RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 REGIONAL APPROACH TO CHINESE HISTORY 13 His luck ran out, however, in 1807, when he was caught in a typhoon off Luzon. Part of his fleet was destroyed and Cheng himself drowned. Leadership of the pirate fleet fell to Cheng's wife, a kind of early nineteenth-century Dragon Lady, who may have accompanied her husband on his forays. Her chief lieutenant was a young Hsin Hui buccaneer by the name of Chang Pao-tsai. Unkind rumour had it that Chang was more than the lady's "chief lieutenant". Under the leadership of Chang and the wife of Cheng I, the pirate fleet expanded its activities. It was divided into three divisions, each with a commander. Raids on coastal shipping were carried out with dispatch and precision, each division having been assigned specific areas of the coast. By 1810, Chang's fleet numbered six to seven hundred vessels, manned by as many as thirty to forty thousand men. Nor were they concerned with just coastal shipping. No village or town along the coast was safe. Chang was apparently able to land elements of his navy at will at any bay or harbour from Mirs Bay to Hainan and as far up the river as Whampoa. There are differing accounts as to what his methods and motives really were. Some accounts, probably somewhat romanticized, make Chang out to be a kind of Chinese nautical Robin Hood, landing his men and appearing at village gates only to replenish their supplies of food and water, treating the people with kindness and honesty and refraining from terror. On the other hand, local histories record that more than one village was left in ashes and more than a little blood was spilled. Whatever way Chang Pao-tsai carried on his raids, the fact remains that the Ch'ing government was powerless against him. Time and again units of the Imperial fleet were sent in search of Chang's navy, only to return empty-handed and usually badly mauled. Once, in 1809, the Imperial navy did succeed in trapping a portion of Chang's fleet off Lantau, but clever seamanship and greater and more efficient firepower enabled him to break through without much damage. Finally, in 1810, the authorities resorted to the old political expedient... "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". Governor-General ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 REGIONAL APPROACH TO CHINESE HISTORY 15 ditti" abounding in the countryside,' “instances of kidnapping by ex-pirates [which] were so frequent that no man could feel himself safe alone in the streets of Canton after 9 o'clock at night".8 Time and again during these years the local officials issued proclamations condemning such activities and urging the people to revert to peaceful pursuits. In 1828 the district magistrate of Nan-hai hsien urged the people at the New Year's time to remain peaceful and orderly and not to imitate "the vagabonds" and “local blackguards” who cause much trouble. In 1829 the same gentleman complained of the fact that "the people of this province are addicted to gambling, opium, whoredom, and lotteries. And the city of Canton is preeminent in all of these vices." It was, he said, "the shameless banditti that are to blame". In another proclamation of about the same time, he condemned the bandits who extorted money from the peasants. "In the vicinity of Canton, Whampoa, and Macao," he complained, "and in the districts of Shun-teh, Tung-kuan, and Hsin-huy (all within the Hong Kong-Macao-Canton axis), the people who cultivate land on the banks of the rivers are particularly distressed by these practices."11 In 1832 it was reported that in Hsiang-shan hsien bandits were levying taxes on the people in like fashion.12 Village and clan feuding compounded the problem. In 1828 the Kwangchou prefect issued a proclamation in which he condemns the feuding between clans. "The larger clans," he said, "in villages insult smaller ones... They presume on their numerical strength and seize the best land and the most useful streams. They insult both men and women of the smaller clans. And when disputes arise about graves and debts they proceed to barbarous violence."13 And in the same year the Canton authorities, condemning clan feuds, complained of how “..... in pursuance of the feuds of the halls of their ancestors, they (the clans) proceed to collect together a multitude of their own clan's people, and seizing spears, swords, and other weapons, they fight together and kill people".14 In 1829 1,000 men were involved in a village feud in Hsun-teh hsien,15 and in 1834 400 people were reported killed in a similar affair in Tung-kuan hsien.16 In most cases the government was powerless to intervene. What was behind all this chaos? Here, of course, we are on tricky ground. