RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1961 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/vd6724704 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch RASHKB and author Vol. 1 (1961) ISSN 1991-7295 18 BIRDS OF HONG KONG CAPTAIN A. M. MACFARLANE, R.A. Based on a lecture delivered on September 22, 1960, The birds of Hong Kong are notable for their variety. Over 330 different kinds of birds have been recorded here since 1860, and the list covers a wide range of types, with very few families found in China left unrepresented. I propose to cover the more common species, both residents and visitors, and to touch on a few of the rarities besides. I would normally hesitate to point out to residents of the Colony the geography of their surroundings, but a few features are worth remembering from a bird-watcher's point of view. First, Hong Kong is just inside the tropics, and therefore lies at the southern breeding limit of some of the typically northern birds such as the Black-capped Kingfisher, and at the northern breeding limit of some of the typically tropical or sub-tropical birds, such as the sunbirds and flowerpeckers. Secondly, the year is divided into quite definite seasons, some much longer than others, and so we get summer visitors who breed here, such as the Black-naped Oriole and Hair-crested Drongo; winter visitors such as certain ducks and many species of hawks and thrushes; and of course, passage migrants that pass through the Colony, sometimes in immense numbers, in spring and autumn to and from their breeding grounds in the far north. Examples of the more noticeable of these migrants are the waders, the swifts and the flycatchers. Thirdly, the Colony has a wide range of bird country within its small limits, from the top of Tai Mo Shan, over three thousand feet high, down through the wooded valleys such as the Lam Tsuen valley and the Tai Po Kau Forestry Reserve, across the open paddy-fields and marshes bordering Deep Bay to the rocky coasts and open sea off Hong Kong Island and Lantau. Therefore a bird-watcher can select different areas and hope to see different birds accordingly. Lastly, to the regret of all but bird-watchers, Hong Kong is subject to occasional fierce storms and even typhoons. If these last occur, then it is worth every effort to go out and brave the storm, for unusual birds are blown in, especially of marsh and coastal species. During the last few years, members of the Hong Kong Bird-Watching Society have found that just over 60 species nest regularly in the Colony. Despite the apparent scarcity of birds in the summer months, this number compares quite favourably with an area of English coastline of the same size. Although ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f LIFE IN THE NEW TERRITORIES 95 2 Extracts from the Report are given between pages 181-209 of Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong 1899, (Hong Kong, Government Printer, 1900). For this quotation see p. 198. Lockhart was referring specifically to development which was noticeably lacking. The same cannot be said of the population during this period. The evacuation of the coastal areas (1662-69) caused a great disruption to the villages at the time. For a brief mention in English, based on Chinese authorities, see S. F. Balfour, "Hong Kong before the British", an article in T'ien Hsia, Vol. XI, No. 4, 1941, p. 334. In any case there has been a continuous inward flow of both Cantonese and Hakka since then, more especially of Hakka in the 19th century, from which time many of the hill villages in the Colony take their origin. It is interesting to compare this report with a book on Wei Hai Wei, Lion and Dragon in North China (London, John Murray, 1910) which was written by a junior colleague from Hong Kong, R. F. Johnston (1874-1938) who went to Wei Hai Wei as Magistrate and Secretary to Government in 1904, probably at Lockhart's request. Johnston, later knighted and Professor of Chinese in the University of London was a man of great application and erudition who became tutor to the deposed boy emperor, P'u Yi, (1919-25) and wrote the well-known book Twilight in the Forbidden City, (London, Gollancz, 1934). He was himself Commissioner of Wei Hai Wei 1927-30. His detailed description of Wei Hai Wei, its people and their customs leaves an impression of the striking similarity of life and thought between that remote part of Shantung and this small corner of Kwangtung. The means of government was of course the same, but so also are the ways of doing and thinking which seem, in my own experience, hardly to differ at all despite the different agricultural background. To anyone interested in the Chinese peasant Johnston's book is a mine of information. The annual reports on Wei Hai Wei presented to both Houses of Parliament are, too, an interesting commentary on life in this northern leased territory. The market towns of the New Territories in 1898 were Tai Po, Yuen Long, Tai O, Cheung Chau, Sai Kung and Tsuen Wan. A despatch of 1905 in connection with the Kowloon-Canton Railway No. 59 dated 11th January 1905 from Governor Sir Matthew Nathan to the then Secretary of State, Mr. Lyttelton gives some figures. Yuen Long had "seventy-four shops of which twenty-five are large and deal in rice, oil, samshu etc. The remainder belong to barbers, doctors, jewellers, vegetable sellers, piece goods dealers etc." Tai Po Market consisted of twenty-three large shops and fifteen smaller ones, Tsuen Wan had a few shops supplying the local needs". No figures are given for Cheung Chau or Tai O with which the railway was not concerned, but an inscription of 1878 inside the grounds of the Fong Pin Hospital at Cheung Chau states that there "used to be over two hundred shops trading here". Lockhart Papers 1899, p. 207 gave Cheung Chau a population of 5,000, whilst Tai O with its fisheries and salt pans was reported to have about 3,000. These were larger towns than Yuen Long (no figure given), Tai Po (280), Sai Kung Market (800) and Tsuen Wan (900). The present New Territories towns were not the largest in the San On district. Pride of place went to Sham Chun, now on the Chinese side of the border, with sixty-one large shops and three hundred and twenty-three medium sized shops, and to Kun Lan Hui, also north of the border which was the cattle centre of the whole district with fifteen large and one hundred and thirty-six medium sized shops. (Enclosure C to No. 59). See Eastern No. 88 Correspondence relating to the Kowloon-Canton Railway (London, Colonial Office, 1907). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 26 T HUGH D. R. BAKER The five clans bear the surnames Tang2, Hau3, Pang, Liu,5 and Man. The Tangs were the first of the five to settle in the area as far as is known, coming in at the beginning of the Northern Sung Dynasty, probably in 973 A.D.,8 giving them a history of some thousand years of settlement. Their first village (and still one of their largest) was Kam Tin. Other major villages which are occupied by members of the Tang Clan are those of Ping Shan,10 Ha Tsuen,11 Tai Po Tau2 and Lung Kwat Tau,13 while these few names by no means complete the list. The Haus arrived towards the end of the twelfth century in the Southern Sung Dynasty.14 Their first settlement was at Ho Sheung Heung,15 the lineage later segmenting to form three branch-villages at Yin Kong,16 Kam Tsin17 and Ping Kong,18 Spatially there is quite a distance between these four villages, and while they still recognise that they are kin, recognise obligations of mutual aid, and appear to hold certain property in common, they are politically four distinct units under four leaderships, each of which is divorced from the others, so that they must be considered a clan. They themselves call the group either the 4 (Hau Clan) or the 5 (Hau Alliance). The Pangs claim to have arrived during the Sung Dynasty also, and are said to be in their twentieth generation at the moment. Freedman has pointed out that "poverty postponed marriage",19 and the Pangs were poor, so that we may allow thirty-five years per generation of this lineage, which would in fact date their arrival in the last years of the Sung Dynasty. The lineage village is called Fan Ling.? 20 The Lius of Sheung Shui have a history of approximately 630 years, their first ancestor arriving from Fukien Province towards the end of the Yuan Dynasty.22 They have not lost any branches through hiving-off, and the entire lineage still lives together in the one village-cluster. The Mans have two large groups of villages. The first is at San Tin, the second at Tai Hang.24 Each of these village groups is a separate lineage, separated by a great distance, apparently owning no property in common, and each under separate leadership. The two lineages together are spoken of as the ✯ (the Man Clan). Page 26 ... Page 20 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g A NOTICE OF THE SANON DISTRICT J 105 This officer established himself at a place then called Shak-tse-kong, the present Nam-tou, a part of which situated on a hill was surrounded by walls. But it was found that this officer was unable to rule efficiently the whole of the district, and some men of influence, supported by the high mandarins at Canton, demanded that the part of the country which they inhabited should be made a separate district. The Emperor Wan-lik granted this petition in the first year of his reign; the new district was called "Sanon,” new peace; and the walled part of Nam-tou rose to be the district town of Sanon, and accordingly received the name of Sanon Yuen-shing 新安城. The Sanon district included the islands of Lan-tow, Hongkong, and all the small neighbouring islands. The mainland portion of the district was bounded to the North by the districts of Túng-kun 東莞 and Kwei-shin 歸善. The northern boundary is formed by the Pik-tau River, which flows into the estuary of the Canton River, and is navigable for small Chinese sea craft (such as passage-boats) for about 8 miles; and several chains of mountains further to the East. This boundary, however, is very arbitrarily drawn, as sometimes villages in the midst of Sanon belong to Túng-kun. The borders of the three districts join together in the neighbourhood of the mart of Kun-lan, a place notoriously unsafe, as being the abode of thieves and vagabonds, who can with facility escape from the jurisdiction of one mandarin to that of another. To the East, the Sanon District is bounded by the estuary of the Canton River. This estuary is divided by the Chinese into several parts with different names: the part to the south of the Bocca Tigris into which the Pik-tow River falls, is called Hop-lan Hoi; the bay named by the English Lintin is designated by the Chinese Nam-low Bay, after the city of that name; Deep Bay is called Hau-hoi or Back-water Bay*. This bay is generally very shallow, a deep channel however running down the centre; the navigation is rendered more dangerous by the many oyster-beds which exist. The bay terminates in a considerable creek, which is navigable at high-tide for three or four miles, as far as the important mart of Sham-tsuen. & PA. