RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r
152

NOTES AND QUERIES

cannons still point to the sea. The inscription on two of these both on the eastern wing, is relatively clear. The words on the easternmost one show that the cannon was cast in the eighth moon of the fourteenth year of the reign of Chia Ching (1809), serial number Ching 80, weighing 1,000 catties (1,333 lbs.) and was cast by the master of the Man Shing Furnace. The second cannon was cast by order of the Fat Shan Magistrate in the tenth moon of the twenty-first year of the reign of Tao Kuang (1841) by Craftsmen Lee, Chan and Fok. The two dates are rather interesting. It can be imagined that the first cannon was transferred from the Fort at Nan Fau when the fort was first built and the second was cast in Fat Shan specifically for this Tung Chung Fort when Viceroy Lin wished to strengthen coastal fortification as he feared that Captain Elliot might attack the coastal areas of Kwangtung. Two of the cannons on the western side have shapes distinctly foreign to the Chinese, and they are more subjected to weathering than the others. As these rather remind the observer of those kept in the Raffles National Museum and the Malacca Museum, it is possible that these pieces might have been captured from the Portuguese or might have been cast with their help earlier on.

The granite slabs used for building the fort are foreign to the valley. They might have come from Chek Lap Kok Island across the Bay or might even have been brought in from T'un Mun (Castle Peak). There are many of these slabs lying about the fort and some have found their way to becoming part of a rural house. Recent site preparation for an extension of the school building revealed a tiled floor below the present ground level. Had some sort of a garrison been maintained throughout the dynasties? Is the present form of the fort a result of several expansions in the nineteenth century? Were there originally more cannons mounted on the battlements? Where are the sites of the other constructions mentioned in the Annals? The answers to these questions would be of great value in establishing the important role played by Lantau in the history of the region.

LOAN-WORDS IN THE CHINESE LANGUAGE

A gap in our knowledge which I suggest should be filled would be to establish the date of the introduction into China of
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241
162 

S. F. BALFOUR 

before it reached the coast line the Tang clan acquired considerable influence all over the semi-independent regions of South-east Kwangtung. They became feudal overlords of the populations and, as long as they could, helped to govern the territories they controlled for the Sung Emperors. When the Sungs were finally overcome and the Tartars reached the coast, their rôle became more that of farmers concerned in opening new areas to cultivation. They were pressed more closely into our region, and their political influence declined, although their cultural influence, absorbing as it did all the aboriginal elements and changing them into the Chinese mould, was potent and lasting.

The only source of the accounts of the Tang migration is in the family genealogy which was compiled in the Ming dynasty. It is based on authentic family records and although it contradicts itself in certain particulars, especially in dates, it must be regarded as an exact account. According to this genealogy the first ancestor of the local branch was Tang Han Fei who held an official post under the Sung dynasty in Kiangsi province. A preface to the genealogy says that he visited Kwangtung province but admits that it is not clear whether he reached this region or not. His great grandson Tang Fu Hsieh is considered the founder of the local branch. This man was a scholar who passed the public examination either in A.D. 1069 or 985 according to different versions. He, too, held an official post in Kiangsi and on retirement settled at Kam T'in, a fertile area north of the T'un Mun Valley. He brought from Kiangsi the bones of his forefathers which were buried in selected sites. The graves still exist and are particularly venerated by the Tangs.

It was Tang Fu Hsieh who carved the inscription which commemorates Han Yü on the summit of Mount Tun Mun and he also founded a school and a library at Kam T'in. His sons and his grandsons, however, did not stay there. They migrated further north into Tung Kun district where they founded houses which exist to this day. Owing to the presence of the family tombs, Kam T'in remained the property of the family and was probably visited every year, although they did not actually reside there. Three generations after Tang Fu Hsieh, five of his descendants, known as the "five Yuans" from their first names, made a division of the whole family properties which by then extended all over
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n
J 

78 

J. T. KAMM 

It is interesting to note that each of the five great clans (§ Tang (鄧), Hau (侯), Pang (彭), Liu (廖), and Man (文) — are represented on the schedule.30 Of these, the Tangs clearly have the greatest share. Another point, which is less obvious from the scanty data presented above, is that the taxlords only chose land within the boundaries of the tung itself, even though plots existed in Un Long Tung considerably closer, and hence easier to manage, than the plots chosen. This seemingly minor point leads us into an examination of the political and economic foundations of the tung. 

The standard "primary source" on the nature of tung is Lockhart's description of “Local Government in the Villages" contained in his report on the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong.31 On the basis of this report, which heavily stresses the judicial functions performed by the chu (Cantonese: Kuk) which oversee the tung, Acting Governor Black recommended the appointment of “a commissioner or a Resident, possessing knowledge of the Chinese” who "should govern somewhat in the present Chinese system, i.e., the village elders to rule the villages, which grouped according to topographical limits, form a tung having a council composed of representatives from the village elders."32 

Considerable confusion exists over the precise nature of tung and chu. Lockhart clearly overestimated the political-judicial power of the Tung Ping Kuk (東平局), a mistake which would have proven costly had not the British possessed superior firepower in the Pat Heung Valley. Having won the support of this chu, Lockhart believed that the gentry of the various “divisions” would follow suit. He was to discover later that the gentry of Un Long Tung had convened another chu, the Tai Ping Kung Kuk (太平公局) which financed, and to some extent coordinated, the local revolt; in so doing, they effectively dismantled the Tung Ping Kuk by summoning Tung-Kuan clansmen to occupy Sham Chun.33 

In most of the counties of the Kwangchow Prefecture, chu formed the basis of local self-government throughout the troubled nineteenth century. One of the best descriptions of these organizations is to be found in Kang Yu-wei (康有為)'s chapter on self-government.... "taxlord claims," but, since the inhabitants could not produce title to the land, the Tangs were recognized as "chief landlords." CSO8551 in 1903. One taxlord was recognized in Sha Tau Kok (Li Tung-chung) and one on Lantao (Wong Kwok-shi). Little is known concerning these cases, except that the latter status was granted out of compassion.
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