RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 130 JAMES HAYES However, despite the foregoing recital of disturbances over the years, many old persons in the Hong Kong region who were born between 1875 and 1900 have told me that their early years were very peaceful. This serves as a reminder not to telescope time and place too readily; and not to confuse occasional excitements with the regular rhythm of rural life. Nor too readily to deduce from them that there was a deterioration in institutions at the local level, as at the centre, in the later 19th century—a point made by Rhoads Murphey in his study of China's modernization.1 POSTSCRIPT There are two other happenings that must be mentioned in this survey of events. One, the establishment and rise of Hong Kong from 1841 on, and its effect on the surrounding and adjacent territory, I do not intend to treat with here.2 The second, rural depopulation, though it might appear to have some connection with the first, is in fact a separate phenomenon. Linked to over-population, malnutrition and disease, it is important enough to warrant a concluding notice.* The problem of depopulation early intruded itself into my village studies through the preoccupation with feng-shui noted in many places, so much of it linked to a reported decline in the numbers of local populations. I have encountered this in many villages on Lantau Island3 and in other parts of the old Southern District, in places as far distant from Lantau as Pak Lap on High Island in the Sai Kung District, and Ho Pui with Muk Min Ha in Tsuen Wan. These have also claimed depopulation in the 19th century and after. In the northern New Territories the well-known Tang clan of Kam Tin records a similar loss of population;4 whilst at Lin Ma Hang, a large village on the present Sino-British frontier,5 a stone tablet dated in 1893 was erected to detail the geomantic 1 Murphey: 27-30. 2 The first is well-documented, the second scarcely at all, though discussed in Potter 1968. 3 See JHKBRAS 3, 1963: 143-144; JHKBRAS 9, 1969: 156-158 and Hayes 1967:22-30. 4 Sung in HKN, VII, Dec. 1936:256. 5 See Gazetteer: 214. Especially as, in Hsin-an, it is not to be linked with devastating Taiping campaigns and official retribution, nor with Hakka-Punti wars on the scale that occurred in some parts of the province, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 258 LIST OF MEMBERS ORDINARY MEMBERS: LANG, F. G... LANGLEY, John A. LAYTON, F. A. L. LECLERCQ, J. M. LEE, Miss Ngah-Ping + LEE, Sung-Tai LERNER, Bernard - + LESLIE, Mrs. Elizabeth LETCHER, Dr. Roy M. LEVIN, David A. LEWIS, Mrs. Helen LI, Edwin Lao LI, Shi-yi LIM, Miss Laye Tin + + + - 43, Kadoorie Avenue, Kowloon. c/o Toronto Dominion Bank, Rooms 917-920, Hutchison House, 10, Harcourt Road, H.K. c/o The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Queen's Road, C., H.K. G.P.O. Box 13, H.K. Extra-Mural Studies Dept., University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. 36, Village Road, 3D, The Fine Mansion, Happy Valley, H.K. 601, Regent House, H.K. B-6, Royden Court, 129, Repulse Bay Rd., H.K. Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. Department of Sociology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. 