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g A NOTICE OF THE SANON DISTRICT 123 along the banks of rivers or of ponds, you have an opportunity 水牛, of observing how appropriately the Chinese name "Shui-ngau” ★ †‚— water ox, has been applied to them, for you will see the beasts with their huge carcases entirely submerged in the water and mud, their heads only to be seen, and they will lie thus contentedly for hours. There are large numbers of pigs, which, as in Ireland, form an integral part of the family, and are admitted to the domestic hearth. Goats are scarce, and are found chiefly in the mountainous parts. Ducks are seen in immense flocks, and are generally hatched in heated ovens. Fowls are kept by people of all conditions. The poor generally keep them, not for their own consumption, but to make a few cash by selling the eggs or the chickens, which are consumed in great numbers at marriage festivals and other popular entertainments. The principal Trading-places of the district are, Nam-tow 南頭, Sai-heong 西鄉, Wong-kong 黄崗, Sham-tsuen 深圳, San-keaou 新橋, Tai-pung 大鹏, Fuk-wing 福永, Ku-shu 固戌, and Sha-tsing. These places are here mentioned according to the extent of their trade. From each of these places, passage-boats ply regularly to Hongkong, Canton, Tai-ping (at the Bogue), and Shek-lung. From Namtow only a boat is occasionally despatched to Macao. The trade between these towns and Hongkong has of late years become of great importance. For instance, six years ago, only one passage-boat started from Sai-heong for Hongkong, every third or fourth day. Before the commencement of the present hostilities, the number of these boats had increased to five, and they were of a much larger size, and started from Sai-heong in company every third or fourth day. Other boats were projected when the present difficulties interfered with the enterprise. In Sai-heong alone there were more than 400 traders who frequented Hongkong. The exports consisted chiefly of fruits, vegetables, eggs, poultry, cattle, oil, sugar, charcoal, fish, and dried ducks, and they imported in return rice, salt, calico, and other European manufactures, besides articles which came from the northern ports of China. Timber, silk, and paper, are imported from Canton, Shek-tung, Tai-ping, and other parts of the province. The trade with the interior of the country is unimportant, for there are no highways along which goods can be conveyed into the interior. All goods are conveyed either by coolies or in awk. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 44 R. G. GROVES that one could not bear to think of them."55 These apprehensions represent the core of arguments which were developed and embellished as the campaign to mount the resistance movement continued. They reached their highest point in a petition sent to the San On Magistrate some two weeks later. This alleged that, in an effort to control cholera, the Hong Kong Sanitary Board murdered Chinese who were ill by poisoning them with arsenic and then burned their houses down. The inflammatory potentialities of these charges — which appear to have been widely believed — are obvious. They were used frequently by leaders of the resistance in subsequent weeks. As requested, leaders of the various districts within the Yuen Long marketing area assembled the next day at Yuen Long market. Pat Heung, Shap Pat Heung, and Kam Tin were each represented by four people. Ping Shan sent six representatives, Ha Tsuen three, and Tun Mun (Castle Peak), one. Of the twenty-two people who attended the meeting, thirteen were members of one or another of the three Tang lineages. Once again, a decision was taken in favour of resistance, although not without disagreement. Two days later, on 31st March, leaders from throughout the area convened again at Yuen Long. The previous decision to resist was reaffirmed and letters were sent to leaders within the Sheung U Division, asking them to attend a general meeting at Yuen Long the next day.56 On 1st April leaders from the northern part of the Sheung U Division made their way to Yuen Long. In addition to the Yuen Long leaders, representatives of the following Sheung U lineages were present: Liu (Sheung Shui), Pang (Mandarin: P’eng, Fan Leng), Tang (Tai Po Tau), and Man (San Tin). The ensuing meeting was characterised by long and heated debate. It ended with a decision to offer resistance on an inter-divisional basis. Whatever the others did, the Tangs were clearly determined that the occupation would be opposed. While the Yuen Long meeting was in progress a copy of a placard issued by the Yuk-on Hin ("wish for peace" library) of Ping Shan reached the Governor in Hong Kong. Its message was direct and to the point: We hate the English barbarians, who are about to enter our boundaries and take our land, and will cause us endless evil. Day and night we fear the approaching ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 33 Ibid., p. 113. MILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE 61 34 This event has a tangled academic history. The establishment of the association by the twenty-four villages was originally reported in the Chinese Repository (IV, 1836, p. 414), and is quoted by Wakeman (op. cit., p. 63) from that source. It is also quoted by Hsiao (op. cit., p. 309) as an example of inter-village co-operation for the purposes of defence and the maintenance of order. Skinner (op. cit., p. 39, n. 80), quoting from Hsiao, argues its significance for the analysis of standard marketing communities. 35 Wakeman, op. cit., p. 39. 36 Skinner, G. W. "Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China Part II". The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. XXIV, no. 2, February 1965, pp. 207f. 37 Only those aspects of the New Territories most relevant to the argument will be discussed. There is a growing literature about the area which, taken together, gives considerable detail. Freedman, op. cit., p. viii, provides a bibliographical note on published works. 38 The land frontier of the territory begins just north of the Sham Chun river and runs eastward from Deep Bay to the market of Sha Tau Kok. J. H. Stewart Lockhart, the then Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, was deeply opposed to this boundary. "It cuts in two the rich valley of which Sham Chun is the centre, and, while excluding that town, divides the villages in the valley hitherto linked together by family ties and common interests; all these villages regard Sham Chun as their central and most important market, where they dispose their goods and make their purchases" Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Extracts from Papers Relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1899, Hong Kong, 1900, p. 196. 39 Ibid., p. 187. Stewart Lockhart's population estimates cannot be regarded as very accurate. By 1900 he thought the number of villages to be 597. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1900, Hong Kong, 1901, p. 252. The Hong Kong census of 1911 gave the total population of the territory as 104,101. In the Northern District alone, 398 villages were enumerated. Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1911, Hong Kong, 1912, pp. 103ff. On the other hand, as guesses go, Stewart Lockhart's count is by no means disreputable. His estimate of 100,000 is not all that far from the 1911 census figure cited above. Other examples could be given which suggest that his estimates are sufficiently accurate to indicate general magnitudes of population, if not precise numbers. 40 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, Extracts..., op. cit., p. 188. 41 This discussion will be confined to that part of the territory which used to be known as the 'Northern District' and will not consider the markets at Sai Kung, Tsuen Wan, Sham Shui Po, and Cheung Chau island. For brief accounts of these, see Hayes, J. W., "The Pattern of Life in the New Territories in 1898"; "Cheung Chau 1850-1898: Information from Commemorative Tablets", Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 11, 1962, vol. III, 1963. 42 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hong Kong, 1911, op. cit., pp. 103f.; Correspondence (December 15, 1903, to February 27, 1907) Relating to the Proposed Canton-Kowloon Railway, Eastern No. 88, Colonial Office, London, 1907, pp. 85ff. 43 For example, the marketing schedule of the two Tai Po markets was 3-6-9. That is to say, the markets met on the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 23rd, 26th and 29th days of each lunar month. The same principle applies to the schedules of each of the other markets. Normally, in specifying a schedule, only the first three days are given. