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 85 examination by the District Magistrate at Nam Tau and by the Kwang Chau prefect at Canton, proceeded to the Viceroy's yamen in the same city where eventually a favoured few would manage to pass the first degree of sau choi. This in theory entitled the scholar to qualify for an official post. In practise there were many more sau choi than there were posts and a scholar had to pursue further study and pass other examinations before he stood a real chance of becoming an official. In every district there were sau choi who would never obtain posts. Many became local schoolmasters. Others by virtue of wealth and position became the local gentry who, by report, were sometimes a help to the magistrate and frequently a nuisance, both to him and to the litigant or criminal public. They sat on the local tribunals kuk and advised the magistrate on local affairs. Being literati like himself they had ready access to his yamen and to his ear. Sometimes they even outranked him. Elders, on the other hand, rarely sat on the kuk. Lockhart estimated that there were one hundred and fifty sau choi in the whole district.20 In 1898 the elders of important villages like Ha Tsuen and Ping Shan were literati. Several of them played a leading part in the planning of operations against the British take-over.27 20 Sometimes the wealthier village elders enhanced their position by purchasing degrees. In the late Ch'ing period the sale of examination titles appears to have been considerable. Smith mentions it in his Village Life in China** and I have come across several such persons in villages in the Southern District of the New Territory. They were usually substantial villagers. Such a one was CHAN Tak-hang4 of Cheung Kwan O in Junk Bay who died in the seventeenth year of Kwong Shui (1892) at the age of sixty-four. According to his descendant, the present Village Representative, he was a man of substance who built a guest house in the village which is still standing to-day, gave money for the upkeep of the stone tracks which linked the villages of the area with Kowloon, and was well known locally. His portrait, painted at the age of fifty-seven, shows him in his borrowed finery as a kwok hok sang, for which he paid an unknown consideration to Government. A man such as this would obviously play a considerable part in the affairs of his immediate neighbourhood. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1962 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9s166f47f 88 J. W. HAYES 36 Disturbances apart, the common people preferred to be left to themselves. They rarely had anything to do with the magistrate and his followers and preferred it that way. The magistrate, in his turn, was glad to leave routine affairs to the local tribunals. The price paid for these attitudes was the prevalence of crime. Poor communications were no help. The magistrate was often rendered powerless by unrest and disturbances of all kinds. Robberies and descents on shore by pirate gangs could take place with impunity since, even if help came, it invariably arrived far too late. Crime might eventually be punished but it was seldom prevented. No one would inform on disturbers of the peace for fear of reprisals or being entangled in the meshes of the law. Commenting on coastal piracy in 1897 Consul Brenan wrote, "The boat people never attempt to effect an arrest; there would probably be bloodshed and they would then be involved in judicial proceedings almost as unpleasant for themselves as for the pirates. They are thankful enough if they can get rid of their dangerous passengers, and persuade them to go off and try their fortune elsewhere"** However, it is only fair to state that the people of the district were also apt to create trouble among themselves, especially when circumstances conspired to make life difficult as in the dry season. This was especially true of the more closely populated agricultural areas, with villages in close proximity to each other, often sharing the same water supply for their fields and personal needs. The volatile Cantonese temperament is not suited to a cautious settlement of complicated personal problems: it is easier by far to fly off the handle and strike an attitude than to sit down and think. Hence difficult situations often were made intolerable by proximity and a quick temper, and clan fights were not uncommon, especially in the Yuen Long area. Hostilities between southern villages were well known at the time.** A tablet in the Tin Hau temple at Miu Kong, Tsuen Wan, refers to the death of seventeen male villagers by armed conflict between this village and Shing Mun Pat Heung in three years of intermit-tent strife which began in 1861. To these disturbances between the Punti villagers can be added a general antipathy between Hakka and Punti which sometimes erupted into violence and was still smouldering after the Hakka rebellion thirty years before."" 38 ================================================================================ 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 53 where the terraces are constructed running down a spur from the top, whereas tin denotes valley land which is terraced from a water-course upwards and stops at the toe of the hill around which flows the highest of the irrigation channels. A study can be made in the Lam Tsuen valley and in Pat Heung of the two systems of terrace; and one is often corrected by the locals if describing che as tin, or tin as che, though both are terraced and irrigated land. Whether this truly represents a new meaning given to an old word, or whether the Chinese reference books are wrong in describing che as dry cultivation, is another of the gaps in my puzzle which I hope can be authoritatively filled. Other indicator words which appear to be non-Chinese, though I cannot identify them as Yao, are quoted in my introduction to Mr. Tregear's Gazetteer, already quoted. The commonest among them are chun, kau, lek, pok, ting, to, run, tung, wat and yuen. In a paper presented at the Jubilee Congress of Hong Kong University I suggested that wongchuk and wongmai in local place names stood for left and right respectively. Another interesting specimen is the raised valley Wat Lo Fu northeast of Silvermine Bay, which preserves the original order (attribute after noun) of words in most of the non-Han languages of south-western China. Regarding the other tribe which is described as inhabiting our hills, the Shan Lao, I have not been able to obtain any distinctive marks of identification. However one easily observed feature of our hills, about which most of the present villagers disclaim all knowledge, is the system of low walls made of graded uncut stones enclosing rectangular areas of hillside which are either not terraced or only roughly terraced, with terraces at an angle; and since those of my acquaintance who have worked and lived among the Yao people say they have seen nothing of the kind in the Yao system of cultivation, it may well be that these old stone walls are a "trade mark” of the Shan Lao people. If so, then the same people must also be responsible for a number of irrigation works, of which the two most conspicuous are the one that begins near Hau Tong and flows about half a mile, partly underground, to one of these walled enclosures about the village of Ko Tong on the west of Long Harbour; and another on the northwest coast of Lantao, part of which, owing to the tilt... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1965 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s752cj653 ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY 11 found. The explanation for this is that this part of South China has been rising relative to sea level. This positive rise is connected with isostasy and eustatic movements of the oceans that cause cycles of submergence and emergence. Assuming a rise of one foot every hundred years then, Hong Kong in the last 2,500 years has risen 25 feet, Dr. Heanley and his friend Mr. Walter Schofield, a government administrator, gathered a large and varied collection of celts from Kowloon, Cheung Chau and Lantau Island. Examination of this collection by experts soon established that they were not just freaks of nature but definite human artifacts. Since Heanley's first notification, other workers have found them in practically every part of the Colony, and contrary to his belief that they were principally found on granite hills, they have been found often in abundance on every other rock outcrop represented in the area — especially volcanic rock. It may be that because of the extreme susceptibility of granite to erosion, which causes 'badland country' with thin or no vegetation cover, the celts can be seen more easily, Including the places mentioned by Dr. Heanley, celts can still be found in the fields, on raised beaches or on low hills at Tai Wan, Hung Shing Ye, Yung Shu Wan, Aberdeen, Tai Po, Castle Peak, San Hui, So Kun Wat, Tsun Wan, Shatin, Shataukok, Man Kok Tsui, Ha Tsuen, Sheung Shui, Shek Pik, Sai Kung, Lai Chi Chung, Sok Ku Wan, Fanling and Kau Sai Chau. Much is owed to Dr. Heanley, Mr. Schofield and Professor J. L. Shellshear, who was head of the Anatomy Department in the University of Hong Kong, for their conscientious and patient work in combing the Colony for other archaeological remains and sites after the celts had been identified. I have been told by our Vice-President, Sir Lindsay Ride, who knew all three intimately and often accompanied them on their field trips, that they were superbly energetic and covered tremendous distances in a day at great speed. Only fit and enthusiastic walkers could hope to last a whole day with them. They located several prehistoric sites, the most notable being So Kun Wat, Shek Pik and those at the northwest end of Lamma Island. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1966 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/bz60k0811 THE FIVE GREAT CLANS 39 to be a semi-official assembly of these very people. I have found only flimsy evidence that this did exist,113 but certainly the literati had contacts one with another, and when any two of the clans were in dispute, literati from a third clan appear to have been called in as arbitrators. Disputes were common, and all the clans were involved at one time or another. Alliances were made between clans against others, and sometimes smaller lineages from outside the five would be brought in. Causes of dispute were often trivial, setting aflame long-standing smouldering antagonisms between clans. Small incidents could very quickly escalate into full-scale battles. Frequently little was achieved by the disputes, and fights were stopped without either side gaining an advantage; but there must have been times when the fighting represented a serious attempt on the part of one clan to alter the balance of power or to establish a new relationship with another clan. Being wealthy and large, the five could always command arms and men, and, furthermore, by making use of the network of contacts to which their literati had the key, they could bring in on their side even more forces from the outside sphere, and perhaps even from Government. Smaller lineages could command neither wealth, nor arms, nor man-power, nor outside help based on literati-contacts, and as a consequence their disputes were of a much less serious nature. As one of the great clans 'face' (prestige) became important, and escalation resulted easily from minor incidents involving clan members. It might be illuminating if I closed this brief discussion of the clans with a few examples of some of the disputes which took place between them, giving in a little more detail two instances which are particularly illustrative. The Tangs, being the largest and most wealthy of the clans, were the most feared and there were many alliances against them. They were, however, split internally, and there is a history of fighting within the clan between different lineages, and particularly between the two large lineages of Ha Tsuen and Ping Shan. The Mans of Tai Hang joined with many other small lineages and villages and with the Pangs against the Tangs of Tai Po Tau and Lung Kwat Tau to set up the new market of Tai Po. Many small Hakka lineages formed the Pat Heung14 alliance against the Tangs of Kam Tin.15 The Lius were apparently associated with the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 44 R. G. GROVES that one could not bear to think of them."55 These apprehensions represent the core of arguments which were developed and embellished as the campaign to mount the resistance movement continued. They reached their highest point in a petition sent to the San On Magistrate some two weeks later. This alleged that, in an effort to control cholera, the Hong Kong Sanitary Board murdered Chinese who were ill by poisoning them with arsenic and then burned their houses down. The inflammatory potentialities of these charges — which appear to have been widely believed — are obvious. They were used frequently by leaders of the resistance in subsequent weeks. As requested, leaders of the various districts within the Yuen Long marketing area assembled the next day at Yuen Long market. Pat Heung, Shap Pat Heung, and Kam Tin were each represented by four people. Ping Shan sent six representatives, Ha Tsuen three, and Tun Mun (Castle Peak), one. Of the twenty-two people who attended the meeting, thirteen were members of one or another of the three Tang lineages. Once again, a decision was taken in favour of resistance, although not without disagreement. Two days later, on 31st March, leaders from throughout the area convened again at Yuen Long. The previous decision to resist was reaffirmed and letters were sent to leaders within the Sheung U Division, asking them to attend a general meeting at Yuen Long the next day.56 On 1st April leaders from the northern part of the Sheung U Division made their way to Yuen Long. In addition to the Yuen Long leaders, representatives of the following Sheung U lineages were present: Liu (Sheung Shui), Pang (Mandarin: P’eng, Fan Leng), Tang (Tai Po Tau), and Man (San Tin). The ensuing meeting was characterised by long and heated debate. It ended with a decision to offer resistance on an inter-divisional basis. Whatever the others did, the Tangs were clearly determined that the occupation would be opposed. While the Yuen Long meeting was in progress a copy of a placard issued by the Yuk-on Hin ("wish for peace" library) of Ping Shan reached the Governor in Hong Kong. Its message was direct and to the point: We hate the English barbarians, who are about to enter our boundaries and take our land, and will cause us endless evil. Day and night we fear the approaching ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1969 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d 52 R. G. GROVES the configuration of the country favoured cover and our casualties were few." But, "had this advance not been conducted with great care the loss to our troops must have been heavy."69 After fierce fighting the militia withdrew from the valley, leaving it by way of the saddle which gives access to the Pat Heung district. The soldiers followed and, having lost touch with the Chinese, bivouacked for the night at Sheung Tsuen, on the foothills overlooking the Pat Heung valley. The next afternoon a large force (subsequently estimated at 2,600 men), was seen approaching from a distance. It consisted of men from Ping Shan, Ha Tsuen, and Castle Peak and from four villages in adjacent Chinese territory, including Pan Tin. The British force took up positions and stood watching the militia, deployed in three lines, "advance across the open in excellent skirmishing order.70 The British Officer Commanding later conceded that it was "distinctly a determined advance for Chinamen.”71 The militia began firing at long range and their rifle and jingal fire shortly became almost continuous. When the distance had been reduced to 500 yards the British tried a few ranging shots, moved forward under cover of a dry water course, and advanced into the open toward the on-coming militia. In the face of such a determined response, which now became a general advance accompanied by heavy fire, the militia broke and ran. This battle marked the end of organized resistance within the New Territory. The next weeks were spent in establishing the civil administration and in persuading villagers to return to their normal occupations. The Governor, in attempting to explain what had happened to a remote Colonial Office, drew upon another Celtic parallel. The resistance, he