RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f CHINA'S 35 MILLION NON-CHINESE 69 Table II lists the numbers of people in each ethnic group distributed by provinces in south and central China. In brief, the T'ai-related groups lead with some 10 million people at present. They are followed by the Tibeto-Burman related group with some 8.4 million, followed by the Miao-Yao related group with about 3.4 million. The greatest concentration of minorities in any one group is among the Chuang in the Tai group. The Chuang live in a compact body numbering some seven million in Kwangsi. The Miao, however, are the most widely distributed of all ethnic groups, being found in significant numbers in every province of south and central China except Kiangsi, although their chief strength is in Kweichow. Yunnan, by all odds, is the most complex province ethnically. Of the 30 national minorities listed by the Census for 1953, some twenty-four are found in Yunnan. This Census apparently may need considerable revision when the minorities are scrutinized more closely. Thus, it listed only 90,000 so-called T'u-chia, which was proclaimed to be a newly discovered ethnic group hitherto confused with Han Chinese and Miao because of their degrees of acculturation. A personal check by Fang Jen revealed over 300,000, and a still more detailed check in subsequent years disclosed that actually these were 549,000 that should be so classified and, from their original cultural traits, they belonged in the Yi-related group. They occupy an area in northwest Hunan. 44 The Yi comprise so many sub-groups under different names (there are 40 sub-tribes in Yunnan alone) that confusion is understandable. In northwest Yunnan such sub-groups of the Yi as the Na-khi or Na-hsi and Li-su live in the region between the great bends of the Chin-sha river and the Burma border. In the western part of this region are the Nu, Tu-lung, and Ching-p'o, occupying parts of the Salween and Mekong drainage of north Yunnan. Farther south in the drainages of these rivers are the related La-hu and A-ch'ang. The Pai people, in a solid bloc on the plain of Erh Hai (Lake Erh), have been thought by some writers, including this one, to be a T'ai-related people, but are listed by Bruk as a Yi sub-group. In the west bank region of the Red river of Yunnan are the sub-group known as the Han-yi. The Yi proper are scattered over the three southwestern provinces, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r NOTES AND QUERIES 151 evacuation (1662-1669). But it is certain that Tung Chung and Sha Lo Wan had a share in the incense trade which terminated with the evacuation. Wild incense trees can still be found but the art of making incense sticks has vanished. The ancestors of the people living in the valley may have migrated into the area from the north in 1669 but the area has been, until recently, notorious for occurrences of malaria which claimed heavy tolls. The entire population may have been completely wiped out several times, as the oldest of the families has a family history of no more than seven generations. Tung Chung came into the limelight again when Cheung Pao Tsai and his pirate band who had been using the bay as one of their bases to prey upon the coastal trade of the South China Sea, successfully repelled a Ching naval contingent after a ten-day battle in the Ping Chung Bay in the twelfth year of Chia Ching's reign (1807). The trouble was finally quelled in 1809 when Cheung Pao Tsai surrendered and his pirates were disbanded. 2 With the suppression of the pirates, trade flourished. The Viceroy at Canton petitioned the Ch'ing Government in 1817 saying that "Ta Yu Shan of San On District, an isolated island, is on the (trade) route of the ships of the "barbarians". Tung Chung and Tai O are the only places where these "barbarian" ships can anchor. A fort at Chi Yi Kok2 with a Captain(?) and soldiers from the Tai Pang Camp has been maintained but there is no garrison at Tung Chung. As the two places are very far apart, eight garrison houses should be built at the mouth of the Tung Chung Rivers and two batteries (the fort), seven garrison houses and one arsenal should be constructed on the foot of Shek Shee ShanJ. "6 The petition was accepted and the work was completed in the same year. Whether the work was carried out as requested by the Viceroy has still to be proved. However, the fort has been relatively well preserved and seven old 2 Fan Lau (), 24 miles from Tai O. 3 Nan Tau (南頭), Po On District, 15 miles to the north of Lantau. 4 The distance is 6 miles across the main watershed and about 9 miles along the coast. 5 The idea was to prevent the "barbarians" from drawing fresh water for their ships. 6 Kwangtung Annals (廣東通志), p. 2,530. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 16 JOHN J. NOLDE First of all, it is generally agreed that Imperial authority throughout the empire had begun to weaken during the latter years of the eighteenth century. After the era of the great Ch'ien-lung emperor, China was governed by two rather weak rulers. The sale of offices increased markedly in the latter part of the Chia-ching period and continued throughout that of Tao-kuang. Provincial authorities were being held in more and more contempt by the local populace and the gentry. We have, in short, a typical example of the setting in of a traditional dynastic decline. The mandate of heaven was running out for the Ch'ing Dynasty, and nowhere is this usually more apparent than in the outer reaches of the empire... the areas farthest from the Imperial center of power. Especially was this true in an area such as Kwangchou, with its linguistic, racial, and economic uniqueness. My guess is that Imperial control in Kwangchou had at best always been tenuous. Now it was almost non-existent, 17 Secondly, Kwangchou, during the 1820's and 1830's, suffered a series of severe natural calamities. In 1822 a disastrous fire swept Canton itself, doing incalculable damage. Beginning in the late 1820's catastrophic floods ravaged the area. In 1829 high tides "to a degree unprecedented in the memory of the oldest inhabitant", flooded the provincial city and swept away villages. Hundreds were drowned, and the rice crop was largely destroyed. An English-language journal reported that "the loss of property far exceeds the sum of that sustained at the great fire of 1822". The most serious of these disasters occurred during the summers of 1833 and 1834. Torrential rains raised the level of the rivers as much as ten feet above normal. Boats were reported navigating the streets of Canton. In July, 1833 10,000 lives were reported lost, 1,000 in the large town of Fushan alone. Most of the rice crop was lost in 1833 and the destruction of the mulberry-plantation-dykes in the southern part of Nan Hai Hsien resulted in the loss of the silk crop. The latter disaster would, of course, have long-range consequences. In September, 1833 the crew of the ship-wrecked vessel Bee, returning overland to Canton, reported "the greatest possible distress among the inhabitants and a destruction of property such as has not been witnessed for many years". The flood of 1834 was even worse and the loss of property and damage to the rice crop exceeded that of the previous ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 124 REV. MR. KRONE ward wheel-barrows, and the cost of carriage adds so much to the price at which goods must be sold to remunerate the trader, that the demand for them soon ceases. The inhabitants along the coast support themselves principally by fishing. Hundreds of old men, women, and children, may be seen on the extensive flats left by the receding tide, collecting the small fishes, crabs, and other animals which have been stranded; with these they season their rice. The able-bodied men are with their boats at sea. Many of these proceed to distant islands, and remain at sea for several months. Towards the end of the year they set sail for their native villages, and then all the bays and mouths of rivers teem with crowds of fishing-boats, which have returned that their crews may celebrate the New Year with their families. Pik-tow, Sha-tsing, Fuk-wing, Sai-heong, and Nam-tow, are the principal fishing stations. At Sha-tsing and Fuk-wing there are extensive oyster beds. Pik-tow, Kong-ping, and Fuk-wing †, are said to be the head-quarters of pirates. Sham-tsün is the chief place of export from the villages occupied by the Hak-kas, who are often met with in long trains, of from 400 to 600, conveying produce to that place. The northern part of the district is inhabited by populous and powerful clans, not unlike in their constitution to the old clans of Scotland; these live in intimate connection with one another for mutual protection. + The villages in the plain of San-keaou, are almost exclusively inhabited by four clans, Man, Mak, Tsang, and Chang. The villages inhabited by other clans are of no importance, and gradually either become absorbed in the more powerful clans, or are ruined by their hostility, and forced to remove to some other part of the country. For instance, the villagers of Hung-tiu changed their name, and adopted that of the powerful clan which inhabited San-keaou. This was done in order to extricate themselves from the endless feuds, which the aggressive conduct of their neighbours involved them in. The people are of a quarrelsome nature, and fond of rapine. They will engage in any enterprise which promises them money, or which will give them an opportunity of robbing. The mandarin at Fuk-wing once asked me why we attempted to carry out our missionary work, among a people so depraved ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g 154 NOTES AND QUERIES 1626 the Manchus were stopped in their tracks at Ning-yüan by the foreign artillery. But this setback was not to last very long. They saw the usefulness of these weapons and set about casting some themselves. These proved effective in the conquest of the northern frontier (1643-44) and in the years to follow as their armies plunged on down across both the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers to Kwangtung and Kweichow. Columbia University L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH NOTES 1 In this I have consulted Mr. C. N. Tay of the American Museum of Numismatics, New York City. 2 The inscription on the cannon is given below. This cannon was found lying on open ground in the Tsiu Keng sub-district