RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1972 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/gm80qf99h TRADITIONAL CHINESE REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE BIBLIOGRAPHY 145 Bulletin of the Society for Research in Chinese Architecture. V, 1. Chinese Architecture: A Simple History. Volume 1: The Old Architecture of China: A Simple History. China Industrial Publishing Company, 1963. Boyd, Andrew. Chinese Architecture and Town Planning (1500 B.C. · A.D. 1911). London, 1962. Cressey, George Babcock. China's Geographic Foundations: A Survey of the Land and Its People, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1934. Freedman, Maurice. Chinese Lineage and Society: Fukien and Kwangtung. New York: Humanities Press, Inc., 1966. Gutkind, E. A. Revolution of Environment. London: Broadway House, 1946. Hsieh, Ting-yu and Kuo, Ch'ang-ch'eng. The Hakka Chinese-Their Origin and Folk Songs. San Francisco: Jade Mountain Press, 1969. Kulp, Daniel H. Country Life in South China: The Society of Familism. Volume 1: Phenix Village, Kwangtung, China, New York: 1925, Liu Tun-chen. A General Discussion of Chinese Houses. (PAREMM). People's Republic of China: Architectural Engineering Publishing Company, 1957. Penn, Colin. "Chinese Vernacular Architecture." Royal Institute of British Architects. October, 1965. Skinner, William. "Chinese Domestic Architecture." Review of Liu Tun-chen, A Short Study of the Chinese House. Royal Institute of British Architects. November, 1957. Smith, Arthur H. Village Life in China: A Study in Sociology. Fleming H. Revell, Co., 1899. Ta Chen, Emigrant Communities in South China: A Study of Overseas Migration and Its Influence on Standards of Living and Social Change. New York: 1940. Tregear, T. R. A Geography of China. London: University of London Press, 1965. Wong Chung Hong. "Walled and Moated-A Hong Kong Village." Arts of Asia. Vol. I, No. 4, July-August 1971. Wu, Nelson I. Chinese and Indian Architecture. New York: George Braziller, 1967. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 116 C. MARTIN WILBUR Much of the urgency for a thorough study of the historical form of village government rests upon the fact that in the near future changes are certain to come. In some cases the trend is already evident. This metamorphosis, which at present is only starting, the writer had planned to make the subject of a special chapter. For lack of enough reliable information, however, this plan had to be abandoned. Instead, those facts which could be ascertained have been incorporated into the body of the first four chapters and plainly indicated. The final chapter of this essay deals, in a general way, with the historical evolution of village government in China.1 In this section the writer has merely attempted to plot the course of this social institution throughout the history of the developing race. Even this preparatory and inadequate survey of a single institution indicates how fruitful a field for research the social history of the Chinese people might be. The appendix includes a bibliography of those Western sources which have been found useful in this study, and a bibliography of recent investigations into rural condition written in Chinese. For this latter the author is indebted to Mr. T. L. Yuan, acting director of the National Library of Peiping. (Chapter 1) THE FAMILY The basic nature of the traditional family system to all social and political institutions in China has often been pointed out. It should be emphasized that in this chapter only those elements of the family system which seem most to have influenced, if not indeed produced, the Chinese mode of village government will be examined. No attempt is made at a complete analysis.2 In connection with this description two important cultural phenomena will be considered, namely, mutual responsibility and the filial piety-ancestor worship pattern. These phenomena form a psychological background both for the family system and for village government, reinforcing and being reinforced by them. 1 Not printed here * For a fairly complete, if not thoroughly critical study of the family system in China see Su, Sing Ging; The Chinese Family System, which also has a good bibliography of Chinese and Western sources. The work which was of most value for this paper is Kulp's Country Life in South China, Vol. I: Phenix Village, which is a survey of actual conditions. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933 from the right to own property. 