RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f LIFE IN THE NEW TERRITORIES 81 weddings and funerals, repairs to the ancestral temple, and so on. In Another and less formal method of securing these aims is the setting aside of joss and oil fields, sometimes known by the obscure title of ching sheung 1, whose proceeds, again, are used for the proper observance of ancestral rites and other family needs.1 One need hardly emphasise the integrating effect of these land measures, To understand the people and their outlook and background it is necessary to see to what sort of government they were accustomed.1 The government of the San On district was essentially Confucian, like that of every other administrative division; by which I mean that Confucian principles were ostensibly followed. This was sealed by the state worship of the sage. In every district city there was a temple to Confucius styled a man miu in which the District Magistrate, his senior staff and the local gentry paid the customary respects to the sage and his seventy-two disciples on his birthday (twenty-seventh day of the eighth moon) and at the spring worship or chun chai 1 in the second moon. The same thing happened at the prefectural and provincial capitals. At the head of the San On district was the District Magistrate whose superior was the prefect of the Kwang Chau prefecture which embraced at least five large districts. He was subordinate to the provincial governor and he in turn to the Viceroy of the two Kwang Provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. The nature and duties of the provincial officers had been established since the T'ang dynasty and for well over a millennium the pattern of government had been cast in an identical mould. The District Magistrate was usually a scholar who had taken one of the metropolitan examinations at Peking and he was always a native of another province than his native one, this being a long standing rule. He spent three or six years in one post and was then moved elsewhere, and was promoted in due course to be prefect or to higher office through merit, connections or good fortune. Some persons began and ended their official careers as District Magistrates. 1 The District Magistrate's duties were many and his competence was most extensive. He was, in truth, the father-mother official1 of the people so called by them and also so styled in official documents because of his authority over all their affairs, criminal or civil. He certainly regarded himself as ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 40 W. C. HUNTER at Samarang where he served for 3 years. He died at Delft in 1863. (L.T.R.) 32 Viceroy. The Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi at this time was Teng Ting-chen who held this post from early 1836 until early 1840. See Hummel, op. cit., II, 716. (J.L.C-B.) 33 Hoppo. The Superintendent of Maritime Customs at Canton in 1839 was Yu (?). (J.L.C-B.) 34 The Yum Chae. Cantonese pronunciation for the characters (mandarin Ch'in-ch'ai) meaning "an Imperial Commissioner”. (J.L.C-B.) 35 Innes, James Innes (1787-1841), the "storm petrel" of Canton was the 7th Chieftain of the Inneses of Dunkinty, Scotland. He came out to China about 1825 and operated as a Free Trader mostly on his own, but for a time in the firm of Innes, Fletcher & Co. His dealings in opium had not a little to do with precipitating the trouble in 1839. He died in July 1841 and was buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery, Macao. (L.T.R.) 36 Chaye Beale. Thomas Chaye Beale was a member of the firm of Magniac & Co. in Canton as early as 1826. He severed his connections with this firm in the early thirties, and operated on his own till 1845 when he set up a house of agency in Shanghai with Lancelot Dent under the name of Dent, Beale & Co. In 1851 he was Portuguese Consul and Vice-Consul for the Netherlands at Shanghai. (L.T.R.) 37 Se-yin. This is probably a reference to the characters Ssu-ying, the officer in command of a ying which corresponded in some ways to a battalion. However, the rank of a ying commander corresponded more to the Western rank of captain or major. (J.L.C-B.) 38 Ta-lao-yeh. The phrase ta-lao-yeh signifies "revered elder”. (J.L.C-B.) 39 The linguists. Linguists (t'ung shih) were supposed to be able to act as interpreters between the Canton officials and the foreign merchants when instructions needed to be conveyed. The foreigners, for their part, usually enlisted the help of the Hong merchants when they wanted a document translated into Chinese or they needed an interpreter at an important interview. They repeatedly declared that the linguists were useless when it came to linguistic matters. In fact, the linguists appear to have been rather low-grade men of not much education, and able to speak only pidgin English. However, by law a foreign merchant trading at Canton was bound to employ a linguist. Since it was forbidden by the statutes of the Ch'ing dynasty to teach the Chinese language to foreigners, it was reasonable that linguists should be licensed to cope with their language problems. However, in order that the foreigners should not learn much about affairs in the interior, the qualifications needed by a linguist were low and their pidgin vocabulary was restricted to matters of trade. This was part of a deliberate policy which grew up among the officials at Canton, and the linguists merely acted as another cog in the mechanism whereby communication between the foreign merchants and the officials, however minor, was prevented, and the foreigners dealt instead with a number of different unofficial functionaries such as the compradores and linguists. Thus, the foreign merchants were kept at an arm's length and also kept in ignorance. The linguists and their servants mentioned in this journal appear to have acted as general clerks and messengers, as much as linguists. The prefix A or Ah (ya) signifies the status of servant. (J.L.C-B.) ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r HONG KONG BEFORE THE CHINESE 67 Third Edition 1643 by Man Sz-k'ei, Leung Tung-min, Tang Leung-yuk and others; Preface by Ch'an Hei-yiu. Man Sz-kei (Tai-wu) of Suichau, Sub-director of Studies in San On, 1640-?1645. Leung Tung-ming of Tun Tau, prefectural graduate in 1641. Tang Leung-yuk # Perhaps a mistake for Tang Leung-sz of Kam Tin, prefectural graduate in 1610. Ch'an Hei-yiu of Chingteh, Kiangnan, Magistrate of San On, 1640–1645. Fourth Edition 1672 by (?); Preface by Lei Ho-shing. Lei Ho-shing of T'ichling in Liaotung, Magistrate of San On, 1670-1677. Fifth Edition 1688 by (?); Preface by Kan Man-mo. Kan Man-mo of K'aichou in Chihli, Magistrate of San On, 1687—(?). Sixth Edition 1819 by Wong Shung-hei; Prefaces by Yuen Yuen, Lo Yuen-wai, Shue Mau-kwun and the author. Wong Shung-hei of Nanch'eng in Kiangsi, a prefectural sub-graduate of Chihli. Yuen Yuen, an Imperial Censor, Viceroy and Commander-in-Chief of Kwangsi, Kwangtung, Hunan, Kueichou and Yunnan; of -wei in Kiangsu; born about 1760. Lo Yuen-wai, a chin-shih, Intendant of Grain for Kwangtung, of Nam Ye. Shue Mau-kwun (Yue-fong), a chin-shih, Magistrate of San On, 1816—(?). Sixth Edition was reprinted without its maps in the 1930s. * In which case a copy of this edition might be preserved among the clan archives. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 74 J. W. HAYES fishermen and with all those who live close to the sea in South China. A commemorative tablet let into the wall is dated 1798.10 It may record the actual foundation of the temple, though this is not certain as the temple bell is dated six years earlier." The tablet has no introductory preamble, as is usual," and simply states that persons from the two districts of Tung Kwun ✯E and San On, described as ± subscribed money for the work. A list of 218 names follows, of which 26 appear to be those of shops or businesses, and the other 192 those of private individuals. No indication is given as to the addresses of subscribers, and it is therefore impossible to state with certainty that they were all Peng Chau people, though some of them must have been, or to say which of them were land people and which of them fishermen. It is more than likely that both groups participated in the project. This was certainly the case with the next full-scale repair in 187813 where the fact of co-operation is established beyond any doubt, because the entries on this second tablet are more precise and it is still possible to check names with old inhabitants. With the establishment of the temple, Peng Chau's place as a permanent base for fishermen was probably assured, since this would have set the seal on its popularity. Religion has always played an important part in the lives of the boat people and it was probably as much a long-term attachment to the temple as economic ties with local shopkeepers which kept the fishermen there. There was another popular Tin Hau temple at nearby Nim Shu Wan, now in ruins. Throughout the nineteenth century therefore, and into the twentieth, the island continued to be a base for many sea-going and local fishermen. As such, it was important enough to be one of the places where, by order of the San On magistrate, tablets were set up in the middle of the Tao Kwang period (1834) for the information of the fishing population.14 The Peng Chau tablet, which is situated just outside the Tin Hau temple, records a petition which went as high as the Viceroy of the two Kwang provinces of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and eventually resulted in a directive that no more fishing boats should be commandeered in order to capture pirates. Special craft were ordered to be built for the purpose instead. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r 148 NOTES AND QUERIES abandoned, broken-down, and over-grown with trees and scrub, probably because it lies in a more remote and less populous part of Lantau, so that there would be no use for it after the garrison left. An interesting feature of the Tung Chung fort is the presence of six old muzzle-loading cannons on its walls, each fixed to a cement base. (There are now none at Fan Lau). How these were preserved at Tung Chung is told in the following extract from the 1918 Administrative Report of the District Officer, South: Miscellaneous Receipts show an increase of $5,000 odd, due to the sale of old cannon for $5,265 which had previously remained neglected in the district. In this connection, it may be noted that any specimens of interest were retained, and that six guns were selected for mounting upon the wall of the old Yamen — the present Police Station — at Tung Chung, Lantau. So the guns at Tung Chung may not always have been there, but may have come from elsewhere, some perhaps from Fan Lau. The cannons vary in weight from 