in the northern part of the New Territories. It was reported by Mr. R. E. dos Remedios, Senior Land Assistant in the District Office, Taipo in August 1966. The cannon was completely exposed and must have been in this condition for a long time. It is not clear how it came to be there. * This cannon, which was mentioned in passing in the note on the Tung Chung Fort, at p. 148 of Vol. 4 of the Journal (1964), was dredged from the sea in 1956, either from Kowloon Bay in the course of work on the extension to Hong Kong airport or from Fat Tong Mun (otherwise called Joss House Bay) in the approaches to Hong Kong Harbour—sources differ. It is now mounted with a plaque in Chinese and English outside the Central Government Offices (East Wing), Hong Kong. It was heavier than the one recently discovered; 300 catties as compared with 300 catties. The Chinese inscription, which is much the same, is also given below. 4 An insight into the happenings of these troubled times is preserved in the family record of the Tsui (徐) clan formerly of Shek Pik on Lantau island, to which their ancestor had removed in the 16th Century. The family came from Mong Ngau Tun (望牛墩) in Tung Kwun district (東莞) where they had settled in the Sung dynasty from Kiangsi province. There was fighting in Tung Kwun against the Manchus after their success in the North. The record which gives no precise date for this occurrence, though it must have been within a few years of the change of dynasty in 1644 — reads — Sau Yeung-kap, a civil officer, and Li Shing-tung, a general, instigated an uprising against the new dynasty in Tung Kwun. As the revolt gathered momentum, oxen and horses were killed for food, and rice and corn became as expensive as pearls. For miles, one could see nothing animate; the fields were covered with dead bodies. In some places, human flesh was eaten by the starving people, and piles of human bones filled the ruined houses. A detachment of the Manchu army was sent to besiege the district city, then occupied by the rebels. In the conflict that ensued, human beings were massacred as though they were ants, and law-abiding people and bad characters alike were destroyed. Fortunately, our clansmen, then living at Mong Ngau Tun, escaped this calamity. However, many of our former neighbours and fellow-natives in Ming Ka Lane lost their lives and [as the record says in another place] all the dispensations of the previous dynasty were regarded as scrap paper. (I am grateful to Mr. Gilbert Louie for this translation. Ed) Readers will note that Li Shing-tung (Li Ch'eng-tung) is mentioned in Prof. LO Hsiang-lin's Additional Note where he is described as Governor of Kwangtung. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1970 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ww72j0241 HONG KONG BEFORE THE BRITISH 159 the conditions which reigned during that time were most undesirable. The text reads as follows; Memorandum presented to the High Commissioner on the harmful practice of pearl fishing:- "Wei Ying having seen that officials are being appointed to conduct the harmful practice of pearl fishing humbly presents his views on the subject for consideration. "In Kwangtung province, Tung Kun District, there is a place called Mei Chu Ch'i which is not recorded in any text except by the Cabinet Secretary Ch'an Chün in the Annals of the Sung dynasty, who stated that in the 5th year 5th moon of T'ai Tsu of Sung (A.D. 965) the military post at Mei Chuan was abolished. A footnote states that Liu Chang (Emperor of the Southern Han dynasty) recruited 3,000 persons from the coastal region to gather pearls under the military post named Mei Chuan and that every year a great number were drowned. On account of this it was abolished. "I note that when the false Emperor of the Southern Han dynasty, Liu Chen, usurped Kwangchow, the Sung Emperor in the 2nd moon of the 4th year of Hai Pao sent a general called Pan Mei and recaptured Kwangchow forcing Liu Chen to surrender, he then abolished the military post of Mei Chuan in the 5th moon of the 5th year. It was not that the Sung Emperor did not prize pearls but simply because of the harm to the country and people which made it imperative to stop the practice of fishing for them. If only expert divers could gather the pearls, why then was it necessary to organise a military post of 3,000? Because martial law was used to drive them to their death. Pearls are produced from oysters several fathoms beneath the sea and wherever there are oysters many water creatures and dangerous fish protect them. The method of gathering them is to tie stones onto a man and lower him into the sea so that he will sink quickly. Sometimes he gets pearls and sometimes not. When he suffocates he pulls the rope and a man in the boat hauls him up. If this is done a fraction too late the man dies. If he happens to meet dangerous sea creatures he cannot avoid their attacks. Besides out of one hundred oysters opened there are hardly one or two pearls ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1973 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r PERSIANS, ARABS IN T'ANG CHINA 69 should be well-treated.48 The Emperor based his policies on the principle of 't'ien-hsia