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 128 JAMES HAYES be feared, but internecine wars are almost always raging between some or other of the villages: and these wars, although often arising from trivial causes, are not mere temporary quarrels, but are often long-continued and sanguinary'.1 He gives a description of these feuds, and relates one example in which the District Magistrate, even with a force of 1,000 men, was unable to restore peace, and could not even save his face without the mediation of a neighbouring village. The device that secured this, Krone comments, had no influence at all upon the dispute, fighting being carried on afterwards just as before".2 There are several documented examples of intervillage and clan wars from the mainland New Territories at this time which indicate that Krone was not exaggerating the situation in mid century. Halls to 'martyrs' killed in these struggles were provided in at least four local temples, each containing memorials to slain heroes. These are to be found in the temples at Shek Kong (Pat Heung), Miu Kong (Tsuen Wan), Lam Tsuen, and Yuen Long (Shap-pat Heung). The Tsuen Wan memorial tells of a three year feud between the Tsuen Wan villagers and Shing Mun Pat Heung, beginning in the first year of the Tung Chih reign (1862-1863) and ended only after eventually successful mediation by elders of neighbouring villages. During this time, the Tsuen Wan villages—their men being outnumbered according to the tablet—were invaded and left in ruins, and 17 local men were killed in the prolonged struggle.3 Baker gives other local and contemporary examples of these clan wars taken from genealogies and village tradition in the northern New Territories. He also draws attention to the feuds that occurred within local lineages, including frequent fights between the Ping Shan and Ha Tsuen branches of the Tang lineage. These persisted into the British period. In 1921, in his administrative report for that year, the District Officer North mentions trouble that 'assumed very serious proportions' over water rights between 1 Krone, p. 114. 2 Krone, pp. 125-126. 3 The hall at Miu Kong is entitled the I-yung Tz'u (義勇祠) and that at Yuen Long the Ying-yung Tz'u (英勇祠). In the Pat Heung temple the tablet is in the Ching-chung Tz'u (清忠祠). At Lam Tsuen there is no named hall, but a side room contains a tablet bearing the characters jang hsiang ch'ang sheng lu wei (...). 4 Baker, 1968, pp. 167, 183 and 187. 5 Baker, 1968, p. 188 and Baker 1965, pp. 39-41. ================================================================================ 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-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 159 rocks that are the product of rapid cooling at close to atmospheric pressure. The minerals composing the rocks have a high content of silica and are said, therefore, to be acid (as opposed to basic rocks that contain comparatively small amounts of silica). Acid rocks are inherently more viscous in the molten state than are basic rocks, and so volcanoes containing acid material are particularly liable to explosions. The peak of Tai Mo Shan, and the high ridges that fan out from it, are composed of coarse tuff - material that was blown from a volcano in solid particles and then cemented together. By contrast, the lower slopes on the southern and eastern sides are formed from material that was blown from the volcano in a viscous condition; this material is also cemented together but its texture is fine because it solidified at atmospheric pressure. On the northern slopes, running down to the Lam Tsuen valley, the rocks are essentially the same except where they have been altered by intrusions of more coarse-grained materials. Probably the most important practical aspect is that the rocks, like most others in Hong Kong, are high in silica. Consequently they contain only low concentrations of the important plant nutrients and so yield soils of low fertility. According to Grant (1960) the two main types of soil in Hong Kong have fairly well-defined distributions: (i) red-yellow podzol: is formed from granitic rocks at all altitudes, and on other rocks above 450 metres; (ii) krasnozem: is never formed from granite, but is formed from other rock types below about 400-450 metres. The best way to study a soil is by means of a pit which reveals a profile of the soil from the surface downward. Road cuttings and the like are convenient for this purpose. On this basis, the two main types of soil may be described briefly as follows: (i) Red-yellow podzol. The layer of soil proper is usually quite shallow, about 30-45 cm. above the parent rock. Three or four layers are usually visible: a greyish-yellow or greyish-red top layer, then a paler greyish layer, and then a red, yellowish-red or yellow layer above the parent material. (ii) Krasnozem. The layer of decomposed rock is usually very thick, from 2 to 12 metres. The color is a shade of reddish ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 180 NOTES AND QUERIES A visit will be made by coach to five of the oldest graves belonging to the family and, in addition, to a school in Kat Hing Wai at Kam Tin to see some of its heirlooms. Quite a bit of walking is involved and lady members are advised to wear flat shoes for comfort and ease of movement over hill paths. The visit will start from the Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier at 11 a.m. Members are advised to catch the regular ferry from the Central Terminus, Hong Kong (35 minutes by ordinary ferry, 20 by hover ferry). Please check ferry times with HK Yaumatei Ferry Co. (Tel. 5-220393) and make your own arrangements. Otherwise, come by car and park locally, allowing plenty of time to find parking space (try the western end of Yeung Uk Road, in the area of the Yeung Uk Road Sports Ground, in the same road as the pier). Members are advised to bring a picnic lunch. The visit should end between 5--6 p.m., back at the Tsuen Wan Ferry Pier. The tour will be limited to two buses and members and their friends are invited on a first-come-first-served basis. Please telephone names to Mrs. Kam at 12-403396 (District Office, Tsuen Wan). Programme notes will be available on the day. DAVID LIU and JAMES HAYES Joint Organizers 29.11.76 THE TANG (4) CLAN IN THE NEW TERRITORIES AND ITS OLDEST GRAVES According to the genealogical record kept by the Tang clan at Kam Tin, it originated from a branch settled in Kut Shui County (*) of Kiangsi Province during the northern Sung period (960-1126).* It all started when one of the ancestors by the name of TANG Fu-hip (###) passed through this part of Kwangtung on his way to his new official assignment as the magistrate of Yeung Chun County () after he had successfully passed the imperial examination and was awarded the chin-shih degree during the reign of Hsi Ning (1068-1077). * With the exception of "Kiangsi” romanizations used in this Note are in Cantonese. ================================================================================ 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 213 dation of the Land Court, the Governor decided that 14 elders of the Northern District should be compensated for certain "tax-lord" rights claimed by them to have existed before the convention, but not compatible with the principles of British administration, by the grant of 252.33 acres of Crown land in the Northern District, to be selected by each "tax-lord" in proportion to the value of the right claimed by him." Also, see Enclosure 7, no. 172 mentioned above, to the effect that Kam Tin collected taxes in the Pat Heung Valley on land it didn't own. Much more is to be learned on this tax-lord system; I expect to glean more information from the records of the debate before the Land Court, 1904, which may be contained in the CSO reports.* 28. The Tangs of Kam Tin existed as a power often beyond the reach of the local magistracy. There is evidence of widespread non-payment of land-taxes and squeeze. On the former point, see the San On Letters appended below. Squeeze was collected primarily from the Tai Ping Kuk and similar organizations of Structure B type. The Tangs of Kam Tin were apparently not members of this Sham Chun group [see Petition to Lockhart in Extension Papers.] Also, note Sung's tale regarding the use of the Wong Ku relationship in the successful refusal to paying squeeze, the major source of revenue in San On county. 29. In summary, then, the Tangs were land-lords and tax-lords who existed and operated as a power unto themselves, dominating the local scene and ignoring the tendons of local government whenever possible. 30. Two statements regarding the status of sai-man (*R,): “We give them cows, we give them houses, we even give them women”. Also, "When the bridal procession passed through Kam Tin on its way to Pat Heung or Sap Pat Heung, the bride and groom were forced to descend and kow-tow." There is general agreement among Tangs and non-Tangs in the Kam Tin area that sai-man and sai-chuk (clans "with same name") were constantly reminded of their "place". 31. We uncovered a great deal of smouldering resentment and bitterness in Kam Tin, directed against the Ha Tsuen and Ping Shan branches of the clan. One tale concerns a "war" with Ping Shan over tax-collection rights in the vicinity of Shun Fung Wai. * Kept in the Public Records Office, Hong Kong. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1979 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2801w5938 which drew a great deal of stimulating discussion: Leadership and Ideas in Singapore since 1945. Altogether then, there were twelve lectures during the year. Excursions During June, Dr. James Hayes, the very busy Town Manager of Tsuen Wan, and editor of your Journal, organised an excursion to his district. During preparatory work for the redevelopment of Northern Tsuen Wan various religious institutions came to the notice of his department, which was also able to discover more information about others. The group attending the excursion visited a Buddhist monastery, where they had a vegetarian lunch; another religious establishment for the so-called "Three religions"; the Holy Mother Yiu temple, in a squatter area; and a temple to a sect established to help opium addicts and which has branches also in Singapore. Another local excursion is planned for March 29 to Macao, with the help of Dr. Leigh Wright of your Council. It plans to take in visits to places not on the usual itinerary of tourist visits, such as the Theatro Pedro V. There will be a Portuguese lunch and information on the places visited will be given by Father Texeira who has helped us on past occasions. I would like to take this opportunity of thanking him for his generous help to the Society. This visit should be a 'must' for those who like old architecture, churches, cobblestone streets as well as archives and libraries. Excursions to neighbouring territories and states also remain an important part of the Society's activities each year. Some twenty-two members visited Kashmir and Kathmandu (with an unscheduled but very interesting overnight stop at Amritsar) during last Easter, under the leadership of your Hon. Secretary, Dr. Brian Shaw; and it was possible to make a refund to each participant of over two hundred dollars as a result of various economies. A further group of twenty will be leaving this Easter for Darjeeling and Sikkim; and in July a smaller number will go to Ladakh (“Little Tibet”). Some members expressed interest in proposed visits to Central Java and to sites in Thailand, but the numbers were not sufficient to make the trips feasible last year. Our requests to Peking concerning visits to cultural sites in Central China have unfortunately not yet received a favourable response, but our efforts will continue during the coming year. For ix ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 CHINESE MONASTERIES, TEMPLES, SHRINES, ALTARS 33 14 Because of the exorbitant rents for such accommodation, temples in shop houses and flats in Hong Kong are few and far between. In Singapore and Malaysia, temples in shop houses are very common indeed, though they are becoming less so as the years pass and rents in urban areas rapidly rise. 15 Occasionally such a temple may be a converted private house, as in the many examples in Lo Wai village, Tsuen Wan, but more often it is a purpose-built but inexpensive hut. 18 Temples containing images of the Buddhist deities Di Zang Wang, Milofu, and Guan Yin are not necessarily specifically Buddhist, as all three of these deities nowadays are also extremely popular deities in folk religion temples. 