1,000 to 2,000 catties, i.e. between 12 and 24 cwts., and are quite large. An interesting comparison is the Ming cannon dredged from Kai Tak Bay in 1956 during the construction of the new runway, which weighs 500 catties and is now mounted outside the Colonial Secretariat. All six pieces carry inscriptions, of which only four are now legible. A typical description reads as follows (though there is room for dispute as to the precise translation): Cannon; weight - 2,000 catties (23-8 cwts.) YIK, Border Pacification General by Imperial Appointment. CHAI, Minister of Constant Support, Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent and Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi. LEUNG, Assistant Minister of Defence and Governor of Kwangtung. LAU, Acting Prefect of Fat Shan Prefecture. CHEONG, Hoi Fung District Magistrate, on Reserve, supervised its manufacture in the 21st year of Reign of To Kwong, 10th Moon (1842) by Cannon Artisans LI, CHAN & FOK. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1967 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g EXPANSION AND EXTENSION IN HAKKA SOCIETY 73 2 There are indications that this mountain area at one time was inhabited by non-Chinese Yao people; Barnett 1957, p. 261. The present inhabitants, however, are all Hakka- and Cantonese-speaking Chinese, settled here for only about 300 years. 3 The estimated average price for local unmilled rice is (1965) HK$28 per picul for first crop rice. The corresponding figure for second crop rice is HK$36 a picul. 4 Chiu 1964, p. 77. 5 Bot. Report 1906, p. 221. It could be added that a fish hawker is touring the area daily. He is from Sai Kung and his route includes Grass Field Village and Plum Grove Village. There are also other occasional peddlers, trading in food and sweets. Some shops can be found at the mining workers' settlement at Ma On Shan. Fishermen call at the pier there every morning. People from Big Stream Village often take advantage of these facilities. 7 S., D. W. 1900, p. 202f. See also Tregear & Berry 1959, p. 12ff, and Hayes 1966, p. 128f. 8 In a village just outside Canton, "almost all those who went to work on ships were Wongs. This was chiefly due to the functioning of kinship relations in economic life. One who knew of an opportunity in one's own occupation usually recommended it to a kinsman. A Lee already engaged in business in Hong Kong would hire his own relatives as help or recommend them to fellow businessmen who might need help. A Wong in the 'hard labour' business, an activity tightly controlled by secret societies, or in marine work, did the same for his own kinsmen." Yang 1959, p. 73. 9 Lockhart Report, p. 557. Census 1911, p. 103. 10 Skinner 1964/65, p. 202. For further details, see Groves 1965a and 1965b. 11 The Ng people in Plum Grove Village have no connections with the former Grass Field people of the same surname. 12 The coastal area of Kwangtung was the scene of a dramatic mass deportation, executed by the Ch'ing occupants as a counter-measure in the struggle against raiding Ming loyalists. This course of action was carried out from 1661. Eight years later the coastal strip was declared open for settlement and an active policy by the Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, A Ke-min, lured immigrants to the waste lands. The main influx of Hakka to the New Territories was in the following decades. If this is correct it may be that the Lau people appeared in this area during the course of this re-occupation. See Hui 1963, p. 89ff. See Hui 1963, p. 89ff. However, Professor Freedman (1967) has quite correctly pointed out that the data are by no means conclusive on the effective evacuation of the area. 13 Skinner 1964/65, p. 37. 14 Freedman 1958, p. 50. 15 In the Hakka village in the Tolo Harbour area, studied by Jean Pratt, at the Chinese New Year 'all the men go to the lineage hall in a village across the valley, where they claim their ancestors lived. Pratt 1960, p. 149. But note supplementary information in Freedman 1966, p. 41; this issue, however, has no bearing on my argument. Similar social ceremonialism seems to have occurred among the Cantonese-speaking Punti population. See Hayes 1962, p. 28. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 48 R. G. GROVES 7th April includes entries for approximately 999 catties (about 1,332 lbs.), of gunpowder. Meanwhile, the Governor of Hong Kong again asked the Viceroy to take whatever steps necessary to maintain order prior to the take-over. A reassuring proclamation was jointly issued by the Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi and the Governor of Kwangtung, and Chinese troops were ordered into the area. The Governor of Hong Kong had already issued his own proclamation to the people of the New Territory. Whatever its intention, his message cannot have appeased the resistance leaders: the most respected of your elders will be chosen to assist in the management of your village affairs, to secure peace and good order and the punishment of evil doers. I expect you to obey the laws that are made for your benefit, and all persons who break the law will be punished severely. It will be necessary for you to register without delay your titles for the land occupied by you, that the true owners may be known."62 In other words, control over both land and political institutions appeared to be at risk. By 10th April plans for