14, Conduit Road, Emerald Court 5-B, H.K. Consulate General of Costa Rice, 3, Tin Hau Temple Road, H.K. 72, La Salle Road, 2nd floor, H.K. The Grantham Hospital, Wong Chuk Hung Road, Aberdeen, H.K. LINTHWAITE, Mr. & Mrs, J. 2, The Albany, H.K. LIU, Miss Alison LIU, Sydney C. - LLEWELLYN, John LLOYD, Mrs. Aileen $. LO, Hsiang-lin LOBO, Mrs. R. H. LOCKING, J. R. LOFTS, Prof. B. - LUCAS, Col. E. S. $. - LUNDEEN, Mr. & Mrs. R. W.. LUTZ, Hans F.. MA, Prof. Meng, M.B.E. + + + + 34. Lugard Road, H.K. Apt. B-2, Swiss Towers, 113, Tai Hang Rd., H.K. Dept. of Geography and Geology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. Flat 8A, Hamilton Court, 8, Po Shan Road, H.K. c/o Dept. of Chinese, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. Race View Mansions, Apt. 72, 46, Stubbs Road, H.K. c/o The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club, Sports Road, Happy Valley, H.K. Dept. of Zoology, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. 94, Main Street, Stanley, H.K. 1101, Tavistock, 10, Tregunter Path, H.K. Tai Yuen Lau, Flat A, 3/F., Tai Pak St., Tsuen Wan, N.T. Dept. of Oriental Studies, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, H.K. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 202 MAURICE FREEDMAN on its own, Lam Tsuen consisted of twenty-six villages. When the constituent villages of the seven yeuk are plotted on a map they can be seen to form a more or less continuous arc around Tai Po, but there are two striking irregularities in the distribution. First, the three villages making up the yeuk of Fan Leng stand away to the north, being in fact so much out of the immediate Tai Po area that today they fall administratively into a different sub-district and are not involved in local Tai Po affairs except in so far as they remain responsible for the market. Second, about twenty villages in the area of the arc are not members of any yeuk. Some of these are settlements which have come into being since the 1890s, but a few certainly existed at the time the market was planned and were deliberately excluded, or excluded themselves, from the union. Naturally, the Tang settlement at Tai Po Tau is one of them; they were the general enemy. Others were probably clients of the Tang and unable, or unwilling, to participate in the revolutionary move. Were they previously members of yeuk who fell out when these were combined to form the seven? 21. The Tang and the Man are Punti, the former being members of the dominant clan group in the New Territories, and the latter a branch of a clan group whose most important settlement is at San Tin. The Man had for long intermarried with the local Tang (their genealogy book shows that the Tang gave them many women), were rich, and had produced some scholars. (Their main ancestral hall, now in ruins, must have been a splendid building). Their rivalry with the Tang at Lung Yeuk Tau and Tai Po Tau had had a long history. As the story of the market demonstrates, the rivalry was in part commercial; the Tang at Tai Po Tau tell jokingly of the leading Tang and his Man counterpart competing to see who could lay the longer line of silver dollars along the path leading north from their settlement. But the area in which the contest was fought out was predominantly Hakka, and it was necessary for the Man to find their support in Hakka villages. Second in importance to the Man in the founding of the new market were the Hakka Ma of Wun Yiu. They appear to have been a small but well-to-do settlement. (The only crockery kiln in the whole region was in their area, and a Roman Catholic chapel had stood there for at least thirty years before the founding of the new market; they were clearly in a centre of some importance). The last flickers to be seen today of the hostility to the Tang in Ts'at Yeuk circles fail to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 298 NOTES AND QUERIES 14. Sheung Shui Wa Shan (p. 206) # Liu 廖 15. Lung Yeuk Tau (p. 209) MEDA Chau Wong Yee Yuen Temple Accounts. 