RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q
84

ELIZABETH L. JOHNSON

or keening done at weddings and funerals. They did little, if any, embroidery, home weaving of fabrics, or sewing: this work was generally done by specialists. The main reason for this very limited development of textile arts was, in addition to the prevailing poverty of the area, the fact that all younger women were engaged in heavy labour outside the home. While most of the housework and child-care was managed by elderly women, the younger women did most, if not all, of the agricultural work, and in addition often did heavy carrying work for wages. Many of the men were away for extended periods of time, working either in the urban areas of Hong Kong or abroad; some had local businesses, and others did not work at all. As a result, in many families, women had primary responsibility for subsistence agriculture, bearing an extremely heavy burden of work. The following is the daily work schedule 25 years ago of a woman now 55 years old, a schedule which was repeated in basic outline by many other informants.

“I got up at 5:00 and fed the baby

then I made a fire and boiled water and put rice porridge on to cook

then at 6:00 I went to carry water, making four trips to the well

then I went to the fields to water the vegetables

I cut the vegetables and took them to market

I used the money to buy food and returned home

at 8:30 we had breakfast of rice porridge

then I went to the Texaco oil company to carry kerosene

at 12:30 I came home for lunch

I worked again from 1:00 to 5:00 carrying kerosene

when I got home I cleaned the pig pen

then I went to work again in the fields

in winter I returned home at 7:00, in summer at 8:00

after dinner I bathed the children

then I carried several loads of firewood

then I prepared food for the pigs

I fed the baby and went to sleep at 11:00”

This woman had eight children. Such a daily schedule left her little time for any other pursuits. According to another woman, now 80 years old:

“When I was eight or ten years old I began to cut grass and carry firewood. I went with a group of girls, never alone. I was married when I was sixteen. After my marriage I had to work.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q
"PATTERNED BANDS" IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG

85

cut grass for fuel, carried firewood, and farmed. The housework and cooking were done by my mother-in-law, who also helped me in the fields. After she died, I took over all the responsibilities myself. No men helped me with the farm work, and we did not have the money to hire labourers. I did the plowing myself, even with a baby on my back. I cut grass and sold the grass and vegetables. I worked and struggled hard. I also worked for the Texaco company carrying steel and kerosene. In the evenings I wove patterned bands. I could weave one in two or three nights, but I never had time during the day.

Other women stated that they had worked at weaving patterned bands in the evenings when they had time, during bad weather and the agricultural slack season, and at festivals.

Girls learned to weave the bands while in their teens. They were taught by their mothers or by other village women. They wove bands for their own use, as well as for those friends and lineage sisters who were unable to learn the complex technique. They were sometimes even woven for sale.

The technique of weaving patterned bands is complex and difficult to learn, although the loom itself is extremely simple, with no frame. It would not doubt take some years for girls to learn well, when they were doing other work in addition. Those who became good weavers were able to imitate patterns on sight, and to devise their own patterns.

The bands are woven on a simple backstrap loom: see Plate 1.* The warp is a continuous circle, one end of which passes over the corner of an ordinary square wooden stool, the other end being fastened to a belt which is tied around the weaver's waist. The warp is held taut by the distance which she sits from the stool, on another stool. The weaver prepares the warp by winding a series of circles, half the length of a finished band in diameter, between a finger of her left hand and the corner of the stool, holding the thread taut at all times. If the warp is to have, for example, red even threads () and white odd threads (*), she carefully winds nine pairs of red circles, then ties white thread to the end of the red and winds nine pairs of white circles. If the edges (i) of the band are to be narrow stripes of different colours, she might then wind four pairs each of red, yellow, and green. After tying the ends of the threads so that a continuous circle is formed, she then inserts

* Plates 1 - 14 illustrate this article.
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299
20

enough, it was to be remembered and duly acknowledged long after. A contemporary example from the Tsuen Wan villages may be used to exemplify these continuing obligations.

The endeavours of one of my Tsuen Wan village friends to recognize and continue to honour help given to his family in the distant past is a striking example of the kind. The founding ancestor of his clan had settled in a small village outside Tsuen Wan in 1724; but as sometimes happened in the local settlements the family did not prosper, and for three or four generations just managed to produce enough adult males to survive. A crisis ensued when the only adult male in one of the later generations died when still a young man, leaving behind a pregnant wife. By great good fortune, a family from another of the clans living in the village took pity on her; and after she gave birth to a boy who was reared to adulthood the future of my friend's family was again secured. This happened around 150 years ago. The descendants of this other family died out or went away pre-war never to return. When part of the village burial area was needed for development in the 1970s, my friend approached the District Office for a resiting of one of the old graves of the other clan. He was not applying for cash compensation as he was willing to pay all the expenses, but he did want another site in order to express, in tangible form, his family's continuing gratitude for the kindness done to the young widow so long ago. This was provided.

Another instance of a similar kind involved the old grave of a husband and wife, dated to 1813, which had to be removed for development at Sam Pak Tsin, Texaco Road, Tsuen Wan about 1975. Elders from another lineage belonging to Hoi Pa Village had responded to our notices posted on site, stating their obligation to arrange for removal and reburial of the remains. They said that the link with the persons buried in the grave was through the female side of their family but was no longer known clearly to even its oldest living members.40

In another, even older expression of gratitude for past assistance, the Ho clan of Muk Min Ha Old Village (settled in 1712) had built a special hall next to their main ancestral temple to honour a man of another surname who had helped their founding ancestor. One of this man's daughters had married the newcomer, and land had been given which enabled him to make a good start in a new place. The donor's clan still lives in one of the hill villages of the District. When Muk
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RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992
https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x
174

to indigenous status, though now living in multi-storey apartment blocks following an earlier removal from their village. The grave was in thick bushes and clearly had not been visited at the two grave-worshipping festivals for a very long time. The elder confirmed this, but added that the fung-shui had turned bad.2

Where adverse influences were detected by experts, stones were placed at the grave, so as to block off the tablet. An instance of blocking-off is given in one of the files. It comes from Northeast Lantau. The grave belonged to a family from Tai Lam Chung on the mainland. A branch had also been settled for a hundred years at Tai Pang Po, Lantau, where this particular grave was located, on account of the good stake-net fishing there. The land officer provided a photograph of the grave. He reported that it was some 60-70 years old, but added, "The inscription cannot be seen as the tombstone is covered by small rocks, because of poor fung-shui." The claimant told him there were four burial urns inside the grave, and gave the names of the persons whose remains were interred there." In another case, also seen on Northeast Lantau, the names of the deceased had been deliberately chipped off the tablet.

Obligations Outside The Family

When it came to securing the removal of old graves, we found that the obligations to take up and rebury could sometimes ramify beyond the clan concerned. I had several cases of this kind when serving in Tsuen Wan. In another instance, the link was not so direct or as clear, but it was just as well-established as an obligation in the minds of those involved. The case involved an old grave, required to be removed for further development at Sam Pak Tsin, Texaco Road, Tsuen Wan. Since it had been repaired in 1813, it assuredly dated from the 18th century. Moreover, the grave tablet referred to the earlier burial of the remains of the husband and wife at other places, one of them at Kwai Chung. A lineage of a different surname, belonging to Hoi Pa Village, had responded to our notices posted on site, and came forward to state its obligation to arrange for removal and reburial of the remains. This was not simply a matter of taking compensation (if we were satisfied with the claim) as the reburial would involve the family in much trouble and expense. Such cases were not encountered frequently. Elders of this lineage (and the village representative who also belonged to it) said that the link with the persons buried in the grave was through the female side of their family but was no longer known clearly to even its oldest living members. Whatever it was,
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