17 Mahayana is Northern Buddhism and Theravada or Hinayana is Southern Buddhism. 18 "Illegal" is a Hong Kong term for buildings which have been built on Crown Land often by squatters without Government land control or planning permission, but which have been permitted to remain standing under sufferance. In practice, they are temporary structures put up without permission, occasionally ramshackle though more often they are well-built timber, weather-board, and corrugated iron buildings, clean and well-proportioned. (Illustration 17). Some have stood for such a length of time as to have been gradually converted to concrete and brick. All are labelled on the side in rough daubs of paint with the bureaucratic abbreviations and digits prefixed by "TEM" (= temporary) affixed by squatter control staff of the Housing Department. 19 Demons are well known to Chinese to be unable to go around corners and must travel in straight lines, hence these inner doors to prevent the demons from entering the temple. The inner doors originally were opened exclusively for influential people. 20 See also James Hayes' information at JHKBRAS 6 (1966): 129-130. 21 In overseas Chinese areas, this kind of large street shrine is still very common and, in Singapore alone, some four to five hundred exist in all kinds of nooks and crannies. For a Hong Kong example, see JHKBRAS 14 (1974): 203. 22 Chu is one of the 28 Constellations (= xiu). ** See pp. 111-113 of the Hong Kong Government's publication Rural Architecture in Hong Kong (1979) for this pagoda. 24 In Imperial times, such masts were always to be seen outside the local magistrate's yamen. 25 Chinese bells have no internal tongue clapper, being tolled by an external blow with a wooden mallet. 26 For the Evacuation of the Coast, see Lo Hsiang-lin and others, Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842 (Hong Kong, 1963) Chapter VI. 27 For background, see Jen Yu-wen's article "The Southern Sung stone-engraving at North Fu-t'ang" in JHKBRAS 5 (1965): 65-68. 28 Government action is through the Chinese Temples Committee, serviced by the Trust Funds Section of the Home Affairs Department. 29 Temples according to this Ordinance include Miao (廟), Si (寺), Buddhist and Daoist monasteries, Guan (觀) and Dao Yuan (道院), and nunneries An (庵). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 85 father who had owned the land on which the temple stood had consulted the deities and found that his daughter had been deified. He had an image of her carved and placed on the altar. This was transferred some time during the mid 1960s to another small shrine within the same temple and again her image stood alone but this time she had under her shrine a cardboard box which contained, according to the temple keeper, an embalmed parrot. The elderly nun claimed that it was Miss Liu's pet. The image and parrot remained until 1983 when the temple was refurbished and the image disappeared for a while. In 1986 it reappeared on the family altar in the rear of the large Buddhist temple next door, dedicated to the Liu family. Her image was now draped in red silken robes and somewhat strangely was labelled Miss Lin. She still held the miniature handbags but the parrot was nowhere to be seen, and the temple staff denied ever having seen or heard of a stuffed parrot. They confirmed that her name was Lin and not Liu but were unable to say why she was now on the Liu family altar in the Buddhist temple. And there she remains, last noted in 1989 still on the Liu family altar. A cult, that of 'the Prince descended from the Dragon', Lung-shih T'ai-tzu, was established in the mid-1960s in the northern suburbs of Kowloon before being transferred to Lo Wai above Tsuen Wan in the New Territories. It is a piggy-back cult dependent upon the local Cantonese major cult of the Dragon Mother, Lung Mu. The story begins with a boy, Huang Hsin-tsai, born in Shamshuipo, Kowloon, in 1949, the son of refugees from Canton. His parents died soon after they arrived in the Colony leaving him in the hands of the lady who now runs the new cult temple. In 1960 the youth, now 11 and still living with the lady in Shamshuipo, fell ill with swollen legs and abdomen. She nursed him carefully back to health but in 1962 he was thought to have eaten something which did not agree with him and, despite a visit to the Wong Tai Sin Temple, he died. Accused by her neighbours of neglecting the youth she was exonerated by him when he appeared to her in a dream to explain that he was now the stepson of the major deity, Lung Mu, and had the power to cure on her behalf. Once a year thereafter he provided the lady with a large basin of very tiny pills for her to distribute to cure people's ills; he also appeared to her in dreams to help solve difficult problems put to her by devotees. The lady, now the temple keeper, has a number of elderly ladies to help run the corrugated iron and brick temple which she has had built near his grave. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 5 to show signs of change, but these were still limited, except in a few places. After 1921, however, change came fast, and was widespread. The 1911 and 1921 censuses, therefore, are of great interest, as they show us a traditional society on the eve of modernisation. The 1911 Census The 1911 Census of the New Territories was conducted with care. The census date was midnight on Saturday 20th May, 1911. In the New Territories work began two months earlier, but was not finished until a month later. The New Territories residents were notified as to what a census was, what uses the information gathered would be put to, and how the census would be conducted. This was probably done by briefing the village elders, and posting up notices at suitable places. The New Territories was, in 1911, divided into two administrative districts: Northern District (the present day Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing, Tuen Mun, Yuen Long, North, Tai Po, Sha Tin, and Sai Kung Districts), and Southern District (the present day Islands District plus New Kowloon). Many of the tables in the 1911 Census Report are divided into these two administrative districts, although occasionally New Kowloon is combined with Old Kowloon. The floating population (the boat-people) was enumerated separately, but few details were taken in this census. Nine enumerator teams were established to conduct the census over an area covering most of the mainland New Territories - the whole of the Northern District except for the present day Tsuen Wan and Kwai Tsing Districts. Each team consisted of a specially employed New Territories man as enumerator, plus a uniformed Chinese police constable with New Territories experience. Each team was given a geographical area to enumerate: these areas were probably related to police sub-districts. Enumeration in the New Territories began on 6th March, 1911, and continued for as long as was necessary - the most complicated districts were not completed until early June. The enumerator team, on entering a village, would announce its presence, and then conduct a house-to-house visit to every building, enumerating those residing there, and entering the details on the spot into books of schedules of 25 pages each. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 6 In New Kowloon, Tsuen Wan, and the Islands, enumeration was conducted by the police stationed there, or by the water police. The police were assisted by a headquarters team consisting of an experienced enumerator and translator. The enumerations undertaken by the police were conducted on the same house-to-house basis as those undertaken by the civilian enumerators, and the same books of schedules were used. 7 Details of age, sex, place of birth, dialect spoken, occupation, religion, married state, degree of education, and infirmities, were recorded for each resident. The schedules were worked up into tables by experienced tabulators in the Census Office, this work being completed by October 28th. Table 1 below gives a summary of the 1911 census tables which refer to the New Territories. For the New Territories the population was tabulated for each village as well (broken down into male and female), as a single-handed contribution to the census by Mr. S.B.C. Ross, the district officer - this was not repeated for later censuses. 20 Table 1 IX 1911 Census Tables Referring to the New Territories Table Description of Table Comments XII The total population of the colony By district, age, and sex XIII Birth places of the Chinese population of the NT (Northern District) Given for males and females separately XIV Birth places of the Chinese population of the NT (Southern District) Given for males and females separately Dialects spoken in the home (NT: North. District) Given for males and females separately Dialects spoken in the home (NT: Southern District) Given for males and females separately Chinese population of the villages of Hong Kong HK Island, Po Toi, etc. Given for males and females separately. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 recorded as having 29 males and 10 females resident. The boat people at Kowloon City and Sham Shui Po may have been included in the Victoria Harbour grouping. But it seems likely that the bulk of the Northern boat-people population was omitted from the statistics in 1911. At Cheung Chau, 4,442 boat-people are recorded in 1911, 2,601 of them male. This probably includes those boat-people usually anchored at Ping Chau and Mui Wo. At Lantau, 5,413 are recorded, 3,159 of them male.** The Lantau figure probably includes, not only the floating population at Tai O, but also the people living in "boat-huts" on stilts there. It also probably covers those boat-people anchored at Tung Chung, and may cover those at Tuen Mun as well. In 1921, 3,552 boat people are enumerated at Cheung Chau, and 3,894 at Tai O (probably not including the “boat-hut” residents). Given the absence of some deep sea fishing boats during the 1921 Census period, it seems that the Southern District floating population statistics are broadly similar in 1911 and 1921. The careful notification of New Territories residents as to the purpose of the 1911 Census, and the use of local men as enumerators, led to a lack of practical problems with villagers, who seem to have responded surprisingly well to the process. The police escorts had "not very much to do,” and “no trouble whatever" occurred. On a more detailed basis, the civilian enumerator teams in the mainland New Territories, and the police on Lamma, in the Sham Shui Po area, and, to a lesser extent, on Lantau, seem to have done a more careful job than the police on Cheung Chau, and in the Tsuen Wan and Kowloon City areas. 598 villages were separately enumerated in the nine mainland civilian enumerator districts," 18 on Lamma, 49 on Lantau, and 23 in the Sham Shui Po district." Very few of the villages or hamlets on Lamma or in the mainland New Territories outside the Tsuen Wan and Kowloon City areas were not separately enumerated. The few that are not are hamlets closely connected with a nearby village and enumerated with it. On Lantau, however, some villages are not separately enumerated. The villages to the south of Tai O (Fan Kwai Tong, Yi O, Fan Lau), those immediately east of Tung Chung and along the upper edges of the Tung Chung valley (Tai Po, Tung Chung Hang, Wong Lung Hang, Lam Che, etc.), most of those in the Chi Ma Wan peninsula (except Shap Long), and most of the very tiny villages in the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 XVIII XXIV XXV NT' occupations of the Chinese population NT, South (floating population) ages of the Chinese population NT, South (floating population) nationality and marrieds state of the By sex and divided into North and South Districts By ages and sex and married state By sex and nationality Chinese population XXVI NT, South. (floating By sex and married state population) birthplaces of the Chinese population XXVII NT, South (floating By sex and married state population); education of the Chinese population XXVIII NT, South (floating By sex population) occupations of the Chinese population XXXIVa Small craft enumerated By region XXXV XXXVI Staff By region 13 Census books used By police district The biggest difference for the New Territories between the 1911 and 1921 Censuses, however, was the boundary change between the Northern and Southern Districts put into place in 1916, when Tsuen Wan district was transferred from Northern to Southern District. This change was marginal for Northern District. Tsuen Wan in 1911 represented only 34.7% of the total population of Northern District, and this population was similar in character to the rest of Northern District, being predominantly agricultural." However, Tsuen Wan was 34.7% of Southern District in 1921, and its population was markedly different from the marine-based society of the islands. Furthermore, Tsuen Wan, close to the urban areas, is one of the districts where significant development demonstrably did take place between the 1911 and 1921 Censuses - between 1911 and 1921, the population of Tsuen Wan rose 75% (2,982 to 4,983), mostly because of immigrant artisans. This Tsuen Wan factor makes direct comparisons between the 1911 and 1921 Census evidence problematic for Southern District, New Kowloon (Shamshuipo and Kowloon City) was still regarded as part ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 24 It must be stressed that the figures as given in Tables 7 and 8 are very approximate. They probably under-estimate the numbers of deaths of very young infants. They are likely, therefore, to be conservative: the average age of death, shown on Tables 7 and 8 as 22/24, may well, in fact, have been as low as 18/20. It can, however, be accepted that the average age of death is unlikely to have been higher than 22/24. Clearly these figures, because of the serious under-reporting of very young children, cannot be used to provide detailed statistics of infant mortality in the New Territories. They do, however, show that about a fifth at least of all children died before reaching school age, and that about half of all children died before reaching marriageable age. They demonstrate that infant mortality was a major social factor, and permit debate only on the detail of incidence. It is worth noting some points disclosed by Tables 3-6. Table 5 shows a slight upturn in the population recorded in 1911 for both males and females at ages 60-65; this is clearly a reaction to those elderly villagers who claimed they were "more than one cycle old," and who were consequently all entered as 61 years old. In 1921 this unthinking reaction was not followed: actual ages were identified and entered. Because of the loss of Tsuen Wan district to Southern District, the 1921 figures for Northern District should have been very slightly lower than those for 1911. This is the case for both males and females older than about 50. Since it is this elderly section of the population which is the most sedentary, these figures are likely to be accurate. However, between the ages of 35 and 50, for both males and females, the 1921 records show higher populations for Northern District than in 1911. This can probably be ascribed in part to villagers being caught by the census when returning to worship at their ancestral graves during the Ching Ming Festival, as postulated by the 1921 Census officer, and in part to greater efforts being made in 1921 to capture the boat people. In addition, political troubles in the border area of China had caused large numbers of refugees to cross over into the New Territories in 1920. While most of these refugees had returned to China at the end of 1920, it is likely that some remained in the New Territories, to be caught by the enumerators in Northern District in 1921. 57 Between the ages of 20 and 35, the 1911 figures for the Northern District are higher than the 1921 figures, as expected, but the very ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 25 5% wide divergence where females are concerned cannot be due solely to the transfer of Tsuen Wan alone. This wide divergence can probably be ascribed to the large numbers of women busy in the fields during the 1921 Census period and thus being missed by the 1921 enumerators. The 1921 Census Officer, as noted above, remarked on the problems the peak agricultural season caused for the enumerators, who, clearly, were able to compel the presence of the heads of household, but not always the womenfolk of the family. The higher numbers of females as compared with males recorded in both 1911 and 1921 (at ages above about 26 in 1911, and about 32 in 1921) can be ascribed to the temporary absence of many of the males in the City or abroad. As is to be expected, this feature is much less marked in 1921, because of the return of so many males for the Ching Ming Festival, and the greater effort made to record the boat-people, many of whom were prime-age males, whose families were resident outside the New Territories. The higher recorded figures for females at ages above 55 are more likely to be due to differential death-rates, with females living longer. Southern District. An Immigrant, Urban Society While the censuses show a settled agricultural society in Northern District, in Southern District they show a society dominated by the land and floating populations of the market town seaports of Cheung Chau, Tai O, and Ping Chau, and marked by significant temporary immigration of young adult males. As mentioned above, the census figures are problematic for Southern District. Because of differences in the treatment of New Kowloon, Tsuen Wan, and the floating population, only two tables provide fully usable data: the 1911 figures for the islands' land population, and the 1921 figures for the Southern District floating population. However, even though the series of usable figures is short, nonetheless they clearly show a society radically distinct from that of Northern District. 