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d MILITIA, MARKET AND LINEAGE 37 How were such composite forces recruited? Wakeman stresses three factors: gentry leadership, the she-hsüeh (local school) as an organisational node, and agnatic kinship. Let us consider them in turn. "Usually a gentry organizer would form a cohesive t'uan-lien around one town When he had assembled his men, he persuaded the elders of neighbouring villages to enroll their banners under his . . . From such integral nuclei, other, less tightly organized 'banners' could be extended: but gentry leadership was the essential factor."29 She-hsüeh were often resurrected or founded to serve as headquarters for militia forces: "in 1836 . . . village leaders near Whampoa had become alarmed by secret society activity. Twenty-four of the villages built a common hall under the guise of a 'local school' at a market town on the south side of Honam island. There the elders met to try miscreants and bind them over to the district magistrate."30 During the period discussed by Wakeman (1839-61), the she-hsüeh served as "recruiting depots, treasuries, meeting halls, posting places, and drill grounds." Kinship was also significant in the formation of militia: "clan and t'uan-lien were mutually intermingled in Kwangtung during the 1840's and '50's. The militia of a uniclan village was nothing more than a clan organization."32 Kinship ties might constitute an important organizational element even in the case of more widely based militia. Wakeman has shown that, of the twenty-five leaders of the Tung-p'ing militia, 60 percent shared surnames.33 The possible relationship between these factors and Skinner's analysis of marketing systems is striking. The most obvious instance is that of the twenty-four villages which combined to establish a she-hsüeh at a market town on Honam island. Skinner says of this association that it "can only be interpreted as a formalization of structure within a standard marketing community.”34 To take another example, Wakeman reports that one of the leaders of militia in the San-yuan-li area combined the "twelve local schools" of his region (En-chou) into a defence command.35 En-chou lies within the area classified by Skinner as the central region of Kwangtung province. In the 1890's the average number of villages per market town in this region was 17.9.36 Could this also have been a “formalization of structure within a standard marketing community"? ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d 318 NOTES AND QUERIES everlasting as the Southern Mountain (a classical allusion symbolizing the “realm of longevity”). Providence has showered blessings of prosperity upon the family and bestowed her posterity with divine qualities. Here are gathered the young and the old to offer her their greetings and celebrations. May she live long like the evergreen pine-trees. Her descendants, who devote themselves to academic studies or engage in husbandry, have come forth with their fervent blessings of the "Nine Similes" [a psalm from the Book of Poetry].* Your mother, sitting in the North Hall, is presented with auspicious peaches [the "fruit of longevity" in Chinese legend]. She radiates with the spirit of the Dragon and the vigour of the Horse. Assembled at this Birthday party in this sumptuously decorated hall are honourable guests, all from noble and dignified families (Scribbled by Sun Ying-suet). Hong Kong, 1976. FRANCIS SHAM AND JAMES HAYES HƯNG HȮM (£): AN EARLY INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE IN OLD BRITISH KOWLOON. British Kowloon was ceded in March 1860. Its population at that time was around the few thousand mark, and its growth was steady over the next twenty years. In 1881 the population numbered 9,021. Thereafter the population rose sharply and by 1897 it was 26,402, of which 19,202 were male, (Sessional Papers 1897, p. 485). The increase in the Kowloon population from 1860 on may be attributed to the establishment of industrial and manufacturing concerns, that undoubtedly owed their existence to the presence of nearby Hong Kong, then making great strides towards its establishment as a great entrepôt and commercial and financial centre. Among them the Hong Kong Whampoa Dock Company set up its yard at Hung Hom in the 1860's, the Cosmopolitan Dock began at *The "9 Similes" (*) from the Book of Poetry() (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 如山如阜,如同如陵,如川之方至,以莫不增, (6) (7) (8) 如月之恒,如日之升,如南山之壽,不騫不崩, (9) 如松柏之茂,無不爾或承 [FSYS] ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1975 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/j0995146d NOTES AND QUERIES 319 Tai Kok Tsui in 1880 and in 1898 the Green Island Cement Company moved its works from Macao to Hung Hom. This fact helps to explain the predominantly male population in the census. The Hung Hom community was among the largest of these new commercial and industrial settlements. By 1897, its population was 5,876, standing second only to Yau Ma Tei with 8,051 (SP1897 p.485). (1) Details of the earliest settlement up to 1898 The first list of occupants of Hung Hom is the 1867 Return of Squatter's Licences.