said, revealed "a state of clan feeling and power of combination not unlike that of the Scottish Highlands two centuries ago . . ."72 The Occupation of Sham Chun and its Aftermath-- May to September, 1899. Thus far, operations had been confined to the newly leased territory. Early in May, however, reports reached the Hong Kong Government of an impending attack from across the Sham Chun river. Police informers said that 140 ‘bare-sticks' from Tung-kuan Hsien had assembled in secrecy at Sha Tau, on Deep Bay. They were to form the nucleus of a force which was to be augmented by ================================================================================ 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 57 as leaders during the fighting. Ten of the 63 leaders are identi-fiable as members of the gentry, in the sense that they are men-tioned in the documents as having degrees obtained either by purchase or by examination. examination. Most of the remainder could be termed 'local notables'. Some were substantial owners of agricul-tural land and village houses. Other owned shops in their local markets. It is probable that they were often --as was Man Cham-tsun managers of corporately-owned lineage property. The available information about these men is summarized below. — Table II LEADERS IN THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT (By Marketing area, District & Village, Surname)* Marketing area District, or other Association of sharing gradu-ates Village, or Surnames No. No. of leaders Yuen Long 5+ Ha Tsuen Tang 12 2 Ping Shan Tang 11 1 Kam Tin Tang 10 2 Pat Heung Tang 2 Li 1 Lai 1 Tse 1 1. +3 15 Shap Pat Heung Chu 1 Ng 2 2 15 Tai Po Tun Mun Ts'at Yeuk Tang 1 Lo 1 Tai Hang Man 3 1 71 Pan Chung Chan 1 Mak 1 - * +3 + ++ 7 ** Fan Leng Pang 1 Sha Lo Tung Li 2 " ** * * 2 Cheung Shue Tan Chan 1 7: * H 3. Hang Ha Po Lam 1 Tai Po Tau Tang * Shek Wu Hui Lung Yeuk Tau Tang I ++ +1 Sheung Shui Liu 1 Ping Kong Hau 2 1 ** Sha Tau Kok Sham Chun Wo Hang San Tin Li 4 Man 1 * All romanisations are in Cantonese. ================================================================================ 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 169 South and North of this country; later, when the number of descendants became very many, we lived apart in the two waais T'aai Hong and Kat Hing; round both of these waais were built tall walls and deep ditches were dug round them. We think that the idea of doing this by our ancestors, was to protect our houses and guard them against robbers only. When during the 25th year of Kwong Sui of Ts'ing dynasty, on Kei Hoi year, i.e. A.D. 1899, the Government of Ts'ing leased the South part of Sham Chan to the British Government, in that time, the Ts'ing Government did not inform the people of this beforehand, so when the British army arrived, the ignorant people of the country were inflamed by some persons and arose to resist them, the people of our waais being afraid to be disturbed, in order to avoid them they shut the iron gates firmly. The British army suspecting that bad characters were hiding inside, then assaulted and made the gates open. After they went into the Waai, they understood that the people inside were all good men and women, so did not give them any bad treatment, but just had the iron gates taken away. Now, the 26th descendant, Paak Kau, represented the people of these waais to petition the Hong Kong Government, asking the Government to bring the matter before London, and have the iron gates returned, and re-hung as before. All the expenses were paid by the Hong Kong Government. We also thank H.E. the Governor, Sir Edward Stubbs for his presence at the ceremony; from this can be seen the deep kindness and great virtue of the British Government, and shows that our people are pleased and sincerely submitted, therefore we specially carve the above on the tablet, in order to remember and never forget this kindness. Great Britain, May, 26th, 1925 Chinese Republic 14th year, on Yuet Hoi year the "yuen" 4th month, 5th, the lucky day. we carved.' Another ancient wall in the South district is Naam T'eng (†4) where the silver came to and where Tang Naam had his house. It is to be found to the South of Kat Hing Wai, but no houses are left inside. The North district, Pak Wai, has two villages, Shui T'au ("The head of the stream") and Shui Mei ( ) “the end of the stream," Tang K'ei Fong ( ) and Tang K'ei Wah ( ) both from T'aai Hong Tsuen were the first persons who lived in ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1974 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/x633mp077 222 NOTES AND QUERIES 2. the tunnels and execution ground used by the Japanese military authorities during the Occupation 1941-1945. 3. the small exhibition of photographs to be shown in the staff room. (from the School and from the Anglican Bishop's House in Hong Kong) 4. the very long history of this multi-racial major educational institution of Hong Kong. La Salle 1. the excellent all-round vistas formerly enjoyed from the school site before the extensive redevelopment of the past 15 years. They included a view straight down the Lye-mun passage and the main runway at Kai Tak. 2. the high quality of the Chapel and its fittings, particularly the furniture. 3. the excellent record of the Salesian Brothers in local educational work since 1875. For Both 1. The buildings were designed as schools, and by the same firm of architects (Messrs Little, Adams and Wood, Hong Kong). 2. the faith and vision of the founders who placed the schools in their present locations in the 1920s at a time when (as Carl Smith's note shows) this part of Kowloon was wholly rural and undeveloped. Diocesan Boys' School, La Salle College and their Neighbourhood - Carl T. Smith The Diocesan Boys' School (D.B.S.) is situated south of Boundary Street and west of Waterloo Road. La Salle College is north of Boundary Street and east of Waterloo Road. Thus, D.B.S. is in Old Kowloon and La Salle College in New Kowloon. Both schools are built on hills. The D.B.S. site was behind the old Mongkok village. The La Salle site adjoined the paddy fields of Kowloon Tsai Village which was situated to the north-east of the present College. Somewhat more distant to the two schools was the Chinese village of Kowloon Tong facing south-west at the foot of the hills upon which the present Yau Yat Tsuen is located. The site of the village is now the Police Recreation Ground on Boundary Street. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q "PATTERNED BANDS" IN THE N.T. OF HONG KONG 91 9 See John A. Brim, "Village Alliance Temples in Hong Kong”, in Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society, Arthur P. Wolf, ed., Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1974, pp. 93-104. 10 J. H. Stewart Lockhart, in his "Report on the New Territory at Hong Kong" (H.M. Stationery Office, 1900, p.6) states that different systems existed in Tai Po, Yuen Long, and "Ts'ün Wan and other areas". 11 In my census sample of Kwan Mun Hau Village, only 15% of the wives of household heads were born in Tsuen Wan. However, 89% of the mothers and 69% of the wives of Village Representatives interviewed by Graham E. Johnson in 1969 were born in Tsuen Wan District. (Graham E. Johnson, Natives, Migrants, and Voluntary Associations in a Colonial Chinese Setting, unpublished doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, 1970.) The reason for the discrepancy between the two samples is not clear; it may reflect differences between leaders and ordinary people, or between Kwan Mun Hau Village and Tsuen Wan in general. 12 Reported by Pat and Roger Howard, Canadians teaching in China. 13 Reported by Graham E. Johnson in 1976. 14 This was stated by Fei Hsiao-tung in an interview with Helga E. Jacobson and Graham E. Johnson in October 1976. 15 There is, for example, no mention of a backstrap loom in the very comprehensive study China at Work, by Rudolf P. Hommel (The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1969). ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q NOTES AND QUERIES Vol. No. Village (and Gazetteer reference) 299 Surname 41. Tong To (p. 217) Yau 余 42. Shek Pik (p. 73) Tsui 徐 43. Tap Mun Sheung Wai (p. 244) Lai 黎 44. Ha Yau Tin (p. 167) Tsui 徐 45. Sham Chung (p. 192) Lei 李 46. Sham Chung (p. 192) Lei 李 47. Chung Mei (p. 193) Lei 李 48. 