piled up on wooden dishes. The dishes from every village were taken to a matshed, where everyone sat ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 92 affect tidal and wind action, such as monsoons and typhoons), to calculate and categorise the nature and effects of the elements on our universe. The 'Five Elements' are interactive and symbolic of positive energy. They play an important role in fung shui. For instance: Fire; a building should be well lighted. A lamp should be kept switched on, for example beside the entrance door, at all hours, Water; jars of salt water should be placed in strategic positions in a building, for example, behind the gas cooker to counteract harmful fumes Wood; kwun yam chuk or foo kwa chuk (dwarf bamboo) (AT) 富貴竹 (dracaena sanderiana virescens), sometimes called 'fortune plants' which symbolise nature and growth, should be placed in strategic positions around the home. Metal; coins, one silver and six copper (pebbles are sometimes substituted), are placed on a small plate or in some other container. Earth; in the business premises that the author visited, in the company of the fung shui master, crystal glass containers are positioned. Seven coins are placed in them as detailed under 'metal' above A large proportion of the earth is made up of crystals. Natural crystal is more effective for fung shui purposes, although 'dead' (artificial) crystal can have some effect. 'Crystal Power' has become popular in the West in what has been called the 'age of crystal' (David, 15; 1994). It has been described as 'symbolic of', and providing 'positive, invisible energy' (Smith, 1993: 20). Some claim it has the power to adjust imbalances in the atmosphere. Some Westerners believe the moment they lay a piece of crystal in their hand energy surges through their bodies and negative forces are released. It helps them meditate. It brings life into focus, it has healing power; it induces dreams and divine revelations. Not just Westerners but some Chinese fung shui masters too, believe that crystal correctly positioned in a room absorbs negative vibrations. Representatives of the 'Five Elements', like those listed above, are placed in strategic positions: such as near entrance doors, on shelves, on tables and on the tops of cupboards and similar places, in the business premises visited. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 98 Britain since she moved there with her parents as a child, had this to say. 'If my mother bought a house in England she would certainly consider fung shui, I would consider it too, but not in such detail.' Undoubtedly, more interest is shown by Westerners in things Chinese today, compared to, say, a generation or so ago. Treatment like acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicines have slowly become accepted by some members of the western medical profession. Likewise, fung shui is gaining Caucasian proponents. It is believed the layout of Amsterdam's waterways, the beauty of Lucerne, and the textbook layout of Paris all conform to good fung shui principles. Patrick Wong, a fung shui consultant practising in Britain, maintains that London attracts favourable water spirits from the Thames (Forsyth, 1994:64). These signify good fortune. The river's direction and flow, and the fact that it meanders and has many tributaries, are all conducive to prosperity (Walters, 1988:23). Kwok Man Ho, one of Europe's foremost fung shui masters, was called upon to advise on the design of some of the more recent projects in London's Docklands. In addition to Chinese fung shui masters practising in the West there are also proponents like Derek Walters, a Briton who dons Chinese ceremonial robes and claims to have advised a number of British celebrities. Walters flies regularly to Hong Kong, where he learned his craft, to consult with other experts. 