00 Table 9 shows the reported population figures for the 1911 land population of the islands. As in Northern District, the figures suggest under-reporting of infant children. At 35 births per thousand, the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 44 1921 bringing numbers of usually absent men back to the village for the festival, and the remaining 1920 refugees. Table 17 Married Males. Ratio of Married Men to Married Women N. District 1911 Excess of Males 14428 + Married females 17433 + N. District 1921 Married males 14891 Married females 16124 3005 (17.2%) S. District 1911 Males 6231 Females Excess of (Land) Married males* 1233 (7.6%) Males : Married females* 3985 : Females 2246 (36.0%) S. District 1921 Married males 6429 Married females 5490 939 (14.6%) J S. District 1921 (Boat): Married males** 1817 Males Married females** 1411 406 (22.3%) Females * Includes New Kowloon Fertility was low. We have seen that the likely adjusted annual figure for births was about 2,500 a year in Northern District. The figures for married men and women in the two censuses, when adjusted for widow(er)s and absent spouses, suggests that there were about 10,000-10,750 couples living together as man-and-wife in that district, with the wife of child-bearing age (below 45). This suggests only one live birth for each such couple every 4-4.3 years. With live births at these rates, a family where both husband and wife survived from marriage at about 20 to the wife reaching 45 would have had 5-6 children. However, many couples must have had their married lives cut by the death of one of the spouses, and it is, perhaps, more likely that the average number of children per family was closer to 4-5. Given that less than half of children born lived to marry, it would seem that the population was basically static, or growing only slowly. Comparing the basic 1911 and 1921 figures for Northern District (subtracting the Tsuen Wan figures from the 1911 statistics, and the Floating population figures from the 1921 statistics) suggests that the resulting 1911 population was 32,747 males and 33,393 females, against 32,139 males and 32,056 females in 1921, a slight drop over the decade. While these ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 Table 28 Urban Population: New Territories. 1911 63 Northern District: Town Males Females Total Yuen Long 458 81.9% 101 18.1% 559 Sai Kung 320 62.5% 192 37.5% 512 Hang Hau 262 67.7% 125 32.3% 387 Ha Tsuen Sh 120 67.4% 58 32.6% 178 Shek Wu Hui 29 67.4% 14 32.6% 43 Tuen Mun San Hu 72 67.3% 35 32.7% 107 Tai Wo Shi 377 79.9% 95 20.1% 472 Tai Po Old Market 104 53.3% 84 44.7% 253 Tap Mun 168 66.4% 85 33.6% 253 Sha Tau Kok 43 70.5% 18 29.5% 61 North District Total. 1910 70.8% 789 29.2% 2699 Southern District: Town Tai O land population 1159 51.6% 1089 48.4% 2248 .boat population 3159 58.4% 2254 41.6% 5413 Total 4318 56.4% 3343 43.6% 7661 Cheung Chau land population 1918 59.1% 1326 40.9% 3244 :boat population 2601 58.6% 1841 41.4% 4442 Total 4519 58.8% 3167 41.2% 7686 Ping Chau 434 67.6% 208 32.4% 642 Mui Wo Kau Chun 11 61.1% 7 38.9% 18 Southern District Total 9282 58.0% 6725 42.0% 16007 New Territories Total. 11192 60.0% 7514 40% 18706 * Most of Sha Tau Kok was in China this is the New Territories part of the town Tsuen wan is not included as the census includes a large rural population with the town. Some of the Cheung Chau boat population was probably at Ping Chau, and some of the Tai O boat population was probably at other anchorages on Lantau, but only a small percentage in each case It will be noted that there was no town in the Northern District as large as Ping Chau, and that Cheung Chau was more than 24 times as large as all the Northern District towns put together. There were rural populations included within the total for, especially, Tai O, but, nonetheless, the differences are very real. The 1921 Census includes population figures for only one town, Sai Kung the figure it gives (an overall figure of 606) is in line with the 1911 figure. It is noticeable that the population engaged in “urban” occupations can be comfortably fitted into the recorded populations of the Southern District towns, with a substantial excess over to cover the fishermen and ocean-going seamen living in the towns In Northern ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 64 District, however, the total recorded urban population of males is far smaller than the recorded numbers of men in "urban" occupations. Clearly, many men traditionally went home to their native villages to sleep who worked by day in the Northern District towns and, probably, many craftsmen worked at home in their native villages, only occasionally going to sell their wares in the towns. This suggestion, of a more intimate and closely integrated urban/rural society in Northern, and a more thoroughly urban society in Southern, is likely to be correct. By day, the Northern towns may well have been twice as large as the figure given in the census, but, even if this is so, the difference between the tiny market-villages in northern District and the genuine towns in Southern remains stark. The high number (376 in 1911, 378 in 1921) of masons and allied trades in Northern District, is to be explained, in part, by the construction of the roads, and the other public works projects the Government had begun after taking over the New Territories, but even more by the very large quarry at Lung Kwu Tan, which, as is made clear in the Village Population Table in the 1911 Census, employed 215 stonecutters and others. In Southern District there were 766 males working as masons or in associated trades in 1911 (6.9% of all males with recorded trade), and there were 989 in 1921 (the 1911 and 1921 figures for Southern District both including New Kowloon); in both 1911 and 1921 these people were mostly working in the large quarries at Chek Lap Kok off Lantau, and in the “stone hills” in New Kowloon, as well as in private and public construction projects. Stonecutters clearly tended to live apart from their families at the quarries where they worked. In 1911 in "Lung Kwu Tan Quarry”, 215 males were recorded, but no females, and in Southern the quarries at Chek Lap Kok and at the "stone hills” in Kwun Tong stand out. Chek Lap Kok had 55 males recorded, with only 22 females, while Ngau Tau Kok, Sai Cho Wan, Lei Yue Mun and Cha Kwo Ling - the villages of the "stone hills" - had 625 males between them, but only 339 females. The Quarry Bay villages of Hong Kong Island, and the Shek Shan village in Kowloon, are other cases in point. The censuses are unrevealing on the other known village industries. Up to 1917 there was a major pottery at Wun Yiu near Tai Po, and incense mills at several places, especially Tsuen Wan: none of the workers in these trades are specifically recorded either in 1911 or in 1921, unless under the “general labourer" category. However, the lime ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 65 burners, who oral evidence suggests were common, are noted in the 1921 Census16 in Northern and 183 in Southern District, as also are the brick and tile makers, with 83 male and five female workers noted in Northern District in that year. The other traditional trades noted by the 1921 Census as present in numbers (vegetable oil pressers, shipbuilders, blacksmiths, carpenters) were mostly working within the market towns. In some places the “industrial” villages can be traced in the 1911 Census, even though the residents in them do not appear specifically in the "Occupations" Table. Thus, there was an area where incense wood was pounded into dust for manufacture into joss-sticks at Pak Kiu Tsuen outside Tai Po Market, and another at Tso Kung Tam outside Tsuen Wan. At the first, the census records the village of Wong Ka Uk, with 10 males but no females, and, at the second, the villages of Tso Kung Tam and Pak Shek Kiu, with 36 males and only nine females between them. These imbalanced populations strongly suggest that the villages in question were essentially industrial. Shek Tsai Po, outside Tai O - a centre for the drying of fish and the manufacture of shrimp paste - had a similarly imbalanced population of 71 males to 47 females. Villages next to important ferries - Liu Pok, Lo Wu, Yuen Chau Kok, Sha Kong, Ha Mei, Mui Wo - also tend to have recorded populations with more males than females, reflecting the boatmen and similar traders living at the ferry pier. Suburban industrial trades are probably the reason also why many of the villages on Hong Kong Island and the rural parts of Kowloon (especially Ma Kong, Chung Hom Kok, Lan Nai Wan, To Tei Wan, Tai Tam Tuk, Tong Po, Deep Water Bay, and the Quarry Bay villages on Hong Kong Island, and Ma Tau Kok, San Shan, Shek Shan, Lo Lung Hang, Wong Nai Yue, Fo Pang, Tai Shek Kwu, and Ho Man Tin in Kowloon)* show a significant excess of males over females. Suburban villages with significant excesses of males are also to be seen immediately outside most of the New Territories market towns in 1911. These villages had commercial market-gardens, industrial premises which required large areas (dyers, joss-stick makers, sawyers, etc.), and offensive trades (tanners, lime-burners, brick and tile works, etc.), and should be considered as part of the market town complex. The ring of villages with high male-female ratios around the city in 1911 should be seen in the same way, as subordinate to the commercial life of the City. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 67 speaking Hakka at home, with the females therefore regarding themselves as Hakka speakers, but with the males more usually speaking Punti outside, and, therefore, with some of the males recording themselves as Punti speakers. The Launch District, and the Ping Shan and Sha Tin enumeration districts show this situation, and possibly Tsuen Wan. The Lamma figures, however, defy explanation. Table 29 Languages Spoken in the Home, Northern District, 1911 Enumeration district Punti Hakka Hoklo Others and Total unstated Total Ping Shan(M) 4377 81.0% 997 3180 57.2% 2288 41.1% 3211 60.5% 2098 40.0% 6391 58.8% 4386 40.3% 96 0.9% 10873 (F) 5641 67.5% 8018 74.3% Total 1751 32.5% 5393 2748 25.5% 3 0.0% 28 0.3% 5404 Sai Kung (M) 1195 26.3% 3343 73.5% 1.02% 4549 (F) 1438 30.6% 3256 69.4% 4694 Total 2633 28.5% 6599 71.4% 11-01% 10797 San Tin (M) 1706 100% 1706 (F) 1663 30.6% 3 0.2% 1666 Total Sha Tau Kok (M) 157 3.9% 3369 99.9% 3 0.1% 3372 (F) 187 4.1% 3975 Total 344 4.0% Sha Tin (M) 4392 95.6% 16 0.3% 4595 (F) 818 95.5% 45 0.5% 8570 Total 520 28.4% 1215 66.2% 4 0.2% 1834 Sheung Shui (M) 2747 78.2% 767 21.8% 3514 (F) 2652 79.3% 693 20.7% 3345 Total 5399 78.7% 1460 21.3% 6859 Tai Po (M) 1039 22.9% 3498 76.9% 3 0.1% 4540 (F) 1291 26.3% 3489 71.2% X 0.2% 113 2.3% 4901 Total 2330 24.7% 6987 74.0% 11 0.1% 113 1.2% 9441 Tsuen Wan (M) 375 22.9% 1259 77.0% 1 0.1% 1636 (F) 155 11.5% 1190 88.4% 1 0.1% 1346 Total 530 17.8% 2449 82.1% 1 0.0% 2 0.1% 2982 Total (M) 1610 24.6% 17947 52.2% 50 0.1% 284 0.8% 34383 (F) 15493 44.6% 19106 55.0% 25 0.1% 115 0.3% 34739 *Includes 64 male and female "Miscellaneous Unstated" ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 69 males, while their families remained behind. In other words, those villages with an excess of females are the inevitable reverse side of the coin, off-setting the towns and cities of the area, with their excess of males. Not surprisingly, given the more urban character of Southern District, most