49. Kei Ling Ha San Wai (p.183) 企嶺下新村 Ho 何 50. Kei Ling Ha San Wai (p.183) 企嶺下新 Ho 何 51. Pak Sha O Ha Yeung (p.189) 白沙澳下洋 52. Lo Uk Tsuen (p. 171) 羅屋村 Chuk Hang (p. 170) Yung 翁 Lo 羅 Tang 鄧 53. Shek Po Tsuen (p. 163) 石壆村 (2 vols.) Lam 林 54. 55. 56. 57. Kan Tay Tsuen (p. 212) 簡堤村 So Lo Pun (p. 219) 莽魯半 Mong Tseng Wai (p. 165) 輞井圍 Lo Shue Ling (p. 215) 羅樹嶺 Wong 黃 Tang 鄧 To 陶 Lau 劉 58. (Tai Po Tau (p. 174)) ✯ Tang 鄧 (Tai Po Shui Wai (p. 174)) ***@ [Not a genealogy: listing of ritual forms etc.] 59. Kau Tam Tso (p. 194) Lei 李 60. Heung Sai (not in New Territories) Cheung 張 61. Lung Kwu Tan (p. 160) Ho 何 Lau 劉 62. San Tin (p. 203) Man 文 63. Lau Clan Association Handbook Lau 劉 (Hong Kong Branch) 香港劉氏宗親會特刊 64. Sam A (p. 221) Tsang 曾 (4 vols.) 65. Che Ha (p. 183) Lei 李 66. She Shan (p. 200) Chan 陳 67. Kat O (p. 221) Lau 劉 68. Yung Shue Au (p. 219) Wan 溫 69. Hang Ha Po (p. 200) Lam 林 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 300 Vol. No. NOTES AND QUERIES Village (and Gazetteer reference) Surname 70. Fan Leng (p. 208) # 71. Fan Leng (p. 208) 72. Wai Tau Tsuen (p. 200) Pang 彭 Pang Cheung 張 73. Tai Kei Leng (p. 167) #4 Chung 鐘 74. Tin Sam (p. 171) Tsoi 蔡 75. Ha Wo Hang (p. 216) F** Lei 李 75.* [Duplicate] 76. Kwu Tung (p. 205) Lei 李 moved from Sham Chun area. 77. 78. Sha Lo Tung Lo Wei (p. 198) ***ŁE Lei # Lin O (Map ref. 070854) Lei 李 79. Ha Tsuen (p. 164) Tang 鄧 80. Kat Hing Wai (p. 172) N Tang 鄧 81. 82. Kat O Au Pui Tong (p. 221) *** Sheung Tsuen (p. 171) # Lam 林 Tse 謝 83. Nai Wai (p. 162) 84. 85. Later additions 86. Man 87. 88. 89. 90. 91. a 1st generation Cheng group now living in Hong Kong City. 92. 賴氏族譜 (mainland China) 93. 94. (2 vols.) Ng Uk Tsuen (p. 169) A** Ping Yeung (p. 214) ** of San Tin (p. 203) Pro- vided by Dr. James L. Watson 廣東番禺潭山許氏族誌 Unidentified: surname Taam possibly from Kwan Mun Hau, Tsuen Wan. 四必堂陳氏族譜誌 (the same as 89). [***] Sheung Tsuen (p. 171) Graham E. Johnson, Courtesy of Dr. U.B.C. Received from Dr. H. D. R. Baker Census of Lin Fa Tei village (p. | From Mr. 171) drawn up for the Ta Chiu of | H. G. H. Nelson 1967. To Ng 吳 Chan 陳 謝陶 Page 315 Page 316 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES The five graves may be summed up chronologically as follows: (1) TANG Hon-fat (2) TANG Kun (3) TANG Yuk (4) TANG Fu-hip (5) TANG Wai-kap Hong Kong, Nov. 1976 183 (Yuk Nui Pai Tong) near Wang Chau. Yuen Long. (Kam Chung Fook Fo) on a small hill behind Pok Oi Hospital. (Pun Yuet Chiu Tam) Tsuen Wan on Castle Peak Road. (Sin Yan Tai Tso) near Wang Chau, Yuen Long. (Wu Lei Kuo Shui) near Au Tau cross- roads. DAVID LIU ACCOUNT OF THE VISIT On Saturday, 11th December, 1976 some thirty members of the Society visited the five main graves of the Tang family of Kam Tin and other old established villages in the New Territories (see the programme notes above). We first visited grave No. 3 in Tsuen Wan which is located on a small hill that was bought by the family in 1927 to protect the grave in the face of various encroachments. In addition to the grave, there exist two round granite pillars (similar to those at graves 1 and 4 but without their lion-dog tops). These are situated each at a distance of 132 feet and angles of 125 and 217 degrees from the centre of the grave, as measured standing at the main table with the compass pointing north.* Lower down, a little off the main road there is also part of an entrance, built of inscribed rectangular granite pillars, erected in the 4 year which the Tang elders say is, in this case, 1894. Mr. Peplow was Land Bailiff, Southern District at the time the Tangs purchased the land in 1927, and his account,† quoting from a silk scroll given to him by one of the Tangs, is as follows: † S. H. Peplow Hong Kong About and Around (Hong Kong Commercial Press 1930) pp. 148-149. * I have since learned from the Tangs that the two pillars stood further to the front of the grave, nearer the former shore line, and that they were moved to their present location when the first Castle Peak motor road was constructed about 1917-1919. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n NOTES AND QUERIES 191 spot in the fields near Kam Tin, beside one of the new villages built by the Shing Mun people with funds provided by the Hong Kong Government. This temple (Plate 40) contains a tablet bearing the names of 17 Shing Mun villagers who died in the struggle.16 (Plate 41). (b) Tsuen Wan The Tin Hau Temple, which likewise is the community temple for the Tsuen Wan villagers, also contains a tablet to the 17 Tsuen Wan villagers who died in the war. (Plate 42). We shall also see the memorial recording the war according to the Tsuen Wan viewpoint. (c) One of the local weapons, estimated to be over 100 years old, and likely to have been in use at the time, is preserved in Muk Min Ha Village, one of the Tsuen Wan group, and I have permission to bring it with me on the visit. In the quaint phraseology of the past it is of the type known locally as 'Little Duck-bill', no doubt on account of its shape. (Plate 43),17 7. Comment This episode in local history is interesting for several reasons: (a) It took place between persons of the same language group. (b) All the contesting villages were small and their inhabitants closely related by intermarriage and other links over the preceding one to two hundred years of local settlement. (c) The Shing Mun villages were known locally as the Pak Heung18 or 8 Villages. Their one major and several minor lineages banded together to oppose Tsuen Wan. The latter, even more diversely settled than Shing Mun, also closed ranks to deal with the enemy. (d) It was purely a local struggle: no outside factors or participants were seemingly involved, other than the group from the other Pat Heung. (e) The district magistrate and local military forces apparently did not interpose themselves between the contestants: at least not on the local memory of these events. (f) Such incidents throw light on the war-like nature of local villagers, and the obligations of lineage groups to each other in offence and defence: they are typical of the Hong Kong region and other areas of S.E. China at this time. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 192 NOTES AND QUERIES Continuously to the present, since elders in both communities were boys and reportedly before, worship of these heroes has been carried out twice a year, at the times of the first and second padi harvests (described as 春分*). It even continued throughout the Japanese Occupation, a hard time when traditional practices were sometimes dispensed with and not taken up again. Such practices, whilst tending to keep each community together, also had the effect of perpetuating a rift; and the existence of such shrines did nothing to reduce the endemic bickering that characterized much of local society at that time. NOTES 1 Sessional Papers 1928 (see the District Officer North's report which follows at Part C to the Notes for this Visit). 2 See Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories (Hong Kong Government Printer, n.d. but circa 1960): 148-152. 3 Copies of genealogies of the Cheng (#) Tang (*) and some other local lineages have been recently deposited in the Chinese Library, University of Hong Kong. 4 They also went to Tai Po Market and to North West Kowloon. 5 YEUNG Kwok-shui (#) of Yeung Uk, a small single lineage settled since the Ch'ien Lung period. 6 Local place name of the district city of Hsin-an. 7 Gazetteer: 154. * Gazetteer: 150. Lo Wai is claimed to be the oldest of the Tsuen Wan villages. 9 See e.g. G. N. Orme's Report on the New Territory 1899-1912 in the Hong Kong Government's Sessional Papers 1912: paras 58-60; and the file CSD1903 Ext/17, minutes of 6 April and 5 May 1905 in Public Records Office of Hong Kong. 10 Gazetteer: 150-151. 11 GR. 12 Shek Lei Pui (†) was the name of a village moved to Sha Tin in the 1920s to make way for an extension to the Kowloon Reservoir. See H.K. Government's Administrative Reports 1924, page Q146, para. 4. 13 Gazetteer: 151. 14 The Tin Hau Temple inscription says a wooden tablet, worshipped for 70 years. 15 of Sam Tung Uk, Chairman of the Tsuen Wan Rural Committee and Chairman of the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, died 15th October, 1956: para. 119 of District Commissioner, New Territories' Annual Departmental Report 1956-57. 