pai-ch'uan kuei ta-hai' 天下百川歸大海 (all rivers in the empire enter the sea), and accepted everyone from different parts of the world, either to pay tribute to or to trade with China. There is no doubt that Persians, Arabs, Turks, Japanese and others did enjoy their stay in China; and it is also an undeniable fact that T'ang emperors wished to befriend these foreigners. It is equally true that in such a highly Sino-centric society as the T'ang period, nobody felt that such a process of assimilation was untraditional or against the theory of Sino-centrism. In T'ang times, such a social pattern was a reality, not a myth, and its spirit may serve as a model for the future. NOTES * I wish to express my appreciation to Professor Woodbridge Bingham of the University of California, Berkeley (Visiting Professor in Chinese History, Centre of Asian Studies, University of Hong Kong 1970-71) for reading an earlier version of this paper, weeding out mistakes and suggesting improvements. Abbreviations used in the footnotes: CTS Chiu T'ang-shu HTS Hsin T'ang-shu TCTC Tzu-chih t'ung-chien 1 In T'ang time, Islamic followers used to call the Chinese Tamghai, Tomghaj, Tonghaj, Tangas, Tubgao or Tapkao. Some historians believe that these were transliterations of T'ao-hua-shih. However, Kuwabara Jitsuzō suggested that these were derived from T'ang-chia-tzu. Cf. J. Kuwabara 'On P'u Shou-keng', Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 2:1-79 (Tokyo, 1928), 7:1-104 (Tokyo, 1935). See also Chinese translation of this, with additional notes by Ch'en Yü-ching, P'u Shou-keng k'ao (Peking, 1954), pp. 103-109. 2 Edward O. Reischauer and J. K. Fairbank, East Asia: The Great Tradition (London, 1958), p. 155. 3 See Lo Hsiang-lin, T'ang-tai wen-hua shih (Taipei, 1963), pp. 54-87. 4 Hsiang Tai, T'ang-tai Ch'ang-an hsi-yü wen-ming (Peking, 1957), pp. 24-25. 5 Edward H. Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of T'ang Exotics (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1963), pp. 10-11. I must express my thankfulness to Professor Schafer's opus magnum; I have fully made use of Professor Schafer's work. 6 See Chiu Ling-yeong, Superintendents of Customs in Canton during the Tang and Sung Dynasties (unpublished M.A. thesis, University of Hong Kong, 1963), Chapters 5 and 6. Page 75 Page 76 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n A JOURNEY TO YENAN 1946 45 Kuomintang controlled areas*. It was therefore natural that the Unit be asked to take this load to Yenan, and I was picked as the Convoy leader. Preparations were made in December 1945, and when the National Military Council finally granted the permit, the convoy was able to leave Chungking for Yenan on Monday, 21st January 1946. The group consisted of the writer, Yu Chin-lung (Henry), another Unit member, two employed drivers (Fong Ah-fu and Lao Lü), a mechanic, and a trainee (Chow Ming-cheng and Hu Jo-han), with three Dodge trucks built to Canadian WD specifications and a trailer. The convoy was self-sufficient in spares and fuel and returned to Chungking on March 9, 1946. Prospect of the Journey As far as the operational aspect of the trip was concerned, there was little to worry about. We had new trucks, running on real petrol and a good supply of spares. After three or four years of nursing increasingly aged vehicles, running on charcoal gas, alcohol, and tung oil petrol, over the mountains of West China, we felt some competence in these things. The political aspects were, however, another matter altogether. The Kuomintang command in Sian was known to be somewhat independent of Chungking, and while Chungking might be forced to give us a permit, would there be a message to Sian to disregard it? Or officials be instructed to be very particular about our papers? And having delivered our load, would we be allowed back? And if we failed, or an 'incident' occurred, what would be the repercussion on future deliveries of materials and relief supplies and the political negotiations? We were sure of one thing: a warm welcome when we reached Yenan. In Chungking on 27th December, members of the Unit (Brandon Cadbury, Chris Barber, Henry Yu, Wong Hsiao-hsin, and the writer) had been entertained to dinner by Tung Pi-wu, Teng Ying-chow (Mrs. Chou En-lai), Miss Kung Pan, Colonel Wang Ping-nan, and Colonel Chien. Quoting from a letter home of 29th December: "They were very interested in what we could tell them about the FAU, what we did, and why we did it. They live a curious sort of existence with spies all round them but, like many things * Some account of this is given in W. A. Reynolds "Operation and Maintenance of a Road Transport System in West China 1942-46" in the 1976 Journal of this Society (vol. 16). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 42 KEITH STEVENS In addition there were scraps of cotton, threads, one or two grains of rice, a tiny sac of cotton cloth stuffed with more cotton and several beads and slivers of mica. There were also two dried sea-horses* in the image dedicated in 1871 though there were no signs of any other remains. The strips of paper are not all that usual and are rarely found in Southern Chinese images. Precis translations of the six strips of paper are included later in this note. The papers show that five of the seven images were dedicated and placed on altars in the County of Wu Kang (A) in South East Hunan, one hundred miles due north of Kweilin and three hundred and seventy-five miles NNW of Hong Kong, near the Hunanese boundaries with its neighbouring provinces of Kwangsi and Kweichow. The west and south-west of Hunan were not easily accessible until the 1930's due to the dangerous rapids in the upper reaches of the plentiful rivers. Then a system of highways opened up the area. Prior to that, apart from the occasional traveller, traders and, of course, the petty officials sent to such "punishment" posts, all that was known of the area came from tales passed on from mouth to mouth. Wu Kang is in rising country, on the edge of an area marked on old maps as the lands of the Thai minority peoples, the Ko Lao (z) and another larger minority people, the Miao (δ). The other two images come from Chi An prefecture () in Kiangsi province, some two hundred and eighty miles due east of Wu Kang. Chi An, an old walled city and a major centre on the north-flowing Kan Chiang, had closer cultural links with central rather than south China. The first image (Plate 2), from Wu Kang and dedicated in 1756, is a household deity to protect the home and family and to bring blessings. The slip of paper relates that Worshipper Fu Shih-hsiang, together with his three sons and others from his family, all of Hsin Wu Chang Village, Yen Shan, Lung Chu district of Wu Kang county in Pao Ching prefecture (now Shao Yang), Hunan, on the 4th day of the 7th moon of the 20th year of Ch'ien Lung (1756), offered sacrifices to the gods at the City God temple in Shih Pei.† He also reported to them in writing that he and his whole family * Seahorses, found as far inland, would have a rarity value, though they are commonly used by Chinese herbalists & pharmacists. † Chinese characters are to be found on the illustrations of the slips of paper. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 87 and when he died the following year 1662 his son Cheng King (4) continued his attacks on the south coast. The Ts'ing government eventually sent out their navy to engage Cheng's ships, but it is said that the Ts'ing sailors were prostrated by seasickness and were no match for their enemies. About that time an officer from Cheng's forces named Fong Sing Hoi (959) surrendered to the Ts'ing government, and it was from him that the plan of Ts'in Fuk originally came. Having full knowledge of how people living along the coast by their mere presence, apart from their willing help, aided the rebels, he suggested that villagers should be moved inland so that they should no longer be able, willingly or not, to supply Cheng's forces with food. This idea was approved by the Emperor Shun Chi, but the same year (18th year of Shun Chi, 1661) he died. His son, Hong Hei, however, followed up the plan by ordering a personal investigation of the coast to be made by government officials, with a view to finding out which part was most vulnerable to attack, and at the same time to arrange how the people were to be moved inland. The result of this was a report from the P'ing Naam Wong (#E) 平南王 ("Prince who tranquilizes the South") and the Viceroy, strongly advising that the people should not be moved. “All along the coast there are several millions of inhabitants", the report said. "If they are shifted they will all lose their livelihood, which will be a great affliction. We make this piteous appeal and request royal favour to allow them to stay." But this had no effect. The following year in the spring an Imperial decree ordered that everyone living by the coast must move 50 Chinese miles inland. The P’ing Naam Wong with other officials were sent to inspect the coast, and in the 2nd month they arrived in San On district. A boundary on Foo Mun (J21) was set up, ending to the west at Tsun T'au Shaan (111) and to the east at Lin Fa Fung (TEE), the centre station of the boundary being at Ngai Kung Leng (42). At each of these places a flag was erected and more than eighty villages within the boundary were told to move and many lookout posts were built along the hills with soldiers stationed there to watch. Even the rivers had railings built across them to prevent boats going down to the sea. If any one disobeyed these orders they were to be put to death. A month later soldiers were sent to enforce the new regulations. Although notices had been posted up few people could read them and many villagers were quite ignorant of what they were to do. The arrival of the soldiers caused a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 88 panic; many of the people abandoned their homes without taking food or money, and with their wives and children were driven towards the boundary. Destitute, many of them died on the road, while a few managed to escape to Kwai Shin district and other places as far away as they could. A year later the boundary was moved a further 30 Chinese miles inland. The new boundary ended to the west at Taai Ch'ung Hau and Sha T'ong Fong and to the east at Taai Shaan Ha and Paak T'au Shaan, a flag being put up at each of these places. Almost immediately the district