周王二院廟恨 16. Liu Clan Association Handbook. (Hong Kong Branch) 香港廖氏宗親會特刊 17 18. San Tin (p. 203) Lung Yeuk Tau. 龍躍頭 Chau Wong Yee Yuen Temple Accounts. 周王二院廟帳 Nga Tsin Wai (p. 123) #E Man 文 19. Ng 吳 20. Sheung Shui (p. 206) Ek Liu 廖 21. Liu Pok (p. 205) # Fung 馮 22. Nga Tsin Wai (p. 123) B Ng 吳 [N.B. this is another copy of the last 3rd of No. 19.] 23. Ho Sheung Heung (p. 205) ** Hau 侯 24. Chuk Yuen (p. 123) Lam 林 25. Ha Tsuen (p. 164) # Tang 鄧 26. Kam Tin (p. 172) Tang 鄧 27. Lung Yeuk Tau (p. 209) N Tang 鄧 28. Ho Chung (p. 139) Wan 溫 29. Unidentified Tang 鄧 30. Unidentified Tang 鄧 31. Tai Hang (p. 200) Man 文 32. and Tong Fuk (p. 78) Tang 鄧 34. 33. Fan Pui (p. 73) # 35. San Shek Wan (p. 80) ** ̄* Fung 馮 Mo 莫 36. Pak Sha Tsuen (p. 166) ✩** Lau 劉 37. Ma On Kong (p. 172) Wu 吳 38. Kai Kuk Shue Ha (p. 218) SHT Chue 朱 39. Ngau Pei Sha (p. 145) Liu 廖 Wu Kai Sha (p. 182) *** 40. Luk Keng Chan Uk (p. 218) **A Chan 陳 ================================================================================ 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-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES the Chien Lung period, it was turned into a guard-station 143 Villages rebuilt at that time were Tze Tuen Tsuen, Tuen Mun Tsuen, Siu Hang Tsuen, Po Tong Ha Tsuen, So Kwun Wat Tsuen and San Tsuen Wai.12 In the 16th year of the Chia Ching reign (1811), the Tuen Mun guard-station was strengthened. Besides the original garrison, a Pa-Tsung was posted to be the assistant. Five guard-stations, each under a Ngai-Wai with four men, were erected at Shing Mun, Wang Chau, Kwun Chung, Tsiu Keng and Ma Tseuk Leng. They were all under the command of the Tsin-Tsung of the Tuen Mun Guard Station. At that time, villages in that area were all under the charge of the Kwun-Fu-Shi TO: namely: Tuen Mun Tsuen, Tsing Chuen Wai, Tsz Tuen Wai, Siu Hang Tsuen, Po Tong Ha Tsuen, Sun Fung Wai, Chung Uk Tsuen, Nai Wai Tsz Tsuen, San Tsuen, So Kwun Wat Tsuen, Tai Lam Tsuen, Tin Fu Tsai Tsuen and Un Tan Tau Tsuen.4 During the early years of the Tao Kuang reign, a Pa-Tsung and a Ngai-Wai with sixteen men were posted at the Tuen Mun Guard-station, sixty men were placed in the following six guard-stations which were all under the command of the Tuen Mun Guard Station. These guard stations were at Mong Tseng, Wang Chau (ten men), Kwun Chung (five men), Tai Po Tau (fifteen men), Shing Mun Au (fifteen men) and Tsiu Keng (five men).15 This continued until the 24th year of the Kuang Hsü reign (1898), when the Ch'ing Government leased the New Territories and the adjacent islands to the British, after which these guard-stations were abandoned.16 In 1899, the area was divided into the three sub-districts of Tuen Mun, Tai Lam Chung and Lung Ku Tan belonging to the Un Long District. Villages in these sub-districts were as follows:17 Tuen Mun Sub-district:- Chung Uk Tsun, Shun Fung Wai, Tsing Chun Wai, Tsz Tin Wai, Nai Wai, Tun Tsz Wai, Po Tong Ha, Siu Hang, Lam Ti and San Tsuen. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 187 In Ho Sheung Heung, the 'guarding star' at the entrance to the village is a bamboo. However, it is not always the case that a tree growing beside a shrine has any relationship to that shrine. At Ho Sheung Heung trees besides the southern Pauk Kung have no fung shui significance and have simply grown up there. At Tar Om trees near the main shrine have grown up in the seventy years since the shrine was built and have little, if any, fung shui importance. None of the villagers questioned thought that the fung shui woods had any sacred or spiritual value outside their fung shui importance. Another important reason for the protection of large, old trees was that they