resistance were sufficiently advanced to allow the establishment of the T'ai Ping Kung Kuk (Great Peace Public Council), at Yuen Long market. The inaugural meeting promulgated several policies: (i) a levy of 100 taels of silver was to be made upon each village and, where necessary, force was to be used to secure payment; (ii) the wealthy, and those who appeared to be associated with the British, were forbidden to leave the area. Those attempting to do so were to be killed,63 The date and place of the formal British take-over — Tai Po, on Monday, 17th April — had been announced in a variety of contexts and must have been widely known. However, the first major clash involved provincial Chinese troops, rather than the British. As part of his undertaking to maintain order the Viceroy had directed a Major Fong, in command of a gunboat and troops, to the territory. The Major sent letters ahead, saying that his intentions were pacific. The implication was that he would not interfere with plans for resistance. These assurances were unacceptable and his landing at Castle Peak Bay, on 12th April, was successfully opposed by militia of the Yuen Long Division, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 LEGENDS & STORIES OF THE NEW TERRITORIES 181 It is an ancient custom in China when a man passes a Government degree examination or is appointed as a Government official, for him to have his new official title carved on a wooden tablet and hung in the Hall of his ancestors. By this means the good news is reported to the ancestors that their descendant has become a man of rank, and at the same time an example is set to future generations to encourage them to do their best to rise to the same honour, as the tablet is left hanging in the hall permanently. There are many of these title-tablets hung in Sz Shing Tong, put there not only by Kam T'in men, but by other descendants of the Tang family who have sent their tablets from places far away, where they have gone to live. The oldest among them is the "Man Fui” or Kui Yan degree put there by Tang Ting Ching who passed it in the 7th year of Shing Fa, A.D. 1471. The most highly honoured title-tablets are the two from Tang Yung Keng from Tung Kwun district. He passed his Kui Yan degree in the 3rd year of Tung Chi, A.D. 1864 and became "Hon Lam Yuen Shue Kat Sz" (H.K.N. VIII, p. 110) in the 10th year of T’ung Chi, A.D. 1871. He held the office of On Ch'aat Sz (Provincial Judge) of Kiangsu province, and in 1900 during the Boxer trouble he was appointed by Lei Hung Cheung, the Prime Minister and then Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi provinces, to be the Superintendent of volunteers in Kwangtung. Tang Ts'ing Lok's eldest son, Tang Wan Kuk was a very rich man, and he owned a lot of cultivated land in San On District. During his time there were twenty-eight Sau Ts'oi (B.A.'s) and nine very rich men all members of his family and living in the same street where his house was situated in Shui Mei village. His house was called Kam Ts'un Tong "ornamental stream hall"; it has long since been destroyed and a vegetable garden is on the site of where it once existed, but the remains of a large stone gateway can still be seen (plate 20). Tang Wan Kuk owned a large library in this house, and a fine stone fish-tank, made of pink coloured stone, 2 Chinese feet high, 14 wide and 24 long. (Plate 19). Two scholars of the Tang Family have written inscriptions about this tank, speaking very highly of it, but it now lies in a destroyed school building in Shui T’au village, and no-one cares about it. The dates of Tang Wan Kuk's birth and death are not recorded, but we know that his grave, which is in Noh Mai Ham about seven li from Kam T'in was made before the 8th year of Ching ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d INCIDENT: H.K. MERCHANTS & B.E.I. co. 49 on the E.L.C.'s China trade. These documents he read in the India Office Library in London, in the early 1920s, at a time when there was no such thing as xeroxing or microfilming. Morse, therefore, had to read through this enormous mass of documents in the different original handwritings, and always within the confines of the old India Office Library. Morse used his own judgment on what to quote verbatim from the documents, and how much space, if any, to allot to each episode or problem. Often he simply made a brief summary in his own words. Thus what we read is Morse's version of the gist of the E.I.C. records. But this is a personal view, and whenever possible, it is useful to be able to compare his account of an incident with that of another eye witness. This is the justification for printing Lindsay's account in this article, and comparing it with the half page précis given by Morse. Before beginning, however, it is necessary to sketch in the background to this incident. Lindsay states vaguely that "the Hong merchants had some pecuniary demands which the supercargoes thought it their duty to resist...." Morse devotes nine pages to the relations between the Hong merchants and the supercargoes in Canton, and to explaining the bankruptcy of two Hong merchants and the measures being taken by the other merchants, and also the senior Chinese officials in Canton, to get the E.I.C.'s representatives to pay their debts. This imbroglio was confused still further by the murder of a Chinese man in January 1810. Suspicion pointed to one or more