'We have nothing similar to fung shui in the West so it fills a vacuum,' he maintains. In this technological age many people are searching for a 'fourth dimension'. They also want something that stirs the will. A number are looking for a simple, direct way of escaping the boredom and narrowness of everydayness. While some find their escape in mediaeval history, art or music, others find it in fortune telling or fung shui. A group of Chinese, after discussions among themselves in Holland, came to the conclusion that, among the Hong Kong, Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese living in the Netherlands, 70 to 80 per cent believe in fung shui, at least to some degree. For instance, many believe the number of windows in a dwelling should exceed the number of doors. If they do not, the inhabitants will hang up some kind of talisman to counteract possible evil influences. Similarly, gods which are popular in Hong Kong, like To Tei Kung, Kwan Ti and Kwoon Yam (觀音) are common among Chinese in the Netherlands. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 241 DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPLES ON HONG KONG ISLAND AS RECORDED IN 1981 ANTHONY SIU KWOK KIN Hong Kong Island lies to the south of mainland China. It was not known until the later part of the Ming Dynasty, when the names of Heong Kong 香港, Tit Hang 鐡坑, Chung Hum 舂磴, Chek Chu 赤柱, Tai Tam, Shoo-ke-wan (Shau Kei Wan) and Wong Nei Chung were recorded in the book called Yuet Tai Kee. During the 1st year of the Kang Hsi reign of the Ching Dynasty (1661), the people living in the coastal area had to move back to the inland.2 Seven years later, in the 8th year of the Kang Hsi reign (1669), they were allowed to come back. At that time, only the villages of Heong Kong (Hong Kong village or Shek Pei Wan Village) and Wong Nei Chung were rebuilt. However, the other villages were abandoned during the Coastal Evacuation. Then in the Chia Ching reign (1796-1820), two more villages were founded: they were the Pok Fu Lam Village and the So Kon Po Village. From then on, the population increased rapidly, with people flocking to the area. In 1841, Hong Kong Island came under British rule. At that time, there were the villages of Chek Chu (Stanley), Heong Kong (Hong Kong Village), Wong Nei Chung, Kung Lam (A Kung Ngam), Shek Lup (Shek O), Shoo-ke-wan (Shau Kei Wan), Ta Shek-ha, Kwan-tai-loo (Victoria City, or Central), Soo-Kon-poo (So Kon Po), Hung-heong-loo (Causeway Bay), Sai Wan (Chai Wan), Tai Long, Too-te-wan (To Tei Wan), Tai Tam and Shek-tong-chui (Sai Ying Pun). Tseen Sui Wan (Repulse Bay), Sum Wan (Deep Water Bay) and Shek-pac (Shek Pei Wan) were deserted fishing hamlets. Since then many local temples were built and repaired. The temples listed below are in existence in 1981. Though some are ruined, we can still get information about their previous existence. Tin Hau Temple 1. Causeway Bay Built in the early Ching period, repaired in 1848, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 242 1868* and 1980. Bell 1747. 2. Wong Nei Chung: Removed to the present site in 1971. No bell. 3. Shau Kei Wan: old temple on a rock opposite the new Temple. built in 1845*. Removed to the present site in 1872*, repaired in 1876*, 1920* and 1966*. No bell. 4. Shek O: Built in 1891*, repaired in 1981*. No bell. 5. Chai Wan: Removed to the present site in 1976. No bell 6. Tai Long: No information, completely disappeared now, 7. Stanley: Built in 1767, repaired in 1938*, 1949, 1966* and 1980*. Bell 1767 8. Aberdeen: Built in 1851, repaired in 1873, 1930 and 1966*. Bells 1726 and 1851. 9. Tai Ping Shan Street, Central: Built in 1890, repaired in 1895, 1901 and 1976. Bell 1901. 10. West Point: No information, completely disappeared now. 11. Middle Island: No information. No bell. Hung Shing Temple 洪聖廟 1. Wanchai: Built in 1860, repaired in 1867 and 1966. No bell. 2. Ap Lei Chau: Built in 1773, repaired in 1930 and 1973*. Bell 1773 Pak Tai Temple北帝廟 1. Wanchai Built in 1862, repaired in 1883* and 1966*. Bronze statue 1604 (from the Pak Tai Temple of Hung Hum, Kowloon). Bell 1863. 2. Stanley:Built in 1805, repaired in 1956 and 1966. Bell 1805. Kwun Yam Temple 1. Tai Hang: Built in 1864. Bell 1864. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 25 Seven, rather than into any relationship with Po Kong. Tai Hom was the only Hakka village in the League of Seven. It was probably this Hakka ethnicity, their rejection by Po Kong, and their relative isolation from Nga Tsin Wai that led the Tai Hom villagers to establish a temple of their own outside their village, somewhere in the period 1821-1850, probably late in the period: it was greatly expanded in 1904. This temple, the Tung Shan Temple (it was dedicated to Kwun Yam) became, for a short period during the 1920s and 1930s, the main religious focus of the "thirteen villages of Kowloon", that is, the villages of both the League of Seven and of the Six Villages Alliance, but it was left ruined in the War. The land south of Ma Tau Kok formed part of the Alliance of Three (三聯盟) of Hung Hom (Hung Hom including Tai Wan, Hok Yuen including Shek Shan, and To Kwa Wan, probably including Ma Tau Kok). The land east of Ngau Chi Wan and Pak Uk Tsai formed the inter-village alliance called "The Four Stone Hills" (四石嶺). This was a sworn alliance of the quarry-villages of this mountainous and infertile area (Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Cho Wan, Cha Kwo Ling, and Lei Yue Mun). Inter-village alliances normally centre on joint worship by the elders, either at the higher earth god of the area, or at the local temple. Nothing is now remembered in Nga Tsin Wai of any inter-village worship by the elders of the League of Seven as a group at any higher earth god shrine, nor of any She, * , Feast of the elders in front of the shrine. However, the Nga Tsin Wai villagers do not now even remember where their earth gods used to stand - they were all removed by the Japanese, except for the earth god of the Village Gate - so too much should not be made of this. The elders of the villages of the League of Seven did and do worship the Nga Tsin Wai Tin Hau, however, on her Birthday each year (the Tai Hom elders consider the villages of the League of Seven as "belonging to the Tin Hau of Nga Tsin Wai"): it is likely that this was the ritual focus of the League, and that the meetings of the elders of the district took place after the worship. The elders hold a feast today after the worship of Tin Hau, and this is probably a very ancient tradition. The Temple, however, was the property of Nga Tsin Wai alone (it is owned by all three of the Nga Tsin Wai clans, and the Manager of the Temple, chosen by the elders of the three clans, is the Village Headman): it was probably for this reason that, on her Birthday, the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 63 16 The date is engraved on the earth god shrine in the village For the Ta Tsiu at Nga Tsin Wai, see J W Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong Studies and Themes, Hong Kong Oxford University Press, 1983, pp 157-159 See also p 162 18 These guns were all sunk in the moat immediately to the south of the village gate when the Japanese came 19 In the 1902 Block Crown Lease, the Ancestral Hall is shown as the Ng Kit-san house, and the Ng Kit-san house as the Ancestral Hall by some strange error 0 1 ༣། Despatch from Sir M Nathan to Colonial Office, January 11th, 1905, in file CO882/6, printed in Eastern No 88, Confidential Hong Kong Correspondence [December 15 1903 to February 27 1907] Relating to the Proposed Canton Kowloon Railway', printed for the use of the Colonial Office, April 1907, No 59, pp 81-88 The slopes to the east of Lion Rock were under the protection of Kwun Yam These slopes were called Tsz Wan Shan (Fill, “Mountain of the Cloud of Compassion one of the titles of Kwun Yam) There has been a temple to Kwun Yam half way up to the pass since at least 1853, probably much earlier The early ownership of this temple is unclear Information on the Chus is taken from their Tsuk Po, a copy of which I was kindly given by Dr James Hayes, and from notes of interviews Dr Hayes had with Chu clan elders in the 1960s See also, Southern District Board, 1996, p 138 On the Tung Shan Temple, see J W Hayes, "The Kwun Yam - Tung Shan Temple of East Kowloon, 1840-1940”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, Vol 23, 1983 pp 212-218 *For instance, in Aed (), Joint Publishing (Hong Kong), 1994, p 44, and RPF Lam, ed The Hong Kong Album, Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1982, p 66 25 I am indebted to Dr James Hayes for much of the detail of this section 26 See A Lui, Forts and Pirates, op cit p 31 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x Live A Drawing of the Nga Tsin Wai Area From Sha Tin Pass, 1846 Lt W. Collinson : Ma Tau Kok The Po Kong Feng Shui HIA " (The Village is out of sight on the steward side) Fort of 1811 Kowloon Market Sha Po The Sacred Hill!!! (Sung Wong To) Kowloon City (The Wall were – built in 1847) Kak Hang Village Fung Shai Trees Nga Tsin Wai and its Mont Tsim Sha Tsui Ma Tau Wai Village Ta Kwa Leng Village Fung Shui Trees The Kwun