had been planted by the ancestors. Examples are at Man Uk Pin, Ma Mat Wai, Ping Kong, and Ma Tsuek Leng. Few of these trees were individually venerated except for the 'grandfather tree' at Kuk Po which was planted by the founders of the village to honour the local earth gods. Villages often have examples of many types of fung shui tree. An example is the village of Sheung Wo Hang which has an inviolable fung shui wood in which all vegetation is protected, in addition to ancestorally planted trees which guard particular shrines and which reinforce certain fung shui locations, as well as earth god trees without shrines. In some cases, shrines may not be dedicated to an earth god. At She Shan Tsuen in Lam Tsuen valley, a small shrine at the edge of the fung shui wood makes the spot at which hunters would gather to make offerings before the hunt. There is a parallel here with those shrines in the sacred forests of Nepal at which hunters gather to worship (Mansberger, 1991). Both Tar Wong and Paak Kung shrines guard the important places and fung shui points of the village, such as the wells, irrigation dams, "dragon veins" and especially the entrances to the village. The latter are often marked by a Tar Wong shrine. Where a path or road leaves a village, invariably where an approaching path curves around the end of a fung shui wood, the site is known as "the mouth of water", (the flow of a road symbolising water). The site is often associated with a clump of bamboo, a large rock or a large camphor or banyan tree, or sometimes all three, known as a "guarding star" in fung shui terms, as it guards against excessive outflow of chi from the village. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g 150 (Hase, P. pers. comm.). This tended to reinforce the fung shui layout of the village by protecting the primary and secondary fung shui woods. It is largely because woodfuel is rarely gathered from the hills any longer by villagers, due to the use of alternative fuels and because the reduced population can obtain its fuel needs, if necessary, from the abandoned fields, that such songs and prohibitions are being forgotten by the old women. This in turn has two effects. It allows fung shui woods to spread and colonize the hillsides, yet at the same time the precise working knowledge of fung shui is being lost. However, it appears that substantial amounts of woodfuel are still used in more remote coastal villages. When visiting Lai Chi Wo in December 1990, large amounts of fuelwood were seen cut and stacked, but whether this was solely for the use of the villagers is not known. Some of the coastal village restaurants, which cater for hikers and junk trips on a regular basis, such as at Sam A Tsuen, Plover Cove, use only firewood for cooking. At Ma Tsuek Leng near Sha Tau Kok in late 1993 there were large stacks of woodfuel, mostly cut branches, which the elderly people purchase from elsewhere, as it is cheaper than buying bottled gas. During the Japanese occupation, and the years immediately after, the pressure on the countryside for fuel was severe. Grass was shaved from the hills, scrub and remnant woods were cleared, even from remote areas, and inroads were made into fung shui woods, especially those of secondary importance. Such was the pressing demand for fuel that those trees and woods that can be seen on the US Airforce airphotos of 1945, taken prior to liberation, must only have survived purely because they were of such fung shui significance (Hase, pers. comm.). Daley (1975) gives an indication of the extent of this immediate post-war felling. "Woodcutting extended further and further from the