seamen serving on the E.I.C.'s ships, but no positive proof was forthcoming so no one was arrested. According to Chinese legal principles someone must be arrested and punished in the case of a homicide, even if the guilt of the arrested man was only circumstantial. The magistrate in whose jurisdiction in Canton the E.I.C. supercargoes lived began to exhort them, in December 1810, to produce the culprit(s), and threatened that failure to comply would result in a stoppage of trade. This was a familiar threat which the supercargoes themselves were quite adept at using under the right circumstances since neither they, nor the Chinese officials, really wanted trade to stop; it was mutually lucrative. On the 23rd January, 1811 the Viceroy (Governor-general of Kwangtung-Kwangsi) left his post on transfer, and the Governor of Kwangtung and the Hoppo (Superintendent of Maritime Customs for Kwangtung) were left in charge. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 94 H. J. LETHBRIDGE employment; but few stayed with the department. Most took to their gypsy life again, once they had accumulated a few dollars, and left for either Shanghai or Singapore, or simply went to earth in Tai Ping Shan or Wan Chai until disinterred by the police, always on the look out for European destitutes. There were always some troops on garrison duty in the colony or manning the various fortifications designed to repel a seaborne invasion. The garrison normally was small and numbered usually less than 1,500 men. But numbers fluctuated markedly at times. In March 1860, for example, over 14,000 troops (10,000 British and 4,000 French) were being drilled in a vast tented camp on two square miles of the Kowloon peninsula, leased from the Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, and awaiting transportation to the theatre of operations in the north. A witness of these events wrote that 'the streets of Victoria were thronged by soldiers and sailors; commissaries and staff officers were to be seen everywhere; all as busy as mortals could be'.7 It was a policy of the government and the military to keep troops if possible out of European Victoria—the central commercial district—and to confine their debaucheries to special areas of the colony. Thus five brothels were specially opened at Wan Chai in the 1850s when soldiers at that time were prohibited by their officers from entering the central districts of the city. For soldiers on outpost duties access to Victoria was difficult in any case: Garrison life at these outposts is usually melancholy; society is impossible, as the fortifications are eight miles by water from the city, and communication over the mountains is arduous. It is not a question of which is the better of the two, but which the worse, to be of the British Garrison Artillery or the Chinese Lighthouse Service.& There were usually more sailors than soldiers ashore in Hong Kong, or afloat in the harbour, at certain times of the year. During the three winter months, the British China squadron was stationed in Hong Kong; in summer most naval vessels left Hong Kong for the north and other stations. The large number of sailors, who at times outnumbered the civilian European population, was supplemented by merchant seamen of many nationalities; for by the 1890s Hong Kong had become, after London, Liverpool, and Port Said, the fourth largest port in the world in terms of seagoing tonnage ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 207 Kwong Tung To Shuet ✯✯ Tung Ch'ih Period (1862-1874) edition Kwong Tung Hoi To Shuet ✯✯ ✯ 1889 edition Kwong Tung Yu Ti To Shuet ★★★★ 1889 edition Kwong Tung Yu Ti Chuen To ★★★LAN 1909 edition Of course, we cannot be certain that all these troops were actually in post. Hong Kong. 1979. ANTHONY K. K. SIU THE CANNONS ON THE WALL OF THE TUNG CHUNG FORT, LANTAU ISLAND, HONG KONG* Six old muzzle-loading cannons, each fixed to a cemented base, can be seen on the wall of the Tung Chung Fort: two on the west and four on the east. They all carry inscriptions, of which only four are still legible. The inscription of the eastermost cannon is illegible, due to severe weathering. The second has an inscription which shows that it was cast in the eighth moon of the 14th year of the reign of Chia Ching (1809), serial number Ching 80, weighing 1,000 catties, and cast by the Master of the Man Shing Furnace (£+0‡^^÷ 日鑄造,靖字第八十號,一千斤砲一位,匠頭萬盛爐鑄造). As far as we know, during this 14th year of the reign of Chia Ching, the famous pirate Cheung Po-tsai had a very strong influence on Lantau. At that time, Pak Ling, Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, was responsible for suppressing him and his gang. He ordered the casting of cannons and mounted them along the coastal regions, such that the area became strongly fortified. The cannons that he ordered to be cast bore the serial number of 'Ching, and were cast by the Man Shing Furnace of Fat Shan.2 It may be surmized that because of this strengthening of the forts and guard-stations in this region, Cheung Po-tsai finally surrendered in the 15th year of the reign of Chia Ching (1810),3 Thus, one can see that the cannon had played an important part in the suppression of the pirate Cheung Po-tsai. * This note is illustrated by the author's photographs at Plates 33-40. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 208 NOTES AND QUERIES The westermost cannon has an inscription showing that it was cast in the 1st moon of the 10th year of the reign of Chia Ching (1805), weighing 1,200 catties (嘉慶十年正月造,重一千二百斤). Again, this cannon and some others were probably cast for the defence of the region against pirates.4 The cannon which lies next to it had been severely weathered, and the inscription is illegible. Two cannons on the east wall bear the same inscriptions. These read as follows:-- Cannon: weight 2,000 catties. Yik: General of Border Pacification, by Imperial Appointment (欽命靖逆將軍奕(山)). Choi: Minister of Constant Support. Kay: Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi (太子少保廣東總督都堂祁(墳)). Leung: Assistant Minister of Defence, and Governor of Kwangtung (兵部侍郎廣東巡撫部院(寶常)). Lau: Acting Prefect of Fat Shan Prefecture. Cheong: Reserve Magistrate of Hoi Fung District, supervised its manufacture (海豐縣丞即補縣昌、監造). In the 10th moon of the 21st year of the reign of Tao Kwang (1841) (道光二十一年十月吉日). Cast by Cannon Artisans Li, Chan, and Fok. During that time, British influence in this area was strong. Viceroy Lin Tse-hsü ordered the casting of cannons from Fat Shan for the fortification of the coast of Kwangtung. These two cannons must be two of those that Viceroy Lin had ordered to be cast, and they were placed in this region for defence purposes. The cannon which lies next to these two is again illegible, because of severe weathering. These six cannons were selected from elsewhere, some perhaps from the Kai Yik Kok Fort, others from the Shek Se Fort, and were mounted there. Though they were not cast at the same time, they had the same purpose: they were used to defend the region against pirates and foreign invasions. They are now preserved at Tung Chung and help to commemorate these events. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1978 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593 NOTES AND QUERIES 209 NOTES 1 Ip Lam-fung's Legends of Cheung Po-tsai. 2 Lo Hsiang-lin's Hong Kong and its External Communications before 1842, Chapter 7. 3 'Ching Hoi Fan Kee', recorded in Chapter 33 of the Tung Kwun Yuen Chi. 4 'Ching Hoi Fan Kee' #2, recorded in Chapter 33 of the Tung Kwun Yuen Chi. 5 Yik Shan, General of Border Pacification, by Imperial Appointment before 1841. 6 Choi Sheung-ah, Minister of Constant Support from the 21st year to the 25th year of Tao Kang (1841-1845). 7 Kay Kung, Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi from the 21st year to the 23rd year of Tao Kang (1841-1843), 8 Leung Po-shcung, Governor of Kwangtung from the 21st year to the 22nd year of Tao Kang (1841-1842), Hong Kong, March 1979. ANTHONY K.K. SIU THE FAT TONG MUN FORT (OR THE TUNG LUNG FORT) Fat Tong Mun ¶ is a main waterway which lies to the east of Hong Kong. The north part is occupied by the peninsula of the Tin Ha Shan 田下山半岛, known as the North Fat Tong 北佛堂; and the South Fat Tong is an island called the Tung Lung Island today. It is the main waterway for entering Canton (Kwongchow). During the early Ch'ing Dynasty, a fort known as the Fat Tong Mun Fort was erected on the south Fat Tong. We now call the fort 'the Tung Lung Fort', after its present name. The fort lies on the NW of the island; on a promontory, with cliffs facing north, south and east. To the west, the promontory slopes gently towards the post-war Nam Tong village settlement, with paths linking the fort with the village. The fort occupies an area of about two thousand square feet. It is formed by four rubble walls, about eight feet high. It has an entrance which faces north. According to Mr. JAO Tsyng-i's record, the arch of the entrance could still be seen during his visit to the The author's photographs illustrating this note are at Plates 41-42. Page 225 Page 226 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES 135 major during the early K'ang Hsi period. He had taken part in the suppression of the disturbances led by Ng Shaam-kwai in the south. He was promoted to Yau Je or colonel and then to Ti Tu or brigadier of the Fukien Province. In the 56th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1717), he was promoted to be Chuen Fu or Governor of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces. At that time, pirates were disturbing the south coast of China, and the people there led a hard life. Yeung Lin lowered their taxes and improved their living. Two years later, in the 58th year of the Kang Hsi reign (1719), he was made Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces. He then proposed to erect 126 forts, walled cities and guard-stations, and to strengthen the fortification of the coast by increasing the garrisons to 3991 men. His proposal was authorized, and in the first year of the Yung Cheng reign (1723), he was appointed to be Viceroy of Kwangtung specially responsible for all matters of the Kwangtung Province. He died a year later, (1724). To conclude, the Fat Tong Mun Fort must have been built when Yeung Lin was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces, within the period between the 59th year of K'ang Hsi and the first year of the Yung Cheng reign (1720-1723). The fort guarded the Fat Tong Mun and had 8 cannon places and 13 guard-houses. A garrison of 25 soldiers under one pa-tsung or sergeant from the Tai Pang Battalion was stationed there. Then in the 15th year of the Chia Ch'ing Reign (1810), the fort was evacuated and finally abandoned. The fort became a ruin, long neglected. It is now being excavated under the direction of Dr. Solomon Bard, Executive Secretary, Antiquities and Monuments Section, Urban Services Department, Hong Kong. Hong Kong, January 1981 ANTHONY K. K. SIU NOTES 1 Tung Lung Island was called South Fat Tong or Nam Fat Tong in the past. It lies to the east of Hong Kong Island and guards the eastern entrance to the Victoria Harbour. 