Yam Temple, Tin Wan Shan Footpath to Sha Tin 79 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 209 to find there is an image of the great Ch'ing emperor Ch'ien Lung (reigned 1735-1798) on the altar! My own experiences in Hong Kong have highlighted this feature of Chinese religious life. Examples that come to light include the many images washed-up from the sea and placed in temples or shrines (Shaukiwan and Ngau Chi Wan, East Kowloon), the Kwun Yam image in the Tai Ping Shan temple to that goddess, and the Kwun Yam image that started the Kwun Yam Temple at Tung Shan, east Kowloon. These examples, readily multiplied here and elsewhere, amount to "cults of numberless description". 30 There is much relevant background in the long chapter on Chinese religion in Vol. II of Latourette, op.cit., especially at pp. 124-132, 139-140, and 162-167. 31 See Hong Kong Standard [ ] February 1986, with photographs, for a recent example at Shun Fung Village (Fui Sha Wai), Yuen Long, occasioned by the tree in question having to be felled to make way for the construction of the Light Rail System. 32 William John Townsend, Robert Morrison, The Pioneer of Chinese Missions (London, Partridge & Co., n.d. but my copy presented in 1892), pp.266-267. John Crawford also singles out the women for special mention in the journal of his embassy to Siam and Cochin China in 1821-22, where he cites from the Manuscript of Monsieur Chaigneau, "The religion of Cochin China is, with little difference, the same as that of China. The lower orders, the women, the ignorant, follow the worship of Buddha; while persons of rank, and men of letters, are of the sect of Confucius”. See John Crawford (with an Introduction by David K.Wyatt) Journal of an Embassy to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China (Singapore, Oxford University Press, 1987), p.500, fn. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2002 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/mp4901278 205 because of this specific claim. Several points of interest should be underscored in this account. Although Ch'ea had stopped the rituals of ancestral veneration at home and during the festival seasons, he continued to live in accordance to other accepted norms, including "cleaning the graves" of his ancestors. Apparently wanting to be with people and to share his message, Ch'ëa had obviously worked through the ethics of which traditional practices did not hinder his Christian life and so developed means of approach to others through them. Kot was very specific about the themes Ch'ea spoke about, some which he might have heard from Ho and Legge in Hong Kong in the spring of 1856. What Kot remembered were themes on "the bounty of God in creation and providence," the latter an issue expressed in Legge's sermons and most likely in Ho's elegant Chinese homilies, as well as elaborations on the nature of the soul, why people should not worship idols, and "the propitiation made by Jesus Christ for the sins of men." In spite of the disbelief of many listeners in the cemetery after Ch'ea mentioned that he had the “divine books" in his possession, Kot kept note of where he lived and made it a point to visit him nearly a month later. Certainly the fact that Kot waited a full month before attempting to visit Ch'ea suggests that he did not feel very comfortable or highly motivated to do so. Apparently Kot had begun questioning his village neighbours about many of the issues Ch'ea had raised, and so a greater curiosity about Ch'ea's actual "domestic arrangements" prodded Kot to see if this local preacher lived by what he taught. Once he found Ch'ea's home, Kot was invited in and saw, perhaps to his surprise, that "there was in his house neither Koon Yum (Guanyin, the famous Chinese female Boddhisatva), nor Kwan Ty (Guandì, the spirit guardian, often the image placed on doors as a protector of homes), neither ancestral tablets, nor incense pot." Willingly receiving Christian literature from Ch'ea at that time, Kot returned to his village only to find his neighbours still taking Ch'ea "to be mad." After intermittent reading of the books and later repeated visits by Ch'ëa (in "my house three or four times"), Kot began to join Ch'ea in "worship[ping] God" and "convers[ing] +62 ================================================================================