towns and gradually the hillsides as far as Mirs Bay and the western side of Lantao were stripped of trees. The prevention of all this cutting was an impossible task in the circumstances. Very few large trees survived this onslaught during the war years and just after. Perhaps the biggest was the pine felled at Ping Shan Chai, near Tai Po, in 1960. It measured almost 3ft in diameter at 4ft above ground, and 69ft in height. It was 159 years old." Page 180 Page 181 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 77 Appendix I Villages with Low Male: Female (Less than 47%) Population Ratios, 1911 District Village No. of males Total population Age of males N San Tong Po 15 47 31.9** N Ngau Ha 6 16 N Sam Tam Lo 1 6 33.3** N Mo To Hang 2 6 33.3** N Ko Tan 8 21 38.1** N Tsiu Keng 15 43 34.9** N Wo Hop Shek 21 48 43.8 N Sheung Tan Chuk Hang 43 102 42.2 N Ping Che Yuen Ha 27 61 44.3 N Tai Po Tin 25 56 44.6 N Fung Wong Wit 39 84 46.4 N Lo Shue Ling 98 209 46.9 N Lei Uk Tsuen 41 94 43.6 N Chuk Yuen 18 44 40.9* N Tsung Yuen Ha 39 85 45.9 N Muk Wu 81 174 46.6 N Luk Keng 182 484 37.6** N Yim Tso Ha 18 47 38.3** N Shek Kiu Tau 37 98 37.8** N Ma Tseuk Ling Tai Long N 47 125 37.6** N Ha Wo Hang 20 46 43.5 N Sheung Wo Hang 66 160 41.3 N Nam Chung 175 443 39.5* N Wu Kay Tang 152 348 43.7 N Lin Ma Hang 165 423 39.0** N Ha Wang Shan Keuk 199 516 38.2** N Ha That Muk Kiu 16 43 37.2** N Kau Tam Tso 27 76 35.5** N Kai Keuk Shue Ha 13 42 31.0** N Fung Hang 47 108 43.5 N Kuk Po San Wai 61 143 42.6* N Tong To 56 126 44.4 N Shan Tsui 47 104 45.2 N Kong Ha 162 367 44.1 N Pok Wai 63 135 46.7 N Tai Che 100 225 44.4 ST Ngau Kok Wo 7 18 38.9** ST Tsung Tau Ha 3 8 37.5* ST 3 9 33.3** The table has been reconstructed for better readability while maintaining the original content and order. The column headers have been inferred as "District", "Village", "No. of males", "Total population", and "Age of males" based on the content. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 78 Min Fong ST 4 25 0+* Ngau Wu Tok ST 3 10 33.3** Lo Sheung Tun ST 3 9 33.3** Mau Liu Shui ST 5 13 38.5** Cheung King ST 2 6 33.3** Siu Lek Yuen ST 73 174 41.9* Mu Ping ST 57 124 46.0 Shek Kwu Lung ST 18 55 32.7** Tai Lam Liu ST 23 57 40.4 Sha Tin Wai ST 81 180 45.0* Shan Ha Wai ST 24 56 42.9* Kak Tin ST 92 200 46.0 Keng Hau ST 86 195 44.1 Tai Wai ST 164 350 46.9% Ha Wo Che ST 31 76 40.8% Shan Mei ST 42 94 44.7 Kau To ST 57 130 43.8 Ho Lek Pui ST 18 45 40.0* Wu Kai Sha ST 59 135 43.7 Sai Shan Wai YL 7 21 33.3*+ Leung Ka Tsuen YL 3 8 37.5** Ying Lung Wai YL 38 94 40.0* Nam Pin Wai YL 223 519 43.0 Shan Pui YL 118 273 43.2 Tong Tau Po YL 53 116 45.7 Nam Hang YL 44 104 42.3* Ha Che YL 109 234 46.6 Tin Liu YL 48 105 45.7 Lam Hau YL 107 237 45.1 Fui Sha Wai YL 72 165 43.6 Hung Uk Tsuen YL 56 120 46.7 Kiu Tau Wai YL 71 152 46.7 Shek Po YL 108 257 42.0* Sik Kong Tsuen YL 178 381 46.7 San Wai YL 215 487 44.1 Hung Mei Tsuen YL 21 52 40.4* Fung Kong Tsuen YL 34 76 44.7 Wong Ka Wai TM 20 50 40.0* Sheung Cheung Wai TM 52 119 43.7 Hang Tau TM 17 39 43.4 San Tsuen TM 22 50 44.0 Tai Lam TM 26 61 42.6* Keung Ma Wo TW * 6 33.3** Sham Tseng TW 32 72 44.4 Sai Hang Hau SK 3 10 33.3** Pik Uk SK 5 25 20.0* Shek Pok Wai SK 4 13 30.8+ ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 Appendix II Villages with High Male: Female (More than 56% Male) Population Ratios 1911 81 Village District No. of males Total population Age of males Liu Pok Shek Wu Hui 136 237 57.4 Lo Wu 37 56 66.1** Tai Tau Tong 8 18 44.4* 100*1 5! 