2 Chapter 4 of the San On Yuen Chi, Chia Ch'ing edition **縣志卷四**. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 136 NOTES AND QUERIES 3 Map of the East Coast of the Kwangtung Province, in the Ch'ing Cho Hoi Keung To Shuet 清初海疆圖說之粵東海圖說篇 The book was prepared in the Reign of Yung Cheng (1723-1735). * Chapter 43 and Chapter 255 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, 1864 edition 阮元廣東通志卷四十三及卷二百五十五 5 Table 37 of Ch'ing Shi Ko * In the 12th year of the K'ang Hsi Reign (1673), Ng Shaam-kwai led an uprising against the Ch'ing Government. The uprising was suppressed in the 20th year of K'ang Hsi (1681). Some of his followers turned to piracy on the south coast of China. 7 Chapter 255 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, 1864 edition * As recorded in the Map of the East Coast of the Kwangtung Province, in the Ch'ing Cho Hoi Keung To Shuet, within 16 coastal counties of the Kwangtung Province, a total of 41 forts, 312 cannon places and 618 guard-houses were erected when Yeung Lin was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Province. Of these, 4 forts, 32 cannon places, and 74 guard-houses were erected in the San On county. * He was appointed as Viceroy of Kwangtung Province in the 1st year of the Yung Cheng Reign (1723). The Province of Kwangsi was then under Kung Yuk-sun, as Governor. 10 See my article The Fat Tong Mun Fort (or the Tung Lung Fort) in Volume 18 of the Journal of the Hong Kong Branch Royal Asiatic Society. DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPLES ON LANTAU ISLAND AS RECORDED IN 1979 Lantau Island lies to the west of the Island of Hong Kong. Before the Sung Dynasty, the people living there were mainly of the Yiu tribes. Then came the refugees of the Southern Sung. The population increased during the Ming Dynasty; and many of the temples on the island were first built at this time. During the first year of the K'ang Hsi reign of the Ch'ing Dynasty, the people living in the coastal areas had to move back to the interior, because of the policy called the "Evacuation of the Coast". Seven years later, in the eighth year of the K'ang Hsi reign, they were allowed to come back. However, like many houses, some of the temples decayed during their absence. From then on the population increased rapidly, with people flocking to the area. The local temples were rebuilt and repaired. The temples listed below are in existence in 1979. Though some ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 NOTES AND QUERIES 141 (1810), General Chin Mun-fu ***** suggested that the Fat Tong Mun Fort be abandoned and be rebuilt near the Kowloon guard-station ✯ ✯ A Viceroy Pak Ling T✯ ordered the Magistrate of the San On County 觚 ***◊ to carry out the suggestion. Chapter 175 of Kwangtung Tung Chi, Tao Kuang edition KKAR £&4-4*+ states, "The Kowloon Fort Aate lies 290 # E west of the Tai Pang Battalion 4. It was guarded by one pa-tsung and one ngai-wai with 48 guards." 5 After the Opium War, the Chinese were defeated, and Hong Kong was ceded to the British. In the 23rd year of the Tao Kuang Reign (1843) Ke Ying was Viceroy of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces **** and Wong Yan-tung & was Governor of the Liang Kwang-tung ✯✯✯. They proposed building the Kowloon Walled City. The work was completed in the 27th year of the Tao Kuang Reign (1847). * See Chapter 13 of the Kwangtung Tao Shuet, Tung Chih edition ŁATÁRUK+ which records. "The Kowloon Walled City was under the command of a fu-cheung ## or brigadier of the Naval Forces of the Tai Pang Battalion. Under him was an extra ngar-wai who guarded the Walled City with 150 men. There were 75 men under one tsin-tsune for lieutenant guarding the Kowloon Fort; and one ngai-wai-tsin-tsung ††or sub-lieutenant leading 15 men guarding the Kowloon Coastal Guard Station ALDA. * See Chapter 73 of the Kwangchow Fu Chi, Kuang Hsü edition ANA££*TE and Kwong Tung Hoi Tao Shuet, Kuang Hsü edition 張之洞廣東海圆說. * See my article 'The Old Cannons found in Hong Kong' in Volume 8, Part 2 of Kwangtung Man Hin REÆ : RKARXUŁ^ËZI * The Old Yamen is now occupied by the CNEC Grace Light School. TUEN MUN FROM CHINESE HISTORICAL RECORDS 2 Tuen Mun1 lies in the western part of the New Territories. The highest mountain in this area is the Tuen Mun Shan ₺F2 which reaches a height of 582.9 metres. To the east of the mountain is the Tuen Mun Bay, also called the Castle Peak Bay lying to its east, and the Lantau with Kau King Shan A Island lying to its south. Tuen Mun Bay is surrounded by mountains on three sides, thus forming a good typhoon shelter from the strong easterlies. It is also the waterway for entering the Chu Kiang i or Pearl River estuary of the Kwangtung Province. The Bay had been an important harbour for the Persians, the Arabs and the people from India, Indo-china and the East Indies. Their trading fleets had to anchor and gather at Tuen Mun before entering the Chu Kiang. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1986 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/jq08c7063 266 ing in the New Territories. Unfortunately, the British misunderstood that the soldiers were sent there to assist the uprising. With this as an excuse, the British invaded the Walled City on the 8th day of the Fourth Moon (i.e. 19th May) and drove away the Imperial officials and the three hundred soldiers. This ended the Ch'ing rule over the Kowloon Walled City. Hong Kong, June 1987 Anthony K. K. SIU NOTES 2 See JHKBRAS 20(1980): 139-141. They were said to be Hakka stone workers and Triad members. Cheung Yu-tang E, a native of Wai Chau H, was a Fu-cheung #or Brigadier of the Tai Pang Battalion in 1854. He was stationed in the Walled City for thirteen years. Then he retired in the 5th year of Tung Chih (1866) and died four years later in the 9th year of Tung Chih (1870) at the age of 76. See Chapter 82 of the Kwangchow Fu Chi, Kuang Hsu edition 廣州府志卷八十二, 5 See the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong, 1898 (signed at Peking, 9th June, 1898): Treaties between China and Foreign States Vol. 1, P. 539-540. Shang-hai, 1917. 6 See Despatches and other Papers relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hong Kong, 1899. See the Report of Viceroy Tam Chung-lun and Governor Luk Chuen-lam of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces to the Imperial Court on the Lease of Kowloon Customs and her territory on the 9th day of the 4th moon in the 25th year of the Kuang Hsu Reign (1899). See the Report of Viceroy Tam Chung-lun and Governor Luk Chuen-lam of the Kwangtung and Kwangsi Provinces to the Imperial Court on the British Occupation of the Kowloon City and the French Occupation of Ng Chuen and Shui Kai Prefectures 奧督撫譚鈺麟鹿傳霖泰英人佔據九龍城法人圖佔吳川遂溪兩縣請飭籌 on the 15th day of the 5th moon in the 25th year of Kuang Hsu (1899). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 279 dated this year may be found at the Tam Kung Temple that is now located at Blue Pool Road. The other temple, in Shaukiwan, was built in 1905. There was once also a Tam Kung Temple in Tokwawan in Kowloon, but it was demolished to make way for a road, which has been named Tam Kung Road in remembrance of the temple. ANTHONY K.K. SIU NOTES See Hui-chou fu-chih 1881 edition, ch. 44. ibid. ch. 12. THE CANNON IN THE KOWLOON WALLED CITY Two old muzzle-loading cannon, each about twelve feet long, can be found in front of No. 2, Lung Chun Road in the Kowloon Walled City. See Plates 24-25, The inscriptions on both cannon are legible. They were cast in the same year under the same supervision. The inscriptions read as follows:- In the mid-spring month of the 7th year of reign of Chia-ch’ing (1802) 嘉慶七年仲春月 + L Wu, Acting Governor of Kwangtung WM, Chueh-lo-chi, Assistant High Chancellor, and Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi2, Sun, Commander-in-chief of the Kwangtung (Marine) Forces ORIENT Zhang (?), Commissioner of Salt Transport of Kwangtung and Kwangsi supervised the manufacture of this 4000 catties cannon #4 TAG. The other cannon bears the same inscription but weighs 5000 catties. During that time, the coastal area was infested by pirates. Viceroy Chueh-lo-chi ordered the casting of cannon for the fortification of the coast of Kwangtung. These two cannon must be ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 280 two of those that were placed in this region for defence purposes, and installed at Kowloon Walled City when that was built in 1847. ANTHONY K.K. SIU 1 Wu T'u-li #, White Banner Manchu, Acting Governor of Kwangtung from the 5th year to the 7th year of Chia Ch'ing (1800-1802). 1 Chüeh-lo-chi Ch'ing, White Banner Manchu, Viceroy of Kwangtung and Kwangsi from the 1st year to the 7th year of Chia-ch'ing (1796-1802). } Sun Ch'uan-mou, native of Fukien Province, Commander-in-chief of the Kwangtung (Marine) Forces from the 1st year to the 9th year of Chia-ch'ing (1796-1804). 4 From the inscription, the name of the Commissioner of Salt Transport of Kwangtung and Kwangsi is illegible. However, from historical record, the one who was in that post was Zhang Ch'uan, native of Chekiang Province. HONG KONG'S OWN BOAT PEOPLE In April 1970, I went with one of my friends to visit his mother who lived on a boat in the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. The friend was a boatman who crewed and looked after a pleasure boat for a European firm. He lived in a squatter hut in Chai Wan Cottage Resettlement Area. The old lady belonged to the indigenous boat population of Hong Kong Island. She had been born on a boat moored off the old Dairy Farm pier inside the present typhoon shelter. This was in 1890. Her father had also been born there in a boat, and she thought this had been so for several generations: at least, this was the family's received information. Her husband had also been born on a boat in the area, and his father before him, and with the same family tradition of local identity. This evidence is not conclusive, being based only on word of mouth within these two families of boat people. The grandparents might have come into the area upon the opening of the port in the 1840s. On the other hand, a pre-British origin would accord with many other cases known to me, in which Tanka boat people had attached themselves to small bays and local anchorages: by all accounts and certainly by their own traditions for generations, and perhaps even for centuries. 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