magistrate of Tung Kwun made a personal inspection of the places where the flags were erected and he reported that the people in Taai Chung Hau had not moved so the flag was taken from Sha Tong Fong and hoisted on top of Shek Shaan. Thus the six villages Ch'ung Hau, Lau Ka Haang, Chaak Mei, K'iu T'au and Tau Ch'ung all had to be moved, but at Kiu T'au a rope was put between it and the boundary and half only of the village was shifted. The Viceroy Lo Shung Tsun quite sympathized with the people, and joined with other high officials in sending a memorial to the throne, stating how miserable the people were, and begging that fewer villages should be caused to move. In the 10th month of the same year (1663) two head boatmen, Chau Yuk and Lei Wing revolted against the Ts'ing Government in Kwangtung. These two men were the owners of fleets of several hundreds of junks that usually fished in the rivers of Poon Yue district. All the junks had long oars as well as three sails so they were very fast. In addition they stored a lot of arms on board. Both Lei and Chau had a military title of Yau Kik bestowed on them by the P'ing Naam Wong, as their sailors had proved themselves of great assistance in fighting sea-battles against the Ming soldiers. When, however, the order was issued preventing boats from putting out to sea the junks of Chau and Lei were detained in the rivers and their families forced to live in Canton city. Chau and Lei pretended to get leave to go home and bury the bones of their ancestors. Secretly they took their families away from Canton, and collecting all the boatmen they put out to sea. Then openly they attacked the Ts'ing forces, capturing many of their ships and burning the guard stations along the coast. They never ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1988 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q 133 the truck, Uncle hired drivers to take the produce to Honolulu. I had many rides on the truck to pick up bananas which Okinawa immigrants grew on what used to be pineapple fields. Uncle prospered and was dubbed *Mayor of Kaneohe*. When it was time for him to retire from farming, he bought a piece of Cobb-Adam's land on Kamehameha Highway, one lot removed from Lilipuna Road. Uncle was extended credit from C. K. Ai, who was a friend of my parents, so that he could buy lumber from City Mill Company to build a simple but spacious home and a large garage for his trucking business. When Uncle was struggling to make ends meet, Father would try to help with small loans. During the First World War, when the price of guano was rising fast, Father bought a ton of the fertilizer and stored it under our School Street home. Uncle would pay the current price for each bag he took, and when the ton was used up, the profit was divided between Father and Uncle. Because the price of animal feed was also rising, Mother would wake Ruth, Helen and me at early dawn, competing with a neighbour, to gather algaroba beans from a back lot for Uncle at one dollar a bag. There was little social life in those days. Uncle was a member of a fraternal society in Heeia, namely, the Bow Yee Tong, established in 1903. Mother told me that this was a Triad society, where members were initiated and sworn in as 'blood brothers' by secret rituals, so secret that they were not revealed even to their wives. In later years, after the death of Aunt, Uncle became a devout Buddhist and frequently visited a temple in Honolulu. Uncle registered seven of his ten children with the Board of Health on 15 October 1918. At that time, he gave his name as Cheung Yau and Aunt's as Wong Fung, and his age at 38 and hers 33. Their children are: Annie Ah Hoon (21 Apr 1902-1936) married Henry Auyoung Mary Ah Moy Hiki (9 Oct 1904-) married Joseph Liu Helen Ah Sam (11 Dec 1906-) married Robert Zane Alice Ah Lin (15 Dec 1909-) married Frank Carpino (died 1982) 1927 Reuben Ah Kau (17 Jun 1911-) married Eunice Ching Aaron Ah Mung (13 Oct 1913-8 Oct 1985) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h Heung Tung Z 140 Sham TA KWU LING LUK YEUK Wong Pur Lirg Sai Ling Ho 1500 River Ho Temple 1 km Chau Tin aw Au Ha Lin Tong Wangi Tsung Yuen Lin Ma Hang huk) Ha Hey Yuanit Та Куни Ling *Kan Teu wai Fung 'Tai Po Tin Shan Kai Wet Ha Shan „Kai Wat Shan Ping Cheung Shant Ping Yuen Temple (Ping Che Hills (uncultivated in 1929 Boundaries of Yeuk Villages Temples (The present border runs along the Sham Tsun and Law Fong Rivers Bridges. Passes Roads in 1898 Page 165 Page 166 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 374 which has been copied in an untitled manuscript in the possession of Mr. Dang Yu-Hing).36 Dang Kei-faan Genealogy in the Baker Collection of New Territories genealogies in the British Library. 37 The elder was Dang Wing-Sau, the head of the lineage. I do not know which generation he was in. See Taga (1982:92). 38 Translated in Sung (1974:177-179). 39 40 See table above and the genealogy in Kam Tin Historical Documents, vol. 1. Probably Dang Hei-Seui. See Sung (1974:166-168) and a genealogy of his segment included in Hugh Baker's Collection of Genealogies. 