119 A recognition of these evils by modern, educated Chinese has led to a vigorous and disruptive attack upon the whole traditional system. Sun Yat-sen recognized these evils, and the new civil code of the Republic aims to break the grip of the family system by altering its legal basis.1 II An interesting outcome of this family unity is the theory of mutual responsibility. This theory is of the utmost importance both in family life and in village government, of which it is a cornerstone in legal theory and in practice. The family is collectively and directly responsible for the crimes of each member. Indeed, one of the postulates of Chinese law seems to have been this principle.2 Under the Ch'ing dynasty punishment for the crimes committed by an individual might sometimes be visited upon any or all the members of his family, even to the extent of death for the whole group in serious cases.3 In customary practice this phenomenon of mutual responsibility is very active. The deeds of each member of the family are the intimate concern of all. Strong pressure will be brought to bear upon an individual to prevent or to correct breaches which might impair the reputation of the family or entangle it in quarrels and law suits. Kulp, in his study of Familism in South China, finds that all offenses except failure to pay taxes are in reality against the family, and are subject to judgment in the first place by the family and its leaders. The extreme inquisitiveness of the typical Chinese villager is but one aspect of this feeling of responsibility for all that 1 China. National Government; The Civil Code of the Republic of China. Vol. II, p. vii. For particular examples see below p. 14, 15. 2 On this point see: Alabaster, Ernest; Notes and Commentaries on Chinese Criminal Law, p. lxx-lxxii, 151, 152, 193-196. On the evils of mutual responsibility, from the legal point of view, ibid., p. lxxi-lxxii, 3 Ta Ch'ing Lu Li, (****), (Sixth Division: Criminal Law, Book I, Sec. 254) translated by Staunton, George T.; Ta Tsing Leu Lee, Being the Fundamental Laws, and a Selection from the Supplementary Statutes of the Penal Code of China, p. 269-270. See also: Alabaster; op. cit., p. lxvi, 466-467; Boulais, Guy; Manuel du Code Chinois, p. 464-466. 4 Kulp, Daniel Harrison; Country Life in South China, Vol. I: Phenix Village, p. XXVIII. (This work will hereafter be referred to as Phenix Village.) Page 135 Page 136 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 126 C. MARTIN WILBUR (Chapter 2) GOVERNMENT BY THE CLAN In some sections of China, government of the village is in every sense completely clan government. This is especially true in South China, where Phenix village, studied by Kulp, is a typical example. Even in North China, where the multiple-clan form of village is extensive, government is based to a large extent upon the clan system and makes great use of the machinery of clan administration. Government by the clan, moreover, is the earlier and the less advanced form. Therefore it will not be amiss to consider the organization of clan government first, and then advance, in the next two chapters, to a study of the multiple-clan village. I The whole life of the single-clan village is marked by a definite familistic outlook. Kulp's definition of familism indicates just how all inclusive and how powerful a factor this psychological trait is. Familism is a social system wherein all behavior, all standards, ideals, attitudes and values arise from, center in, or aim at the welfare of those bound together by the blood nexus fundamentally. The family is therein the basis of reference, the criterion for all judgments. Whatever is good for the family, however that good is conceived, is approved and developed; whatever is inimical to the interests of the family, however they are formulated, is taboo and prohibited.1 The village clan is the largest unit in which this familistic outlook has complete dominance. And although within this unit there is a strong clan consciousness, or esprit de corps, which binds the individual members very closely and leads to a highly developed particularism, at the same time there are several sorts of groupings within the clan. To a certain extent these have a disruptive effect upon the unity of the whole. The true picture of clan life is not seen until these smaller units are visualized. 1 Kulp, Phenix Village, p. XXIX. In writing this chapter the author has drawn heavily upon Kulp's study, for that work is specifically an investigation into clan life in China, and is by all odds the best work upon the subject in any Western language. But it would have been impossible to give credit in footnotes for every idea drawn from this source. The writer therefore takes this opportunity to express his indebtedness. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933 129 as a basis of authority and to facilitate administration. The value of this visual representation of status, linked with the most solemn religious ceremony, can thus readily be seen. The ancestral temple is the seat of clan government. An elder, who derives his position from his relation to the clan line, is usually the chief executive of the temple. He should be the eldest son of the oldest branch of the family. This requirement is conditioned by two other factors: age and ability. If the candidate in line is not aged, a member of the older generation in the clan,1 he cannot hope to command the respect from the whole clan which is necessary for true leadership. The weight of the filial piety attitude, with its emphasis upon respect for age, will be against him rather than in his favor. Likewise, unless his ability is recognized, it is difficult for him to succeed to the position. This ability may have been shown as an arbitrator and peace talker, or by clever administration of family property. Thus wealth might, and often does bring the necessary respect. Education is strongly in an individual's favor, for the educated members of the kin-group are always respected almost as oracles of wisdom. Negatively, if the aspirant is known to be a rascal, or grossly ignorant or incompetent, he will be unable to take or hold a position of elder in his clan. Thus, while the position is definitely and legally fixed in customary law, at the same time this legal basis can be modified in practice whenever it is necessary. This is quite natural, for in the final analysis the incumbency rests upon popular approval, the very office itself, with all its properties, being an attribute of a rural customary society. The term of office is likely to be indefinite, lasting as long as the incumbent continues to command the respect and approval which brought him his position. But local customs differ, and his position may be fixed for a certain number of years only, or until a definite age limit is reached.2 In some cases, indeed, there may be no one particular individual who is recognized head of the clan except at times of worship when one person performs the ceremonies. 1 This is no mere redundancy. It might very conceivably occur that the eldest son of the oldest branch would be a young man, and not at all a member of the older generation in the clan. The difference is between absolute status and age. 2 In Phenix village the age limit for responsibility is seventy years. Kulp; op. cit., p. 108. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933 133 Whenever possible, therefore, lesser criminal cases are tried by the clan leaders, although this is probably not legal. Major crimes, or those which are too flagrant to conceal, go to the magistral court for trial. The controlling principle which operates in all judicial decisions made by the leaders, as reported by Kulp for Phenix village, and probably typical, is to treat all parties as though they were members of the natural or economic family. Leaders have been known, in announcing the judgment against an offender, to shed tears of sympathy, at the same time trying to console the offended party by a demonstration of affection!1 IV We see, then, that the clan is a unit of government by itself, quite capable of handling most administrative or judicial problems. This is because the whole orientation of the individual members is familistic, and the whole machinery of government is familistic likewise. The chief operating principle is to integrate responsibility through the heads of smaller moieties within the clan. By building from a combination of smaller units through the larger religious families, the final apex is reached in the heads of the clan. In a village composed of more than one clan, the kin group itself becomes a unit in the larger village government. It is this sort of organization, with its basis in clan government, that is to be considered in the next chapter. (Chapter 3) THE VILLAGE INTERNALLY (Chapter 3) THE VILLAGE INTERNALLY In the following discussion, there is being supposed a village composed of more than one clan, as this represents a civic as well as familistic unit. This is a type of organization quite common in North China. Civism is superimposed on familism, however, and this fact colors the whole case. The diversity of actual situations in village life is as much due to this imposition of one type of organization... 1 Kulp, op. cit., p. 322. 2 Taylor, J. B.; The Study of Chinese Rural Economy, p. 13, found that of 123 villages in North and Central China studied from this point of view, only two were composed of families all having the same surname. However, these figures are not entirely applicable as they specifically represent villages in which there have been migrations due to famine or warfare. Directly applicable statistics could not be found. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 134 C. MARTIN WILBUR ization upon an earlier, and in some ways disparate form, as it is due to sectionalism and isolation. For the whole range between absolute familism, as found in some sections of South China, and the civism which exists in an arrested state in North China is possible by this process of development. I The causes for the continuation of clan life as the dominant form in South and Southwest China, and for the replacement of this type of organization by civism in the North are of interest, and indicate something of the nature of the latter form. In the first place, it should not be supposed that the “Chinese" peoples inhabited all or even a large part of modern China during their whole history, nor even that the Chinese type of civilization covered the territory during much of it. Li Chi has archaeologically and anthropologically established the fact, already known by historians, that Southern China was only slowly populated and sinicized by the Chinese through a long period of infiltration and migration.1 These migrations to the South seem to have been frequently of the clan sort, or at least to have occurred during periods when clan life was more extensive in the North than at present. The new situation was one calculated to further clan life amongst the Chinese settlers. They found themselves among hostile but culturally inferior peoples, circumstances which strongly reinforced the "we-group" attitude and resulted in a self-imposed segregation, and a continuation of clan life, at least in rural districts. At the same time clan life was also the system amongst the earlier "natives" of South China, and this continued among them, perhaps in modified form, while they were assuming distinctly Chinese cultural traits. In North China the situation is not the same. Aside from the fact that this section has much longer been the home of the Chinese, which seems to correlate with the slow breakdown of clan life, at 1 He shows that a Southeastward movement was the dominant current of migration up to the end of the Sung dynasty (1280) and especially strong between Chin and Sui (265-618) inclusive, and again from the beginning of the Five Dynasties to the end of the Sung (906-1280). The Southwestward movement was the dominant one during the Yüan and Ming dynasties (1280-1644). Li Chi; The Formation of the Chinese People, passim, specifically, p. 165. 2 Phenix village is exactly this sort of a community. Kulp, Daniel H.; Phenix Village, Chap. III passim. Page 150 Page 151 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933 139 venue. As with the ancestral halls, described above, the village temple usually owns some farm land which is rented out at a profit. Village markets, held in the temple courtyard, form a source of revenue, since all outsiders must rent stalls. Revenue comes into the temple also from small contributions of the superstitious folk, who visit it to seek some benefit from the presiding deity. Much of the village budget is made up, however, of self-imposed taxes (Hui Ch'ien), and voluntary contributions solicited from the wealthy members, usually for some specific civic betterment. In theory, under the Manchu dynasty, certain sums were supposed to be returned to the village from their general government taxes for the purposes of education, as set down in the Ta Ch'ing Hui Tien (...), but these seldom, if ever, did find their way back. An annual festival in honor of the patron of the temple is the chief social event in most villages in China. The responsibility for the management of this normally falls upon the temple council. Theatricals, side shows, and feasting mark these occasions. The religious side of the carnival has largely disappeared; usually, it is merely a grand social period, a time of relaxation and merry-making for young and old. Interrupting the normally dull routine of village life, it is of some psychological importance as a social safety valve. The duty of properly policing the village is also the charge of the temple council (when it is not handled by the Ti-pao). Every household is expected to supply a man for a certain number of nights a year, but more usually, a contribution of money is given to pay for the service by regularly employed individuals. Civic duties such as lighting dangerous corners and repairing walls, roads, canals, and boat landings, when these are ever done, are the responsibility of the village temple. The main task in this connection may be the solicitation of funds from door to door. Such charitable duties as supplying free medicine, burial, food, and clothing, when not taken care of by the clan, are the concern of the temple council, as is the supplying of educational facilities when these are lacking. In short, all financial and administrative matters which concern the village as a whole, rather than any individual group, are handled by the village temple. As Kulp reports for Phenix village, "Gene- 1 Ibid., p. 65. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 140 C. MARTIN WILBUR rally, the uses of these funds from public property are not ceremonial but practical, in that they contribute to the maintenance of the village and its growth in material equipment and in prestige.” The village elders, as differentiated from the council of the village temple, are responsible for the morals and morale of the villages as a whole. This responsibility falls upon them both from the fact that their position is the culmination of a familist type of social organization, and because the government higher up holds them responsible. They maintain the "face" of the village, and they jealously guard the traditional way of doing things, the traditional virtue. In this sense they are the most conservative force in village life today. In village judicial matters the elders act as a court of appeal when quarrels or crimes cannot be settled within the various kin groups, or when trouble arises involving members of more than one group. Although they lack official judiciary power, and outside their kin groups have no familist jurisdiction, they do derive authority from one important factor: they are the last court of appeal; beyond them is the official court of the magistrate. Every Chinese villager has a healthy fear of the official courts, and counts himself lucky never to see the inside of one. This fear is a very deep-rooted one, and has been encouraged by the government even officially.2 Without wishing to reinforce the accepted Western view of Chinese 1 Kulp; op. cit., p. 124. Phenix village is really of the single clan rather than the multiple clan sort, but in this case the distinction does not matter. + 2 A lively quotation from Huc illustrates this point, and is worth giving in full. Edict of Emperor "Tchang-hi": "The Emperor, considering the immense population of the Empire, the great division of territorial property, and the notoriously law-loving character of the Chinese, is of the opinion that law-suits would tend to increase, to a frightful amount, if people were not afraid of the tribunals, and if they felt confident of always finding in them ready and perfect justice. ..I desire, therefore, that those who have recourse to the tribunals should be treated without any pity, and in such a manner that they shall be disgusted with law, and tremble to appear before a magistrate. In this manner the evil will be cut up by the roots; the good citizens, who may have difficulties among themselves, will settle them like brothers, by referring to the arbitration of some old man, or the mayor of the commune. As for those who are troublesome, obstinate, and quarrelsome, let them be ruined in the law-courts that is the justice that is due them." Huc, M.; The Chinese Empire, vol. I, p. 105-106. "Tchang-h" is given "Khang-hi" in the original French and therefore certainly represents K'ang Hsi (1662-1723). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 146 C. MARTIN WILBUR to such matters as the dates for village fairs, the mutual protection of crops, and the like. The elders of the village are largely responsible for inter-village relations. One of their primary duties is to uphold the "face" of the village in its district. Many village improvements find their origin almost entirely in this desire to outshine neighboring villages in material ways. Temples which cannot be afforded and markets which are not needed are often constructed in a spirit of rivalry. Likewise "face" affords an impetus to scholarship, every village being extremely proud of its learned men, and their achievements. Indeed, in Phenix village the progress of the students of the village, even when they are away in middle school or college, is the solicitous concern of the whole group.1 Whenever a member or group in a village becomes involved with another village or members of it, the matter is thought to be the concern of the village elders. Every contact is a potential conflict, and the responsibility for such disturbances will fall upon the heads of the leaders. For this reason, quarrels, law suits or sales of property which involve outsiders come under the supervision of the elders of both groups. This system has the advantage of decreasing the number of situations which would of necessity go to the magistral courts, lacking any other machinery for settlement. The village elders are in some degree responsible for the behavior of members of their village even when these folk are in town, or in a neighboring village. If trouble arises during such an occasion, the offending member may be punished by the village court, while redress will be made through the agency of the respective village temples. In the same way, strangers in a village, if they happen to be ill-treated by the natives, may go to the temple and demand satisfaction. Thus it will be seen that in a wider range of relationships than the village itself, but still through the familistic, customary and traditional methods, government entirely divorced from the central system is maintained. II The relations between the village and the central government are normally very slight. The two primary interests of the government 1 Kulp, Daniel H.; Phenix Village, p. 125. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 VILLAGE GOVERNMENT IN CHINA, 1933 167 Huc, M.; The Chinese Empire: Forming a Sequel to the Work Entitled "Recollections of a Journey Through Tartary and Tibet". 2nd ed., 2 vols.; London, Longman, 1855. Huc, M.; L'Empire Chinois: Faisant Suite à L'Ouvrage Intitulé "Souvenirs d'un Voyage dans la Tartarie et le Thibet". 2nd ed., 2 vols.; Paris, Gaume Frères, 1855. Hummel, Arthur W.; "The Case Against Force in Chinese Philosophy" (Chinese Social and Political Science Review, vol. 9, 1925, p. 334-350). Jamieson, G.; Chinese Family and Commercial Law. Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1921. Kulp, Daniel H.; Country Life in South China: The Sociology of Familism. Vol. 1: Phenix Village, Kwantung, China. New York, Columbia, 1925. Lee, Mabel Ping-Hua; The Economic History of China, with Special Reference to Agriculture. New York, Columbia, 1921. Leong, Y.K., and Tao, L.K.; Village and Town Life in China. London, Allen and Unwin, 1915. Li, Chi; The Formation of the Chinese People; an Anthropological Inquiry. Cambridge, Harvard, 1928. Mallory, Walter H.; China: Land of Famine. New York, American Geographical Society, 1926. (American Geographical Society, Special Publication no. 6.) Malone, C.B., and Tayler, J.B.; The Study of Chinese Rural Economy. Peking, China International Famine Relief Commission, Series B, no. 10, 1924. (Reprinted from: Chinese Social and Political Science Review, vol. 7, no. 4, 1923, p. 88-101; and vol. 8, no. 1, 1924, p. 196-226.) Martin, W.A.P.; "The Worship of Ancestors a Plea for Toleration" (Records of the General Conference of the Protestant Missionaries of China. 1890. Shanghai, American Presbyterian Mission Press, 1890. p. 619-631). Maspero, Henri; La Chine Antique. Paris, Boccard, 1927. Maspero, Henri; "La Vie Privée en Chine à l'Epoque des Han." (Revue des Arts Asiatiques, vol. 7, 1931-1932, p. 185-201). Maybon, B.; Essai sur les Associations en Chine. Paris, Plon-Nourrit et Cie, 1925. Meadows, Thomas T.; Desultory Notes on the Government and People of China. London, Allen, 1847. Morse, Hosea B.; The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire. Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1908. Shryock, John; The Temples of Anking and Their Cults: a Study of Modern Chinese Religion. Paris, Geuthner, 1931. Smith, Arthur H.; Village Life in China; a Study in Sociology. New York, Revel, 1898. Staunton, George T. (translator); Ta Tsing Leu Lee, Being the Fundamental Laws, and a Selection from the Supplementary Statutes of the Penal Code of China. London, Cadell and Davies, 1810. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 172 BOOK LISTS Mr. Leung's book lists those produced mainly in Canton and Fatshan (Fo-shan), but I have recently purchased another type of wood-block mu yu shue published in the Chiu-chau prefectural city, seemingly in late Ch'ing times and after. The covers give place of publication as Chiu-shing (M) by the 王生記, 財利堂, 吳瑞文堂 and 李萬利 publishing firms. Perhaps these were the ones referred to by D. H. Kulp, Country Life in China: The Sociology of Familism; Volume I, Phenix Village Kwangtung, China (New York, Columbia Teachers' College, Columbia University, 1925): Judging by my local collecting, they are rarely found in Hong Kong. (j) Popular poetry I have not collected old editions from Ch'ing and Republican times, but have seen many, even from the former period, usually with a Canton or Fatshan imprint. They were frequently "borrowings" of compilations made by scholars from the Yangtse area and North China, for such works were seemingly universally in demand. No list. (k) Novels and stories This was not a main area for collecting, and the few works listed here are mainly for the purpose of illustrating the genre than for serious bibliographic attention. I have, in truth, seen many more titles. (l) Morality books Here again, I have not really attempted to collect such material, but only to provide a few titles on temple deities to accompany the text in Section A. But I can state that there is a great deal of it around, and that some can usually be found whenever a merchant's business and miscellaneous papers come onto the market, along with the account books and correspondence relating to his shop or firm. (m) Newspapers I have only mentioned them in the text because they seem to have been part of the stock of written materials available in rural areas of the Hong Kong Region before 1911, even if only casually and occasionally, which was ================================================================================