of the villages with excess females were in Northern District, as this temporary male emigration was a feature of rural villages, just as temporary male immigration was a feature of the industrial villages, towns, and cities. Appendix I lists the villages with significantly low ratios of males to females (less than 47.0% of total population male, excluding villages with total populations of less than 35, except where the imbalance is extreme) Table 31 maps these villages It will be seen at once from the map at Table 31 that the villages with low percentages of males are concentrated in the mountainous east of the New Territories, and on Lamma. Because of this, more Hakka than Punti villages are low in males. This is, however, a factor of social and geographical conditions, rather than racial or cultural ones: large Punti villages within the eastern New Territories (such as Siu Lek Yuen, Ho Chung, Sha Kok Mei, Wu Kai Sha, Tai Hang etc) share a shortage of males with their smaller Hakka neighbours. Indeed, in Ta Kwu Leng, it is the Punti villages (Ping Che, Lo Shue Ling, Lei Uk Tsuen, Tai Po Tin) which are short of males, the Hakka villages having either a balanced population, or even a surplus of males (eg Heung Yuen with 53.4% of males, and Ping Yuen with 55.9%). Within the richer western parts of the New Territories, villages with shortages of males are less common, but a few clusters can be seen, such as around Ha Tsuen and Yuen Long Markets. These clusters are probably mostly of villages with significant numbers of males working in the markets (the shortage of males in all the Yuen Long villages with shortages was in total 242: the number of excess males working in the markets at Yuen Long and Ha Tsuen was 197) Similarly, it is likely that at least some of the absent males from Lam Tsuen were working in the market at Tai Po The shortage of males in the eastern New Territories is to be explained by emigration. The missionaries of the Basel Mission, who were active in the north-east New Territories from 1849 onwards, remarked on the high levels of emigration from villages in this area from 1851 onwards. By 1880, the missionaries were speaking of "emigration fever" in their reports on the area, by 1894 of "deserted ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 72 Of course, in some cases the emigration was over a short distance, to the nearest market town. It is likely, as noted above, that the absent males of the Yuen Long plain villages were working in the Yuen Long markets, and possible that some at least of the Lam Tsuen males were in the Tai Po Market. Some Lamma villagers were probably working in Aberdeen, and from all over the New Territories there were villagers working in the city - so many that their return to the villages for the Ching Ming Festival in 1921 could bias the census in that year, as noted above. But much of the emigration, as the Basel missionaries, the temple donation tablets at Shan Tsui and Tsuen Wan, and oral evidence, all make clear, was to overseas. The implications of villages with surplus males are less easy to identify (see Appendix II and Table 32; these identify villages with more than 56% recorded males in their populations: villages with fewer than 35 total population are excluded, except where the surplus of males is extreme). In many cases, just as the villages with low male female ratios identify villages with significant temporary male emigration, so villages with high male: female ratios identify places with temporary male immigration. One group already discussed which stands out is the market towns, almost all of which have high male: female ratios. Nearly 82% of the recorded population of Yuen Long market was male, and almost 80% of that of Tai Po new market (Tai Wo Shi). Even Shek Wu Hui, Ha Tsuen and Tuen Mun San Hui had over two-thirds of their tiny populations male (Table 28). These figures need to be put into perspective. In 1911, within the City of Victoria (i.e., omitting the Peak and the Hong Kong Island villages) there were 151,303 males out of a total Chinese population of 217,668. Males represented, therefore, 69.5% of the total Chinese population.1 Thus, the male domination of the larger New Territories market towns was significantly more substantial in 1911 than that of the city, and even the smaller New Territories markets had at least as high a level of male domination. The only exceptions to this are Cheung Chau, and Tai O, in Southern District. While these towns have more males than females, the imbalance is less than in the Northern District towns or the city: however, it seems likely that small rural populations are included with those towns, and that this causes distortion in these cases. Most of the New Territories towns also, as noted above, had suburban villages which shared the male domination of the town itself. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 87 under the Au Tau Enumeration District, and the Shing Mun villages are similarly separately enumerated under the Tai Po Enumeration District. The villages of the "Stone Hill" - Ngau Tau Kok, Sui Cho Wan, Cha Kwo Ling, and Lei Yue Mun - are enumerated separately, under Kowloon City enumeration district. * Census Report, 1911, Tables XIV, XV. * Census Report, 1911, page 6. * On Lammia, 18 villages, population 826 (perhaps 3.6 villages, 181 people per day), in Au T'au, 62 villages, population 1873 (perhaps 1 village, 181 people per day), Sha T'au Kok, 67 villages, population 8570 (perhaps 1 village, 143 people per day), Ping Shan, 74 villages, population 10797 (perhaps 1 village, 190 people per day), Sai Kung, 126 villages, population 9243 (perhaps 2 villages, 154 people per day). * Census Report, 1921, pages 159-160, Para 1. * Census Report, 1921, page 160, para 6. * Census Report, 1921, page 151, para 4, 6. * Census Report, 1921, page 152, para 9. * Census Report, 1921, page 152, para 9. * Census Report, 1927, pages 166-167, paras 5, 7. 12 In 1921, Tsuen Wan district had only 135 boat people; if, as is likely, the numbers of boat people there were the same in 1911, then the boat people were only 5% of the population of Tsuen Wan. * Preliminary Census Report (23rd June 1921), op cit, para 4 - 5, Census Report, 1921, page 155, para 9, page 160, para 3, 4, page 162, para 13, Table XI. 14 Preliminary Census Report (23rd June 1921), op cit, para 4, Census Report, 1921, page 160, para 1. 15 Taken from Census Report, 1911, Table XXI, and Census Report, 1927, Tables IX, XIV. 47 That the figures in 1911 are the result of under-reporting of young boys can be seen by checking the figures in the 1921 Census for boys aged 10-14 and 15-19. Since the Northern District population was basically static, these are largely the same group as those aged 0-4, 5-9 a decade earlier. The Census gives 4146 and 3479 for these two groups, thereby confirming the under-reporting of 1911. * Preliminary Census Report (23rd June 1921), op cit, para 3, Census Report, 1921, page 156. * Census Report, 1927, page 161, para 9, page 162, para 1. However, see also note 65. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 88 "The total Northern District recorded population was 69 thousand in 1911, and 699 thousand in 1921 (including the boat-people), suggesting, at 35 births per thousand, about 2420-2450 births a year, of which half (1210-1225) would be male. The 1921 figures for women aged 10-14, 15-19, 25-29, 30-34 do not show the same pattern as the 1911 figures did for the same group a decade earlier; in 1921 these groups, namely 4,380, 3,390, 2,792 and 2,616, thus making it very likely that the differences were due to under-reporting, given the static nature of the population. The figures in Table 7 take no account of emigration from the area which would reduce the resident adult male population (particularly between ages 20 and 40). Emigration was a significant social feature (it is discussed more fully below), but does not make the very rough figures in Table 7 substantially inaccurate. 42 Death-rates, of course, differed much more on a year-by-year basis than today. Epidemic disease (smallpox especially) killed many children, but smallpox struck only one year in every 3 or 4. Malaria and dysentery, the other major killers of children after neo-natal infections, were more endemic as problems. The Census officer in 1921 discussed death-rates within the New Territories, but, presumably because he was aware of the problem of under-reporting of children, he limited himself to the death-rates of persons aged over 25, pointing out that the death rates of males between 25 and 50 were double those of England and Wales at the same date, and were 50% higher for females. Between 50 and 60, death rates in the New Territories were, he found, 1.4 times those in England and Wales and rather higher than this for females. The percentage of the population still alive at age 60 in the New Territories was less than half that in England and Wales for males, and barely half for females (Census Report 1921, page 161, para 8). 55 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1900. (Sessional Papers), printed by Noronha and Co, Government Printers, No 8, "Report of the Acting Principal Civil Medical Officer for the Year 1900. Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor", p. 253, 1902. No 37, p 729, 1905, No 15, p 266, 1906. No 14, p 350, 1907. No 27, p 459, 1908, No. 21, p 459, etc., Administrative Reports for the Year 1909, p K54-6, 1910 p L51-52, 1911 p L61, 1912, p L60-61, 1913, p. L61-62, 1914. p L63. 1915, p M57-58, etc. A short history of medical provision in the New Territories is in Administrative Reports for the Year 1932, p M103-104. 55 21 Reductions in infant, especially neo-natal, mortality in the market-towns between 1911 and 1921 were certainly less than the numbers of infants not reported to the Census, and thus are invisible in the statistics. The 4.3% reduction the loss of Tsuen Wan implied was offset, to a large extent, by the 1921 higher figures for the boat people. Between these two factors, the 1921 figures would be expected to be lower than the 1911 figures by about 1-2%. ~ Administrative Reports for the Year 1920 page O29-30 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1997 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/wp98g7579 20 June 18 July Kong's Battlefields and Wartime Sites. Dr Elizabeth Johnson, Women's Place; Women's Roles-Question of a Female Identity in a Tsuen Wan Village. M. Philippe Le Corre, The Hong Kong Handover: An Historical Perspective. 