* This shows that the village was composed of forty-four premises held under licence by thirty-four individuals, of whom eleven bore the surname Tsang and nine Lee. Near the village was 31 mow of land under cultivation. These also were largely held by the Tsang and Lee families. As the village grew, due to the growth of the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Yard with its opportunities for employment and for providing services for its ever-growing staff of employees, the amount of land under cultivation declined; only three years after the 1867 list, the amount of cultivated land had been cut in half. Between 1867 and 1874 the number of listed properties remained fairly constant, but in 1875 there was an increase from fifty-four to seventy-five. In succeeding years, however, the number of individuals occupying land by squatter's licences slowly declined. The first collection book for Village Rates in Kowloon is dated 1873.† It lists the occupant of the premise, with the use of the premise, its value, and the owner. Aside from the Dock Company's extensive establishment, thirty-nine buildings are listed. These included the Police Station (at the time unoccupied), a dwelling used as a school, six chandlery shops, one shop dealing in sundries, two carpenter's establishments, a fruit seller, and a barber. Of the shops, only three were rented out; the others were occupied by their owners. The remaining premises were all small family residences occupied by their owners. In two years, the properties upon which rates were collected had increased by twenty-five. Among the new premises listed was a Joss House rated at $50 and a house for the Joss House keeper, * H.K. Public Records Office, H.K. Record Series 183. † H.K. Public Records Office, H.K. Record Series 83. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 234 When it opened, in 1868, it gave the Colony a new orientation. The first vessel the Docks built was the 46-foot launch, Duncan, for their own use, which affectionately became known as Old No.1. Certainly a considerable outlay of capital and expertise was involved, and the Docks were well supported by the P&O line, which ran a service from Hong Kong to Shanghai from 1849, and by Jardine's. **From Rangoon to Shanghai there is nothing equal to that great concern (the Docks); nor along the entire Pacific Coast of North and South America is there any undertaking equipped with better facilities...** (MacMillan, 1925). The Cosmopolitan Docks (later purchased by Hong Kong and Whampoa Docks) began at Tai Kok Tsui in 1880, and by the 1890s the main docks at Hung Hom had built up rapidly. The local community (even by 1881 the population of old British Kowloon numbered only 9,021) was among the largest industrial settlements. It worked day and night for years with queues of ships waiting to be repaired. The Hong Kong Guide 1893 records: **The Docks** are the most extensive of any in Asia. Vessels of 550 feet in length and 30 feet draft of water can be docked at Kowloon. Extra dividends were awarded to shareholders twice a year, and sons of skilled craftsmen from Hung Hom followed their fathers into the Docks. The village was never asleep as journeymen worked on shifts around the clock. It was one of the most prosperous places in the Colony. With a population of only 260,000, at the turn of the century Hong Kong was the second largest port in the world. By then her own ships sailed the Pacific Ocean and the seas of Asia. Easterners (the Chinese) and Westerners (the expatriates were mostly Scottish) had joined forces in the Dockyard, and the Board was representative of many nations of maritime importance. A strong sense of pride and community spirit existed. During World War I, ships of more than 5,000 tons were built. Butterfield and Swire started to construct their dockyard at Quarry Bay, on Hong Kong Island, in August 1902, and work was ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 21 September 27 September 12 October 2 November 9 November 30 November 7 December 1997 18 January 21 January 8 March Dinner at Police Training School. New Territories Mid-Autumn Festival Fire Lanterns Joint Seminar with the South China Research Circle and the Antiquities and Monuments Office The Future Kam Tin Heritage Trail The Defence of Leighton Hill During the 1941 Battle for Hong Kong. The 'Da Tsiu' Festival at Nga Tsin Wai Village, Kowloon. Art Treasures from Shanghai and Hong Kong A Guided Tour, University of Hong Kong Museum and Art Gallery. Views of the Pearl River Delta · Macau, Canton and Hong Kong, Exhibition held at Museum of Art Visit to Government House and the Legislative Council Building. Visit to Hop Yat Church, the Hong Kong Medical Science Museum and the Man Mo Temple. Visits outside Hong Kong 19-21 October Visit to Guangzhou and Whampoa 14-17 November Temple Tour of Central Taiwan. With 17 lectures and 16 visits it is not surprising if the odd person has been heard to say, probably partly tongue in cheek, that we have too many functions. The rubric would appear to be, however, how XV ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 44 The lychees at Po Kong are really abundant. Of these verses, the reference in line 169 is to a temple near Ma Thu Wai. The reference in lines 170-172 is probably to the ejection of the