91 56.0 Tsung Pak Leng N 105 184 57.0 Yin Kong N 21 35 60.0+ Tiu Keng Wan N 38 56 67.6 Sau Hang N 25 42 59.5* Ma Wat Wan N 28 49 57.3 Wan Shan Ha N 38 66 57.6 Loi Tung N 107 191 56.0 Kuk Po Lo Wai N 140 247 56.7 Hung Shek Mun N 49 87 56.3 Wu Chau Tong N 28 48 58.3 Sha Tau Kok N 14 14 100** Yim Liu Ha N 29 47 61.7+ Ngong Ping ST 7 9 77.8** San Tun ST 77 109 70.0** Pak Tin ST 2 3 66.7** Wang Pok ST 8 9 88.9** Sheung Wo Che ST 70 100 70.0** Chek Mei Ping ST 70 122 57.2 Shek Wu Wai YL 37 56 66.1++ Tung Tau Yuen YL 26 38 68.4** Kak Hang Yuen YL 16 25 64.0** Lei Uk YL 32 48 66.7** Sha Kong Miu YL 5 6 77.4** Yuen Long Market YL 458 559 81.9** Tong Fong 83 148 56.1 Sha Kong YL 5 6 83.3** Kong Tau YL 26 46 56.5 Ha Tsuen Shi YL 120 178 67.4** Wang Che SK 4 5 80.0** Wu Lei Tau SK 6 9 66.7** Yau Ma Po SK 24 31 77.4** Uk Cheung SK 4 6 66.7** Hang Hau SK 262 387 67.8** Mau Fa Tsuen SK 28 47 59.6* ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 22 "League of Seven". This was a sworn alliance of villages for mutual defence against outside attack, and a vehicle to allow the elders of the several villages involved to meet to discuss matters of inter-village interest. This inter-village alliance is very similar to many others within the New Territories, and can be compared, for instance, with the Alliance of Nine in Sha Tin, or the Alliance of Six at Sai Kung. According to the Nga Tsin Wai villagers, the League of Seven in fact comprises some nine villages, not seven. The reason for this may be that originally the League was not of seven villages, but of seven Pao-chia (保甲), or Tithing-Groups. The alternative name of the League, Tsat Po (七保), certainly suggests this. Several of the villages included in the League are very tiny, and would certainly have been combined for Pao-chia purposes with other, larger, villages nearby. The villages of the League of Seven were: Nga Tsin Wai itself, Kak Hang, Tai Hom (also known as Tai Tan), Shek Kwu Lung, Ta Kwu Leng, Sha Po, Nga Tsin Long, Ma Tau Wai, and Ma Tau Chung. (see Map 1). Of these, Ma Tau Chung was so closely connected genealogically and socially with Ma Tau Wai that they were usually considered just one village. Ma Tau Chung is, in fact, a classic example of the local dialect term “Mau Tsuen” (茅村), or “Detached Village" - an independent group of houses, but considered a detached part of a village a short distance away. The traditional political position with regard to Hau Pui Long, Yi Wong Tin, Ma Tau Kok and Kau Pui Shek is unclear. These villages were all cleared well before the War, and little is known of their local political affiliations in the years before the clearance. At least Kau Pui Shek was probably within the League of Seven - it was certainly surrounded by land belonging to other villages that were members of the League. Ma Tau Kok, Hau Pui Long, and Yi Wong Tin were probably outside the League. Of the villages of the League, Kak Hang, Sha Po, Nga Tsin Long, Shek Kwu Lung, and Ta Kwu Ling are closely connected genealogically with Nga Tsin Wai, and the Chans of Nga Tsin Wai had a branch resident in Ma Tau Wai and Ma Tau Chung, among the many clans of that double village. Other groups of Chans claiming a relationship with Nga Tsin Wai, but not descendants of Chan Chiu-yin or his brother ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x were also to be found in Ta Kwu Leng and Ma Tau Wai. 23 It will be seen that Kowloon City, Kowloon Market, and the suburban villages around them, apart from Sha Po, (that is, Tung Tau, Sai Tau, Hau Wong, and Hoklo Villages) had no part in the League of Seven. These areas were considered to fall immediately under the control of the Sub-Magistrate in Kowloon City, or under the control of the Kowloon Market Kaifong. Apart from these places, the League of Seven