41 Patrick Hase has drawn my attention to the importance of the monastery as central to the establishment Hung-Yi's descendants in Kam Tin, just as Ling To nunnery is to the Dangs of Ha Tsuen. The monastery and the earlier temple are a major element in the fung-seui of the Pat Heung valley and Kam Tin. The rivers important to irrigation in the area all flow from the mountain on which the monastery stands. 42 41 44 I have not tried to find further information on this man in gazetteers. See Sung (1973:112-113) for the Hung Sing Temple. This was one of two stories. They were thought of as alternatives although there is no contradiction between them. I shall relate the other one later. 45 I was told that the Juk-Yun Am used to be at the present site of the Gwaan-Dai Temple of Shing Mun San Tsuen, and San-Sin Fu near Shui Mei. 46 Two items in Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 2 were probably intended for this very grave. These were among the papers of Dang Ting-sam from the year 1873. The first was a request for donations towards the establishment of a charitable grave. The second was intended for a stone inscription. There is strong evidence that the charitable grave was established before the British came, although many present-day Dangs believe that those buried in the grave were those who died fighting against the British. The jiu festival record for 1895 included the Dei-Jong Wong of Tung-Fuk Tong among the gods to be invited, and an elder in his nineties remembered seeing gam-taap jars for bones when he was very small. He deduced that those must have been the remains of people who died before 1898, because one had to wait for many years he suggested ten — until the bones could be extracted after a first burial. 47 A bin-ngaak (horizontal inscribed board) presented to the Buddhist altar at its completion included ten names who were believed to be the share-holders of the Tong. They were three Wan-Guk jiu descendants of Shui Mei: Baak-Cheung, Daat-Hung, and Jik-Hing; three brothers Yat-Wa, Seui-Chuen, Gam-Wa and two of their nephews, and Baak-Yi, all descendants of Wan-Gaan; and a Hin-Yiu of Kam Tin Shi. 48 Plus a inscribed stone on the ground saying Naam-mo O-Mei-To-Fat, set up to offset the bad influences that caused traffic accidents near the stone. 49 Hoi-dang for a village did not always take place at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. In the Shui Mei case it took place at the Tin-Hau Temple. 50 The elders made it clear that gu here does not mean “shares". 51 The subjects for these paper images were specified in the contract made with the craftsmen. The contract was included in the general record for the festival and was copied from the previous ones. But neither the organizers nor the contractor seem to have paid much attention to the details of the prescription. 52 The object is probably more commonly known by the name dong 'an and is more often installed over the central area of the Taoist altar rather than in the backstage room. See ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 In the Ming, it may have been the Wongs of Fuk Tin who dominated the area, with their market at Lung Tsun Hui. It was at Chek Mei (赤尾, Chimei) within this village cluster that the sub-Magistracy for the area was established in 1370. By the nineteenth century, however, the dominant position in the district had been secured by the Cheungs. Sham Chun was essentially their market, built on their land, in that part of the district most closely controlled by them. The market stood, as a result, at an economically less than ideal site. It was built away from the Sham Chun River and the landing place, about half a mile down the Ching Shui River, at a point navigable even by the smallest skiffs only at the highest tides. Goods exported from the market had to be carried by coolies the half mile to the landing place at the junction of the rivers before being loaded onto the boats. Politically, however, the site was ideal for the Cheungs. The landing place, however, was within the area of dominance of the Yuens. The landing place was built on their land, in the centre of their village area. District politics throughout most of the nineteenth century centred on attempts by the Cheungs to bring the landing place within their area of control, and by the Yuens to preserve their independence. The other clans of the district tended to be brought into the conflict as allies of one side or the other. The document translated below suggests that conflicts over control of the landing place broke out in 1836, 1856, and 1875. Control of the landing place brought with it, effectively, the right to collect the tolls charged for the movement of people and goods there. There were two theories on the collection of toll. The one was that toll was the right of the people who owned the land behind the landing site: they had had to give up land to build a road to service the landing stage, and the toll was the compensatory payment for the loss of income from the land thus rendered useless for agriculture. The other was that the landing place was outside the area privately owned: it lay on the riverbank muds, and was "Government Waste". Toll was the right of the Government to levy or grant away, and the adjacent owners of agricultural land had no rights over it. Travellers had the right to pass freely along the field-bunds as elsewhere. The Yuens, as the owners of the adjacent land, naturally tended to consider the first view was the correct one: the District Magistrate, and usually the Cheungs, tended to believe the second. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 64 September 1885 March June ca 1885 1886 January ca 1886 ca 1886 1887 1889/1890 1889 23 January 1890 Lived in the Chang-fa Chen, an hotel in Shanghai His first child, Pin Mesny, also known as Hu-sheng, born in Shanghai Departed Shanghai aboard the Yangtze for Canton and appointed for service in both Arsenals [claimed that during the years 1884/1887 whilst living in Canton, he suffered from boils, eczema and prickly heat] Many of Mesny's notes lost in Chungking during the destruction of the CIM missionary premises. Mesny had left them for safe keeping with the Rev G Nicoll Office Bearer of the Keystone Royal Arch Chapter of Masons in Shanghai Promoted to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-General [ennobled for three generations: previously claimed to have been bestowed in 1879] In charge of the China Branch of the New York Life Office, in Shanghai Representative of the Lartigue Railway Construction Company in Shanghai Intention to publish a monthly magazine in Shanghai to be called Yüleh Pao together with Chiang Chao-ling (friend and sworn brother). to be the organ of the Reform Party Made two journeys through Anhui and northern Kiangsu in connection with famine relief Journey through Anhui, around Lake Chao from Wu-hu to Lu-chou Fu, returning 5 February 1889 Visited Wu-chang to warn Chang Chih-tung that he was erecting the Iron and Steel Works in Wu-chang in an unsuitable place 1891 7 September Typhoon destroyed the Olympia Skating Rink, his property in Lloyd 1892 January 1894 May 1895 September 1896 Mar/Sep 1898 May/June December 1899 Mar/Oct Road, Shanghai, ruining him financially. Mesny involved in the Mason case Invited to organise a naval brigade for service on the Hsiang and Han rivers Stormy interview with Li Hung-chang in Tientsin Visited Peking and had breakfast with Manchu Prince Su Claims to have volunteered for service in Manchuria [Sino-Japanese War] En route to Manchura: Visited Liu K'un-1, Generalissimo of Chinese Forces [afloat and ashore] at his headquarters at Shan-hai-kuan Mesny refused permission to visit camps of Wu Ta-cheng and Wei Kuang-tao at or near to T'ien-chuang-tai Liu advised Mesny to return to Tientsin. His second and only other child, his daughter, Marie Wan-er, born in Shanghai Began the publication of his Chinese Miscellany Volume 1 in Shanghai Publication of Volume 2 of his Chinese Miscellany Legally married to Lady Han, mother of Hu-sheng [or Pin] and Marie Wan-er Trip by chartered boat to Hangchou Visited Nanking Publication of Volume 3 of his Chinese Miscellany ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1995 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/95941j25g malaria and then was resettled by Hakka squatters."' Now the Hakka are in almost exclusive possession of the Sha Tau Kok, Sai Kung and Hang Hau peninsulas and of the foot-hills of Tai Mo Shan besides being in the majority in some other area.62 Near the coast and on the islands the Hakka combine agriculture and fishing.63 In a few villages the Cantonese and the Hakka live side by side.65 Although strict exogamy is practised according to the usual Chinese custom, many Cantonese have taken Hakka wives but not often does the reverse take place. In practice, and in spite of differences in language, the Cantonese and Hakka have almost identical customs. Nowadays, indeed, the Hakka talk the standard Cantonese dialect (pun yu),** dress like the Cantonese and are in general indistinguishable from them.69 The Tanka67 form the majority of the sea-dwellers in the waters of the New Territories68 and land-dwellers who have few dealings with any sea-dwellers tend to call both the sea-dwelling communities "Tanka."?? The Tanka dialect, like the Cantonese, belongs to the western section of the Yueh language.” The Tanka have their main centres of population around the islands of Cheung Chau and Lantau but also are to be found around many smaller islands. Their arrival in the region is shrouded in the mists of the past74 but Balfour's description of them is worth repeating:- “The Tanka or the Tan people are the Cantonese-speaking fishing population. The word Tan is a proper name and dictionaries define it as follows:- 'Tan is the name of a people. They are held to be a branch of the Man tribe. They live in boats along the coast of Fukien and Kwang-tung making fishing their livelihood. They are pearl divers. Since the T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618) they have been counted by able-bodied males for purposes of taxation. In the year 1618 they were classified according to families, headmen were appointed among them and anchorages in the rivers were set apart for them. A yearly tax of fishing produce was collected' In 1723 an imperial edict was passed allowing them all the privileges of ordinary Chinese citizens, except the right to compete in ================================================================================