Ch'ing officials from the Kowloon Walled City. In line 174 the reference may be to the prostitutes' quarter in the Market. The "hospital" in line 175 is the Lok Sin Tong. For three villages - Po Kong, Sha Tei Yuen, and Yuen Ling - the poet singles out the orchards and vegetable fields he saw there as particularly significant and worth comment, and at Ngau Chi Wan it was "herding" - presumably of meat animals for the market - which he noted as interesting and special. The vast majority of villages visited by Hui Wing-hing were rice-subsistence villages, with almost every inch of arable land used for rice, and the Kowloon villages clearly looked very different. While Hui Wing-hing's attention at Nga Tsin Wai was taken up by the British takeover of the New Territories, there can be no doubt that Nga Tsin Wai, too, was to a large degree a market-gardening area in his time. Almost all the coastal villages in the New Territories area had sampans, and added inshore fishing to their subsistence. It is a measure of Nga Tsin Wai's general prosperity that the Nga Tsin Wai village elders believe that their ancestors did not do this: the village had no sampans, and bought its fish - probably mostly from the coolies carrying fish from Tolo Harbour past the village to Kowloon Market. The Nga Tsin Wai villagers did, however, dig clams from the mud flats offshore, together with the villagers of all the other villages in the Kowloon Bay area. They also reared carp in the village moat, and possibly in other fishponds, for sale in the Market. Nga Tsin Wai was never a poor village, but it prospered noticeably during the later nineteenth century. 1902, the date of the Block Crown lease must have been about the most prosperous period of this village community. The village fields were fast being converted to market gardens as the village faced their sellers' market in the growing City. The village had developed good contacts with shipping companies, so that many of the men were able to get good jobs as seamen. Many villagers were also getting good jobs in the Whampoa Docks, where, again, the village developed good contacts in this period. As the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 53 1902 the Nga Tsin Wai market gardeners were in a sellers' market, this was emphatically not so twenty years later. Finally, the sudden stopping of traffic over the passes lost to Nga Tsin Wai the business opportunities the village had previously enjoyed with the passing trade: from being an important cross-roads, Nga Tsin Wai very suddenly found itself a back-water. According to today's village elders, these economic reverses hit Nga Tsin Wai hard, but not disastrously hard. The contacts with the shipping companies and the Whampoa Docks remained, and more of the village youths now found work there. The village also established excellent contacts with the Royal Air Force at Kai Tak, and enjoyed something close to a monopoly in providing servants and general labourers for the small garrison there. Many of today's elders at Nga Tsin Wai worked at R.A.F. Kai Tak as boys in the 1930s. The relations of these village boys with the soldiers and airmen at Kai Tak were generally good. The airmen tended to treat the boys a little roughly, but without real unpleasantness. One elder told me how, when he was working there as a boy of twelve, a group of airmen offered him a cigarette: when he said he didn't smoke, they said that that wasn't on - if he didn't smoke with them, he would be "tied hand and foot and thrown into the sea". So he took a cigarette, and another, and yet another, until he was, to the delight of the airmen, violently sick. Thereafter, the airmen gave him cigarettes every day, and insisted he joined them for a cigarette and a beer after work - he still today cannot rest unless he has a cigarette before he goes to bed. He says that he eventually became very good friends with these airmen. Even the market gardens at Nga Tsin Wai still provided income, albeit not as easily as before. The produce now had to be carried on shoulder poles and sold in Yaumatei, which is where the market was - a heavy job for the women who had to do it. In the long run, an even greater threat to village life was development. Prince Edward Road and Argyle Street were completed as far as Kowloon City by 1924 (Boundary Street was completed a little later), and the land on either side of these new roads was cleared and sold off for development shortly thereafter. By 1930 Ma Tau Wai, Hau Pui Long, Ma Tau Kok, and Yi Wong Tin villages had disappeared forever, replaced by new suburban housing. Redevelopment of Kowloon ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 16. Whampoa Village, Canton. 179 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2003 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390 17. Ancestral Home in Whampoa Village, Canton, built by Mr Wu Ah-kei (the "Mr Whampoa" of Singapore in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). 180 M ================================================================================