16 From the names listed it seems likely that, as stated by informants, friends and relatives of the Shing Mun people from the Pat Heung (Gazetteer: 170) aided them in the war against Tsuen Wan. 17 According to the Tsuen Wan tablet, the fighting took place with sharp weapons. (i). 18 This name was a purely Shing Mun description and does not appear in Gazetteer which only refers to the other Pat Heung to the north. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 206 NOTES AND QUERIES a temple outside Tung Kwun city whose upkeep and ritual observances were financed by large joint landed estates. 14. Yeung-leung's son, Tsz-ming (8) was married off, albeit unwittingly, to a princess of the Sung Dynasty. I have little to add here that Sung and O'Dwyer do not mention, but I believe it is important to stress that this tale (popularly known as the Wong Ku (*) story) served the important function, at least prior to the 1930's, of defining Tangs relative to outsiders (the powers-that-be) and locals (especially surrounding great and small lineages). 14. a. The San On gazetteer (a rare copy of which exists in the Fung Ping Shan Library of Hong Kong University), compiled in 1819, gives the tale in complete detail. 14. b. The Rev. Krone's "A Notice of the Sanon District," published in the Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1859, contains the following passage: "The inhabitants of a pretty little village on Deep Bay called “Kam-Tin”... also trace their origin up to the Sung dynasty. A high mandarin, they say, of the name of Tung, came to San On from the interior of China, and was so much pleased with the county around Deep Bay, that he settled down and made himself very popular, by giving gratuitous instruction. The grandson of this man having done some meritorious service to the State, the emperor Ko-tsung of the Sung dynasty, gave him his daughter in marriage.' 14. c. It will also be noted that the plaque commemorating the return of the iron gates to Kat Hing Wai makes especial reference to the tale. Several elders of neighboring villages, when asked why the Tangs were so powerful as to be able to concentrate five wais (walled villages) in the district, cited this imperial kinship link. 15. The second major migratory movement of the Tangs occurred during the generation of Wong Ku's sons. Lam (*) settled at Lung Kwat Tau (##), Kei (*) settled in Tung Kwun at Shek Tseng &✯✯, Wai (*) established the Tang branch-settlement at Tai Po Tau (†). Chi (#) remained in Sham Tin. [Chi's grandson Chu-on (₫) established the Ha Tsuen lineage-village.] * Reprinted in JHKBRAS 7(1967). See p.134. † See P. Wesley-Smith's article in JHKBRAS 13, 1973: 41-44. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 214 NOTES AND QUERIES [This is perhaps the feud Lockhart mentions on page 51 of his Report.] There is also the case of the Ha Tsuen Tang who sold the Cheung Sha Wan clan land [see appendices]. The first murder case heard in the New Territories is thought to have some connection with this dispute. Tang Cheung, a Ha Tsuen Tang, was captured during the resistance and "executed" for posting British petitions. This event, in turn, is cited by Kam Tin Tangs as further evidence of treason on the part of their clan brothers. 32. One question that came up was the relationship between the local Tangs and the Tung Kwun Tangs. We have assembled a great deal of documentary evidence which illustrates the broad range of defense activities performed by braves from Tung Kwun (Intelligence reports at the time of the resistance estimate over 1000 braves from Tung Kwun were stationed in Yuen Long). Behind a nunnery near Sha Po (9), a well-kept grave bears witness to the memory of those troops killed in the fighting who were buried secretly by the Kam Tin Tangs. The nuns still perform ta chiu ceremonies for their spirits, at intervals of 10 years. 33. A biography of Ng Ki-Cheung, or Ng Sing-chi ({✯✯) would illuminate the transitional period 1898-1930. On the one hand he is considered, by the Sha Po villagers, as being "The Hero of the New Territories,” a literatus (Sau Tsoi) who led the revolt of 1898 against the British and, in later years, against Tang efforts to reassert land rights. His name figures prominently in the Extension Papers, in which he is implicated in the Tang Cheung murders and other related resistance events. His confession is particularly interesting, as it implicates many Tangs in the crime. He received a sentence of life-imprisonment, which was later commuted "to still the hearts of the loyal natives." 34. The 1930's were particularly eventful years in and around Kam Tin. The Chengs (i) moved in, after being relocated due to the building of the Shing Mun Reservoir at Tsuen Wan by the Hong Kong Government. The villas (1) built in Pat Heung with Overseas Chinese and Warlord support, became nuclei for non-Tang settlements unbound by the traditional system.* The last tax-revolt against the Tangs was successfully carried out by Sha Po villagers, an event which coincided with the disappearance of sai-man and mui-chai. e.g. Ng Ka Tsuen immediately south of Kam Tin which is populated by descendants and relatives of a wealthy Overseas Chinese. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 142 NOTES AND QUERIES During the early Tang Dynasty, the importance of Tuen Mun increased. Thus a garrison of two thousand men was posted1, and Tuen Mun became known as the Tuen Mun Military Zone19 5. The garrison was led by a commander known as Sau-Chuk-Si 守捉使 belonging to the Annam Military Zone 安南都護府. Its headquarters were at Nam Tau, later the district city of San On. The area of present day Hong Kong, including the islands, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories, was under the protection of this garrison. In the Sung Dynasty, the Tuen Mun Military Zone was turned into the Tuen Mun Ngam19. However, the number of soldiers and the rank of the officer in charge are not certain. During the early Ming Dynasty, the Tuen Mun Ngam was turned into the Nam Tau Walled City, and the garrison was commanded by a Cham-Cheung or Brigadier. Later, in the 17th year of the Hung Wu Reign (1384), Fa Mau✯✯, Commander of the Nam Tau Walled City, asked the Imperial Court to strengthen the garrison of the coastal area. Tuen Mun lay between the areas protected by the Tung Kwun Battalion and the Tai Pang Battalion. Thus, a watch-post was built, and a guard-station under a Pa-Tsung(4) was established. In the 9th year of the Chia Ching reign (1514), the Portuguese entered the Tuen Mun Bay. They took over the adjacent lands and built forts. They even established a monument. However, in the 16th year of Chia Ching, Wong Wang, Commander-in-chief of the Kwangtung naval forces, defeated the Portuguese at Sai Tso Wan8. After that, no Portuguese was found in the Tuen Mun area.9 At that time, there were villages like Lung Kwu Tsuen, Lang Shui Tsuen✯k††, Tuen Mun Tsuen19#, So Kwun Wat Tsuen 掃桿笏村, and Siu Lam Chung Tsuen 小欖涌村.10 During the early Ch'ing Dynasty, the Coastal Evacuation✯✯ caused the abandonment of the area close to the sea. Tuen Mun thus lay barren until, in the 7th year of the K'ang Hsi reign (1668), people were permitted to return to the coastal strip. The Tuen Mun Watch-post was re-established with a garrison of fifty men under a Tsin-Tsung. In the 21st year of K'ang Hsi (1682), the Tuen Mun Watch-post was turned into the Tuen Mun Walled City19 with a garrison of thirty men under a Tsin-tsung11. During ================================================================================ 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 the Chien Lung period, it was turned into a guard-station 143 Villages rebuilt at that time were Tze Tuen Tsuen, Tuen Mun Tsuen, Siu Hang Tsuen, Po Tong Ha Tsuen, So Kwun Wat Tsuen and San Tsuen Wai.12 In the 16th year of the Chia Ching reign (1811), the Tuen Mun guard-station was strengthened. Besides the original garrison, a Pa-Tsung was posted to be the assistant. Five guard-stations, each under a Ngai-Wai with four men, were erected at Shing Mun, Wang Chau, Kwun Chung, Tsiu Keng and Ma Tseuk Leng. They were all under the command of the Tsin-Tsung of the Tuen Mun Guard Station. At that time, villages in that area were all under the charge of the Kwun-Fu-Shi TO: namely: Tuen Mun Tsuen, Tsing Chuen Wai, Tsz Tuen Wai, Siu Hang Tsuen, Po Tong Ha Tsuen, Sun Fung Wai, Chung Uk Tsuen, Nai Wai Tsz Tsuen, San Tsuen, So Kwun Wat Tsuen, Tai Lam Tsuen, Tin Fu Tsai Tsuen and Un Tan Tau Tsuen.4 During the early years of the Tao Kuang reign, a Pa-Tsung and a Ngai-Wai with sixteen men were posted at the Tuen Mun Guard-station, sixty men were placed in the following six guard-stations which were all under the command of the Tuen Mun Guard Station. These guard stations were at Mong Tseng, Wang Chau (ten men), Kwun Chung (five men), Tai Po Tau (fifteen men), Shing Mun Au (fifteen men) and Tsiu Keng (five men).15 This continued until the 24th year of the Kuang Hsü reign (1898), when the Ch'ing Government leased the New Territories and the adjacent islands to the British, after which these guard-stations were abandoned.16 In 1899, the area was divided into the three sub-districts of Tuen Mun, Tai Lam Chung and Lung Ku Tan belonging to the Un Long District. Villages in these sub-districts were as follows:17 Tuen Mun Sub-district:- Chung Uk Tsun, Shun Fung Wai, Tsing Chun Wai, Tsz Tin Wai, Nai Wai, Tun Tsz Wai, Po Tong Ha, Siu Hang, Lam Ti and San Tsuen. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 144 NOTES AND QUERIES Tai Lam Chung Sub-district:- Tai Lam Chung, So Kun Fat, Tai Lam, Tsing Fai Tong, Un Tan and Tin Po Tsai 田箭仔、 Lung Ku Tan Sub-district:- Nim Wan, Tai Shui Hang 大水坑, Pak Long 北朗, Ha Nam Long 下南朗, Sheung Nam Long 上南朗 and Tuk Mi Chung 篤尾涌. 18 At present, Tuen Mun consists of thirty-two villages; namely: Chi Tin Tsuen, Ching Chuen Wai † (mainly surnamed To 陶), Ching Shan Keuk 青山脚, Ching Shan Tsuen 青山村, Chung Uk Tsuen (mainly surnamed Chung), Fu Ti Tsuen 虎地村, Fu Hang Tsuen 福亨村, Ho Tin Tsuen 河田村, Ki Lun Wai 麒麟圍 (mainly surnamed Chan 陳), Kwong Shan Tsuen 礦山村, Lam Tei 藍地 (mainly surnamed To 陶 and Kwan 關), Lam Tei San Tsuen (mainly surnamed To), Leung Tin Tsuen 良田村 (mainly surnamed Ho 何), Lung Ku Taan 龍鼓灘 (mainly surnamed Lau), Nai Wai (mainly surnamed To 陶), Nim Wan 稔灣, Po Tong Ha 寶塘下 (mainly surnamed Tsui 徐), Sam Shing Hui 三聖墟, San Hing Tsuen 新慶村 (mainly surnamed Siu 蕭), San Hui 新墟, San Wai Chei 新圍仔, Shun Fung Wai »§ £, ♬ (mainly surnamed Cheung 張 and Leung 梁), Siu Hang Tsuen 小坑村 (mainly surnamed Tse 謝), So Kwun Wat 掃管笏 (mainly surnamed Lee 李), Tai Lam Chung (mainly surnamed Wu 吳 and Wong 黃), Tin Fu Chai (mainly surnamed To and Choi), To Yuen Wai (mainly surnamed Lee 李), Tseng Tau Tsuen 井頭村, Tuen Chi Wai 屯子圍 (mainly surnamed To 陶), Wo Ping San Tsuen 和平新村, Yeung Siu Hang 楊小坑 and Luen On San Tsuen 聯安新村. Tuen Mun has now been developed into a large new satellite town. A major road, the Tuen Mun Highway, has been built, joining it with Tsuen Wan, and a light rail system within the town area will be developed in the near future. NOTES 1 The name 'Tuen Mun' appeared first in Chapter 43 of the New History of T'ang. 2 Tuen Mun Shan was also known as 'Pui To Shan'. Nowadays, it is also called 'Castle Peak'. The Bay was also known as Tuen Mun O. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 38 EDGAR WICKBERG halls to see what I could learn about Tang influence on the one hand and local solidarities and influence on the other. I expected to find a pattern of declining Tang landholdings as one moved away from Kam Tin towards the east end of the Basin. In fact, what I found was solid owned-holdings and mortgage holdings by the Kam Tin Tangs in the area immediately to the east of the lineage stronghold itself, but a complete drop-off thereafter: no Kam Tin Tang holdings beyond a mile or two east of Kam Tin. Instead, what is most noticeable is the widespread land ownership influence of a different set of Tangs - the Hakka Tangs of Wang Toi Shan, a large village of several hamlets in the Northeastern portion of the Pat Heung area. Indeed, it is Wang Toi Shan ownership that follows my presumed pattern of solidity nearby trailing off to smaller amounts over distance. Wang Toi Shan people owned lands at considerable distances from their village well beyond their ability to walk to them and cultivate them themselves and right up to the area where Kam Tin Tang ownership began. Interestingly enough, Wang Toi Shan Tang holdings were mostly those of clan trusts. Where the lands were near to Wang Toi Shan itself, they were both individually-owned and clan-owned; more distant lands were almost all clan-owned. Parenthetically, this seems to resemble an observation made by J. T. Kamm about the holdings of the Kam Tin Tangs: that their individual holdings were close by and their clan holdings were often distant. The Tangs of Wang Toi Shan may or may not be related in some way to the Tangs of Kam Tin. The Wang Toi Shan Tangs were Hakkas, of course, and the Kam Tin Tangs are usually thought of as Punti. But there is a Kam Tin tradition that someone of the Punti Tang branches of Ping Shan or Ha Tsuen married a Hakka woman of Waichow and that her male offspring settled in Wang Toi Shan, thereby founding the Tang name and fortune there. And the genealogy of the Hakka Tangs of Shui Lau Tin, who claim affiliation with the Wong Toi Shan Tangs, shows some possible links between themselves and the Kam Tin Tangs. The Wang Toi Shan Tangs with whom I have spoken deny kinship, but their genealogy appears to show a common place of origin in North China with the Kam Tin Tangs. Lo Hsiang-lin, however, finds no modern connection. V. Localities Let us look individually at the villages in the area east of Kam Tin, starting with Sheung Tsuen village, the farthest away at the east end ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1981 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m 40 EDGAR WICKBERG The small Hakka village of Shui Lau Tin was quite different. This was essentially a two-lineage village. The Tsois was the more numerous and owned most of the houses. But the one Tang lineage was quite prosperous as were many of the Tsois. Yet, while the largest landowners among both Tsois and Tangs owned much of their lands away from the village, and more to the west near Yuen Kong, other lineages and other villages owned land right up to the walls, so to speak, of Shui Lau Tin. Without tracing the affiliations of each of these surname groups it would be difficult to classify Shui Lau Tin in any typology of New Territories lineage villages. Finally, the large village of Yuen Kong, a mixed Hakka-Punti village nearest to Kam Tin of any I have looked at. Here, the Leung surname was preeminent, since Leungs owned almost 30 percent of the houses in the village, twice as many as any other of the major surnames of the village, and they also owned 26 percent of the cultivated land in the village area. There were seven lineage trusts - one for each of the major surnames and five religious associations. 75 percent of the cultivated land around the village was locally-owned, but there were important enclaves of ownership by the Kam Tin Tangs, the Wang Toi Shan Tangs, and individuals from Shui Lau Tin, Lin Fa Tei and Sheung Tsuen. Having surveyed the area in this way, I find myself puzzled by what appears to have been an absence of Kam Tin influence east of Kam Tin, other than in the way we know about: that is, the earlier overlordship. Is it possible they never held land in the Pat Heung other than within a mile or two of their own gates? To the west of Kam Tin there were Tang branches, large-scale land ownership, market control, and overlordship over ha-lu. It would seem that the Kam Tin Tangs expanded to the west, but not much to the east. If so, why? Surely, the Pat Heung, a fertile area, was attractive. I can think of some possibilities. One might be united local opposition. We know that, strong though they are, Tang branches could be successfully opposed when several groups united. The Pat Heung opposition to overlordship discussed above is one instance; the Taipo Market case is another. Was there a united Pat Heung organization well before 1900 and well before the opposition to Tang overlordship, perhaps centering on the Tong Yick Tong, or something like it, that could prevent sales of land to Kam Tin? A second possibility: were there, perhaps, village-level agreements not to sell land to Kam Tin, but rather, if one must sell, to sell to another surname in the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 113 Factory Location 40 The