covered all the area around Kowloon City. The Kowloon City and Kowloon Market areas worshipped at the Hau Wong Temple outside the Walled City, and did not worship at the Nga Tsin Wai Tin Hau Temple. There was a Tin Hau Temple at Sha Po where the residents in the Market also worshipped. Ma Tau Wai had a temple of its own: this was to Pak Tai, worshipped under the title Sheung Tai (7). Only the gate pillars of this temple survive today, in the Lomond Road Garden. To the east of the area of the League of Seven was the large and ancient village of Po Kong, belonging to the Lam (*) clan. Po Kong never joined the League of Seven. Po Kong had its own temple (it was dedicated to Tin Hau), and the Po Kong people did not go to the Tin Hau Temple at Nga Tsin Wai. Chuk Yuen and Sha Tei Yuen were genealogically connected with Po Kong. According to the Nga Tsin Wai elders, the villages of Po Kong, Chuk Yuen, Sha Tei Yuen, Nga Yiu Tau, Ngau Chi Wan (including its "Mau Tsuen” of Pak Uk Tsai, or Ping Shek), and Yuen Ling (both the Upper and Lower Villages) formed an inter-village alliance of their own, the Six Villages Alliance (AM). Ngau Chi Wan had its own temple, to the Sam Shan Kwok Wong - this temple still survives. According to Ngau Chi Wan village elders, there was no Six Villages' Ta Tsiu, but Ngau Chi Wan conducted these rituals on its own every ten years. Ngau Chi Wan also held the She (£) feast before their higher earth god, every year, when every family made an offering of food, which later formed the basis of the communal feast. Ngau Chi Wan was, clearly, rather independent where the worship of the deities was concerned, and may well have been rather less well-integrated into the Six Villages than the villages closer to Po Kong. Ngau Chi Wan was a Hakka village, founded in the very early eighteenth century. It was founded by the Lau (1) clan, but the To (†), Yeung (), Tsang (4), and Yip () clans joined the Laus during the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 其九 其十 其十一 169. 譚公廟近九龍街 官廢衙前不必猜 171. 貳拾七年中國主 紅毛轇轕卦門牌 173. 馬頭涌對宋王台 學老村前玩一回 175. 行向沙埔醫院過 微聞打鼓嶺中催 177. 牛池灣聽牧童歌 沙地園堪種菜蔬 179. 豐熟沙梨圓嶺勝 蒲崗荔果實婆娑 43 Verse 9 Verse 10 Verse 11 Line 169. The Tam Kung Temple is near the Market at Kowloon City. The officials surrendered there at Nga Tsin Wai, in front of the yamen, do not doubt it. 171. In the 27th Year of China's Lord [1901], The red-haired barbarians negotiated the hanging-up of their signboards. 173. The Sung Wong Toi stands near Ma Tau Chung. You can amuse yourself there in front of Hoklo Tsuen. 175. Walking on towards Sha Po, you pass the hospital. At Ta Kwu Leng you can faintly hear the sound of a drum; urging you on. 177. Herder boys' songs can be heard at Ngau Chi Wan. The gardens at Sha Tei Yuen are fit for growing vegetables. 179. Yuen Ling is best for a harvest of fine pears. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 08 MAP 1 The Kowloon City Area about 1905 Tai Wai Chok Yoen Siu Lek Yuen Tai Po Diamond Hill Hau Wong Ta Kwa Leng (Nga Yau Tau) Hau Wong Temple Kowloon City Sai Tau Tsuen Nga Trin Long Kai Kwy Lung Pa Kong Kak Hang Nga Trin Wai Kowloon Market Kan Pui Shek Tung Tau Tsuen Sheung Hok Lo Tsuen Pier Waste Land Tai Hom Yuen Ling Wai Ping Yi Tsai Tau Sha Tei Yuen Kowloon Bay Customs Pier Sai Kung Ngee Chi Wan Pak Uk Tsuen (Ping Shek) Lei Yue Mun Shau Kei Wan Tau Ngan Kok Hill Sham Shui Po Tsuen Wan Yau Ma Tei Ma Tau Wai Hau Pui Long Yi Wong Tin Tsim Sha Tsui Sacred Hill (Sung Wong Toi) Kilometres Ma Tau Kok Coastline in 1905 Buildings 1905 Footpaths Edge of Hill Marshes Kowloon Market ================================================================================