19 September Dr Judith Hollows, Hong Kong, Korean and Japanese Management: What is Different and Why? 31 October Dr Betty Wei Peh-T'i, Foreigners in China: A Bibliography. 28 November Ms Tess Johnston, Northern and Southern Treaty Port architecture in China. Dr Patrick Hase, Fung Shui in Action. 5 December 1998 16 January 6 February 20 March Mr Ko Tim Keung, An Illustrated Talk on Pre-World War II Kowloon. Mr Kevin Bishop, China's Imperial Way. Drs Gillian and Verner Bickley, Nineteenth Century Government-led Education in Hong Kong. Concert 21 June 1997, Chinese International Music Performance, Hong Kong YWCA Chinese Orchestra, organiser Dr Michael Lau. Excursions outside Hong Kong 28-31 March 1997 Visit to Shanghai, Drs Michael Lau and Joseph Ting. xxii T ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x Kwangtung, is treated as the First Ancestor of the Nga Tsin Wai clan. His eldest son was in turn born in 1102, but the Nga Tsin Wai descendants stem from the fifth son, who can hardly have been born much before 1120. Nine further generations are recorded in the Tsuk Po. The fifth of these was a sixth son. Assuming a 25-year generation gap for those ancestors born as the first, second, or third sons, and a forty-year generation gap for the sixth son, the eldest son in this ninth generation must have been born about 1370-1385. There were five brothers in this generation, who must have been born within the period 1370-1400. Ng Kui-hau fled from Nam Hung in the disturbances of 1126-1127, when the Northern Sung collapsed in the face of barbarian invasion. He went to the safety of Canton City where he lived until his death in 1158. Six of his seven sons moved away from Canton, five to establish descent lines in various places in central Kwangtung, and one to settle in Annam. The fifth son, Ng Jui (42) from whom the Nga Tsin Wai Ngs descend, settled in Tung Kuan, at Ng Ka Chung (4, "Creek of the Ng Family”). One of the sixth generation descendants of Ng Jui, (Ng Chung-tak, the eighth generation Clan Ancestor), born about 1290-1300, moved from Ng Ka Chung to “Kowloon”. The recent revised Tsuk Po states that he settled at a place called “Kwun Fu Sz Nga Tsin Tsuen”TM 1775, "The Unwalled Village in front of the Kwun Fu Yamen". Ng Chung-tak's third, but only surviving son, Ng Shing-tat, is considered the Founding Ancestor of the Nga Tsin Wai clan. He cannot have been born much before 1320-1335. The old Tsuk Po does not say that either Ng Shing-tak or his father settled in Nga Tsin Wai, merely in “Kowloon”; presumably implying that the family were then settled here and there in the open fields rather than in a village as such - presumably in that Nga Pin Heung where the Chans had already been settled for nearly two hundred years by the time the Ngs moved there. A date somewhere in the middle of the fourteenth century is the most likely for the Ng clan to have settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area, in Ng Chung-tak's old age (the Tsuk Po has a reference to Ng Shing-tak bringing his ancestor's bones to "Kowloon": this may refer to his mother's remains). The date remembered by the clan as the foundation date of the Tin Hau Temple, 1354, is almost exactly the period when the Ngs are most likely to have settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area, and the establishment of the temple, or whatever this date ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 19 nineteenth century that Sha Po started to establish itself as a separate village. As well as the residences outside the walls, the village had its latrines outside the walls, on the northern side of the moat. There were three or four of these. To the southwest of the walled village, and adjacent to the important footpath from the village to the South-East Gate of the Walled City, there were a string of important structures. Two or three large houses stood near the moat (one, owned by Ng Kit-san jointly with Ng Yuk-chan, was about 45 feet wide by 60 deep, with a courtyard and an outhouse as big as fourteen of the houses within the walls). Next to Ng Kit-san and Ng Yuk-chan's house, was the Ng clan Ancestral Hall, another large building (about 50 feet wide by 55 deep, with an outhouse, and a well) fronted by a courtyard: the village school was held in this building". The school was managed by the Ng Shing Tat Tso Ancestral Trust, which went to great pains to hire a good teacher. They provided him with a spacious house outside the walls since the houses within the walls were too cramped to attract a good teacher. The teacher was probably housed in one of the houses owned by the trust in the Market perhaps the large house with a courtyard behind owned by the trust in Hoklo Tsuen, near the sea. With a house in the Market, the teacher would have been in close contact with the scholars who were to be found around the Sub-Magistracy and the Lok Sin Tong. The school had an excellent reputation, and attracted boys from the Market, as well as the village. There was a wide footpath, which surrounded the moat on all sides. Four important footpaths fed into this path around the moat. To the northwest was the footpath which connected the Market at Kowloon City with Tai Wai and the villages of the Sha Tin valley. This path crossed the mountains by the pass below Lion Rock, and came into Sha Tin past the Che Kung Temple. To the northeast was the very important footpath which, having crossed the river, passed by Po Kong to the ferry pier at Yuen Chau Kok in Sha Tin (this was the main path between Kowloon City and Tai Po, Sham Chun, and Wai Chow). A branch of this path went to Siu Lek Yuen in Sha Tin. These paths crossed the mountains into Sha Tin by Sha Tin Pass and Grasscutters' Pass. To the southwest was the path to the South-East Gate of the Walled City ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 257 250 square feet, to be known as the Sung Him Tong Sung Chan Wui Kei Tuk Kau Fan Cheung (#*******) near Tsung Hom [sic] Tong in D.D. [Demarcation District] No.83 of the Northern District of the New Territories of Hong Kong, 142 Another Chinese Christian cemetery was also appointed in 1931. It was known as 'Cheung Chau Chinese Christian Cemetery' and contained about 10,000 square feet. 43 In the same year, the "Tao Fung Shan Christian Cemetery' was also in use. 144 In 1932, both a cemetery and an urn cemetery were approved in the coastal market town at Tai O on Lantau Island, which was called 'The Tai O Cemetery'. The cemetery contained about 250 acres. A tiny cemetery was appointed in Stanley in 1933, which was 'to be known as New Stanley Cemetery, the piece of land containing approximately 2.5 acres, situated to the south of St. Stephen's College at Stanley.' 146 This cemetery was extended to approximately 4.26 acres five years later. 147 A government notice 148 in 1933 ordered that a certain Telegraph Hill Urn Cemetery be closed, however, no other reference examined has anything about this cemetery. In the same year, with the closure of Kowloon Cemetery No.1 (European Protestant) at Fo Pang near Ho Man Tin, a new European Protestant cemetery was authorized in Kap Shek Mi Valley in substitution for the closed cemetery. 149 The new cemetery, containing an area of about 11 acres, was to be known as 'New Kowloon Cemetery No.6'. 150 However, no further information in regard to this cemetery has been found yet, though the boundary of the cemetery is shown in a 1954 map. 151 The next new cemetery, 'Sai Kung Catholic Cemetery,' in Lot No.1697 'in D.D.221 of the Northern District of the New Territories,' was approved in 1934. In 1935 a Chinese permanent cemetery in Tsuen Wan, similar in nature to the Chinese Permanent Cemetery in Aberdeen, was set apart for 'Chinese who shall have been permanently resident in the said Colony (of Hong Kong).' 153 Again, as with the Chinese Permanent Cemetery in Aberdeen, the care and management of the new cemetery ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 341 NEXUS OF VILLAGES BY UNICORN DANCING TEAMS CHIU HANG SHI It was chilly, cloudy and rainy on Sunday, January 27, 2002 in Hoi Pui Tsuen, Pat Heung. This village is inhabited by the Fan, the Cheung and the Kan. This area was quite inaccessible before the construction of the Tai Lam Tunnel and recently the West Rail Station. Some 60 people, mainly young men and some leaders of the village, have been gathered in front of the village office since 2:00pm in a jovial manner. Inside the village office, a temporary altar was set up facing the entrance of the building with a tablet of hand-written characters on it. Some seven unicorn dancing teams arrived by 5:00pm. All teams were first greeted by the unicorn team of the host village and then each team proceeded to the two ancestral halls (Fan's and Cheung's) to pay tribute to the ancestors. A banquet of basin meal of 120 tables was served in the evening. The organizer of this celebration was Nam Shing Tong. This celebration has been held every year after the Handover. The reason for doing so was that this Tong has had some extra money left every year. At first one might have no idea why unicorn dancing teams from some apparently unrelated areas would be invited to come. 1. Yuen Long, well, it is reasonable to have a team from Yuen Long. Hoi Pui Tsuen is in Yuen Long, 2. Shatin, it is quite the other part of the Territory, and 3. Sai Kung, it is obviously very far away. Later, I was enlightened by being told that they were from the same instructor, Master So. The unicorn dancing team from Sai Kung was particularly able to draw one's attention - it was known as Pak Kei Lun (Northern unicorn), which was black, as different from the unicorns commonly seen in Hong Kong, which were bright and colourful. The Pak Kei Lun had two small horns, which might, ironically, make it no longer qualified to be a unicorn, in a Western sense. The ordinary unicorn had five colour strips around the neck: red, yellow, blue, white and black, resembling the five directions: south, centre, east, west and north. Page 390 Page 391 ================================================================================