location of the joss stick industry has experienced a lot of changes throughout its history. In the early days when incense trees were grown, the industry was strongly affected by physical factors. As the incense trees require a balance between sand and alluvium for successful growth, the joss stick industry, so dependent on local supply of incense wood, evolved around Lik Yuen and Sha Lo Wan where soils were well aerated. However, after Hong Kong began to process these incense woods before they were exported, the location pattern of the industry became more widespread. From 1911 onwards, incense wood milling was concentrated in Taikoktsui and particularly in Tsuen Wan, making use of the presence of a large, fast flowing river to power the wheels used to pound the incense powder. Other concentrations were found in Victoria, Yaumati, Mongkok and Sham Shui Po. Nevertheless, nowhere was able to assume a higher importance than Taikoktsui in the joss stick industry, especially in the period immediately after 1945. Indeed, Taikoktsui immediately after 1945 had a unique concentration of joss stick manufacturers unequalled by any other location. Because of its industrial peripheral situation, “for over a century or more, Taikoktsui had a sort of fringe status in Kowloon, and much of it was rather isolated”, the area was considered to be an ideal place for the business of the joss stick industry. According to local manufacturers, post-war concentration in Taikoktsui was prominent because the acquisition of factory buildings was so easy as 60% of them had been left empty since the War. These factory buildings were only tenements, one- or two-storey workshop or storage buildings, and some of them were no more than sheds.43 Despite the importance of Taikoktsui in the period immediately after the War, the industry began to disperse after about 1950. The trend became especially marked as Hong Kong became more and more urbanized. The industry was pushed further northward into the New Territories as the city sprawled, using large pieces of unoccupied land. By the 1960s, the industry clustered in Yau Yat Tsuen; slightly later it was further pushed into Sha Tin, Fanling and Yuen Long. Location of the industry today is closely tied to the needs of the manufacturing method. Generally speaking, the location of joss stick fabrication is more economically determined than physically determined. Indeed, the only physical factor considered essential is the availability ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 147 The Magistrate's influence seems to have deferred the success of the Tsat Yeuk in by-passing the Tai Po ferry from about 1840 to 1892, but otherwise it does not seem to have played any significant part. The Magistrate seems to have played absolutely no role at all in the dispute between the Luk Yeuk and Wong Pui Ling. The main gentry organisations in the area were the Po Tak Temple Old Alliance and the Community School (1) in Sham Tsun, which was managed by the Tung Ping Kuk (T5, "Council for Peace in the East"), consisting of all the Punti degree holders in the Sham Tsun area, who sat in the school in rotation to adjudicate disputes. The political effectiveness (as opposed to their effectiveness in settling inter-personal disputes) of these gentry bodies in ordinary times was slight. The predominant membership of the Community School rota was from Sheung Shui, Lung Yeuk Tau, Wong Pui Ling and Sham Tsun itself, and their mutual enmities rendered it helpless in most major local political crises. The Po Tak Temple was similarly divided. The Sham Tsun Community School was, furthermore, ignored by the Hakka degree-holders, who had a similar, but weaker, body connected with the school in Sha Tau Kok, and known as the Tung Wo Kuk (†1⁄2, “Council for Peace in the East”). 41 The Nuns and Their Background The nuns of the Cheung Shan Kwu Tsz were local Punti girls. This was a common feature of the pre-British Buddhist institutions in the area. The Ta Kwu Ling villagers believe that all the nuns, at all dates, were Punti. They were "women who refused to marry". This was the same at all the indigenous nunneries in the New Territories. The Tang lineage owned three nunneries: the Ling To nunnery being owned by the Ha Tsuen branch of the lineage, the Ling Wan nunnery by the Kam Tin branch, and the Lung Kai nunnery by the Lung Yeuk Tau branch. Village elders of all three villages say that, before they were taken over by immigrant monks (or, in the case of the Lung Kai nunnery, became ruined), they were all houses of nuns, and that, while girls from other places were not debarred from becoming nuns there, effectively all the nuns were Tang girls from the branch of the lineage owning the monastery in question, girls, that is, who “refused to marry". Similarly, the nuns of the Kim Ho monastery at the Law Fong bridge were, according to Law Fong village elders, girls from Punti ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 303 THE DANGS AS A LINEAGE Although a survey on occupations and land ownership was not part of the brief project on which this report is based, some of my interviews bear on the economic aspects of life in Kam Tin. While the Dangs of Kam Tin are well known as a wealthy lineage that has produced many imperial degree holders, in fact very few of the lineage were landlords/scholars. The vast majority of the Dangs earned their living as farmers, and most of them did not own much farm land. There seems to have been a large gap between the rich and the poor amongst the Dangs. Replying to my questions about ha-fu, or hereditary servants to the Dangs, a Mrs. Dang added her observations on the inequality among the Dangs themselves. The majority, the poor Dangs, were at the beck and call of the minority of the wealthy Dangs. She cited the example of her father-in-law, who worked on rice fields rented from a rich Dang as well as his own. He also took risks to hide the valuables of the rich man during the Japanese war. When asked why he did all this, she explained that obviously this was done in case he needed to borrow rice from the rich man in the future, which he actually did. The family of another Mrs. Dang I interviewed had rented farm land from the same rich man, Dang Baak-Kau. She took care to lower her voice when saying this, and added: “Villagers of Tsi Tong Tsuen, Kat Hing Wai, and Tai Hong Wai — actually, all over Kam Tin people had rented his farm land”. Dang Baak-Kau had been a major leader of the Dangs of Kam Tin during his time. He represented the Dangs of Kam Tin in 1925 to petition the Hong Kong government to return the iron gates of one of the main Kam Tin villages taken away in 1899 when the British took over the New Territories. He was also one of the two Dangs named after the formal head of the lineage in a 1941 petition to the New Territories administration against the division and sale of an ancestral trust property. The dominance of the segment descended from him in lineage affairs is evident in the Ching Lok Ancestral Hall ritual manual, to which has been added, after entries giving two or one and a half catties of ritual pork to descendants of the six Dangs responsible for the initial building and rebuilding of the hall, an entry giving two catties of roast pork to his descendants in the Spring and Autumn rites. Before this Dang died some 30 years ago, he was awarded a "higher medal" in about 1933 by the British administration, according to a genealogy he commissioned. One can see at the same ancestral hall a ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h Long Old Marker Kam Pin Wai Ng Ling Yuen Long New Kam Tin and its vicinity Gwai Gok Shaan Bay Tin Hau Temple Shu Mei Ching Lok Ancestral Halls Mau Ging Tong Ancestral Hall Hung Sing Temple Jau & Wong Temple Around Sire Swamp Kam Hing/Wa Sa Bui Tai Hong Leng Wai Ng Ling Gwong San Wai Tsuen Market Ko SHAP PAT HEUNG Shop Per Heung Tin Hau Temple Kat Hing Wai Tong Ancestral Hall PAT HEUNG Pa Heung Temple Yuen Kong Temple Ling Wan Monastery Approximate boundaries of Kam Tin (Map taken from Tanaka 1989) 319 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 325 In the nearby Pat Heung region, according to a genealogy dated about 1933, the rent the Dangs used to collect from the portion of their farm land holding lost in the land re-registration in the 1900s amounted to more than 2,000 taels. The Dang elders explained to me that the lost land included both individual and corporate holdings. They were lost to Pat Heung people, i.e. the villagers of Yuen Kong, Sheung Tsuen, Wang Toi Shan and Lin Fa Tei. The Dangs lost the land because the government's policy was to ask those who claimed a piece of land to say where the land was rather than to say who the tenants were. In many cases the Dangs knew the tenants but not the land, and were unable to sustain their claim. Dang Wing-Sau was told by his mother that a certain Lam Ngau-Jai of Yuen Kong had claimed the land he rented from Wing-Sau's father. Wing-Sau's father took the case to court and won the lawsuit. Subsequently Lam Ngau-Jai changed his name to Lam Jyu-Jai so as to avoid possible prosecution. I learned of a similar case from an anecdote about Ng Sing-Chi. A son of the Ng of Nam Pin Wai in the 1873 dispute, he was a prominent figure of the period around 1898 who was instrumental in opening a new market in Yuen Long in opposition to the Dangs.* A Mr. Dang of the Gwong-Yu Tong told me of Ng Sing-Chi's role in putting an end to the rent payments to the tong. On each Chinese New Year Eve each household in Nam Pin Wai had to pay the Gwong-Yu Tong Dangs a small sum of money, which, he said, was rent for their house land. The Dangs used to do the collecting themselves. But soon after Ng's release by the British officials from imprisonment for his involvement in the fighting against the British in 1898 he played a trick against the Dangs. He offered to them that to save their trouble he would do the collecting for them, if they would give him a receipt. This the Dangs did, and with the receipt Ng reported the case to the government. It was illegal. Since then the Gwong-Yu Tong Dangs dared not collect the rent from Nam Pin Wai any more. ## COMMUNITY AND WORSHIP ### III. THE COMMUNITY #### A. Overview Many informants mentioned the expression "five wai and six tsuen” with regard to the Kam Tin Dangs, but none of them was able to list these walled and unwalled villages definitively. The villages of Kam Tin ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 326 were listed for me as follows: Wing Lung Wai, Tai Hong Wai, Kat Hing Wai, Shui Tau Tsuen, Shui Mei Tsuen, Tsi Tong Tsuen, Tai Hong Tsuen, Kam Hing Wai, Ko Po Tsuen, and Kam Tin Shi." Four wai, five tsuen (chyun) and one shi. It does not agree with the numbers of 5 wai and 6 chyun. The expression no longer corresponds to the present situation. Their explanation for the discrepancy was that some of the original villages did not exist anymore. One example they gave is the case of Pak Wai, which had become a tsuen (chyun) after its wall had fallen. Some of the villages have very small populations nowadays, and some of the eleven original villages are now missing. Another factor involved is that, to many of the villagers, Tsi Tong Tsuen and Tai Hong Tsuen were not quite distinct from one another, and sometimes the two names were used interchangeably. The name San Wai was quite often used by them to refer to Tai Hong Tsuen, sometimes both. Village 1895 1960 Kat Hing Wai 308 410 Shui Tau 416 655 Shui Mei 181 250 Tai Hong Wai 176 215 Wing Lung Wai 154 250 Tai Hong Tsuen 33 155 San Wai (Tsi Tong Tsuen) 28 Kam Hing Wai 69 Ko Po 64 205 Kam Tin Shi Total 1412 2140 As can be seen in the table above, the populations of the Kam Tin villages are very uneven. Five of them are often referred to by the local villagers as "the five main villages". They were Shui Tau, Shui Mei, Kat Hing Wai, Tai Hong Wai, and Wing Lung Wai. Among the smaller villages, Tai Hong Tsuen and Tsi Tong Tsuen are considered part of Tai Hong Wai. They take part in the dim-dang ceremony for the newborn at the shrine of the God of Earth and Grain at the Wai and join the jiu of the wai. On a higher level, the Kam Tin villages are divided into two groups: ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 327 Naam-Bin ("South Side") and Bak-Bin ("North Side"). Bak-Bin includes only two villages: Shui Tau and Shui Mei. Naam-Bin includes Kat Hing Wai, Tai Hong Wai, Wing Lung Wai, Ko Po, Kam Hing Wai, Tsi Tong Tsuen, Tai Hong Tsuen and Kam Tin Shi. The division into Naam-Bin and Bak-Bin corresponds to the geographic location of residence as well as to agricultural and ritual activities. The village patrol corps of Kam Tin were also organized in terms of Naam-Bin and Bak-Bin. B. The Village Guard System The village guard system continued well into the 1960s. It used to be called cheun-ding, but later was called ji-wai-deui. There was one for Naam-Bin and one for Bak-Bin. The Naam-Bin guards consisted, more or less, of two men from each of Tai Hong Wai, Wing Lung Wai, Kat Hing Wai and Ko Po. The Bak-Bin guards were from Shui Tau and Shui Mei. The guards worked in two shifts, the first from 8 p.m. to midnight and the second from midnight to about 5 a.m. The Naam-Bin village guards patrolled the area reaching Au Tau to the west, gwai-waan to the east, Wong Chuk bei to the south, and the river before Pak Wai chyun to the north. Sha Pui Leng (Sa Bui Leng) was within the scope of their protection. The villagers of this village paid levies to the corps, but none of them were members. The village corps was rewarded by levies on sweet potato and rice crops. They charged 10% on potato. Before harvest, one in ten rows (laar) of the potato had already been allocated to the village guards. The rate of the levy on rice was a prescribed amount some tens of catties on each mu of cultivation. When the villagers' paddy fields suffered loss from theft, they got compensation from the village corps responsible for its protection. The corps would compensate in full the estimated loss. In earlier times the head of each village corps was selected by bidding. Each candidate would offer a certain quantity of rice (guk) which he would give back to the member villages. But in the case of the head for the year 1954, who I interviewed, he was appointed by the elders. This was because few people wanted the post. Around 1954 there was government involvement in the village guard system. "The police station asked us to organize [village corps]”. There were more than ten guards, armed with 6 guns. The guards also had passes issued by the police. They were also given used uniforms for ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 329 Loi Tung, among other places, including some to Dongguan and Xiangshan counties. The cousins of Hung-Yi moved away to nearby Ha Tsuen and Xiangshan county, among other places. Hung-Yi's brother Hung-Ji moved to Ha Tsuen. Thereafter, all the remaining Dangs of Kam Tin were descendants of Hung-Yi. Casually asking the Dang elders about the relationship between lineage segmentation and settlement, one is given both concrete examples that suggest a correspondence as well as general observations that there is no correspondence. For example, one would be told that the descendants of the third branch (Yeui), which are very few in number, all live in Wing Lung Wai, and that all the others of that village were descendants of the first fong. Unless one asks about a particular segment, the answers would be in terms of the four branches of the lineage, and the conclusion will be that no single segment lives in a village of its own except in the case of Tai Hong Wai where all the villagers are descendants of Man-Wai and his brothers. Going down the level of segmentation, to the lineage divisions focussed upon ancestors of the 17th to 19th centuries, there is correspondence in the sense that members of these segments all live in the same village. As already mentioned, all the members of the third branch live in Wing Lung Wai. Similarly, all the Ji-Ga Tong people live in Shui Tau, all the descendants of Wan-Yu live in Wing Lung Wai, and all the descendants of Gwong Yu Tong and Lei Ging Tong live in Tai Hong Wai. Another example is the descendants of Wan-Gaan, who, according to one account, had three sons: Fau-Ng, Jan-Ting and Gai-Jau. Gai-Jau's segment live in Kat Hing Wai. Fau-Ng's descendants are divided into three sub-segments. One of the three lived in Ko Po, another in Kat Hing Wai, and the other in Kam Hing Wai. Some segments of the lineage settled elsewhere. The descendants of Hung-Yi's second son Jan had moved to Ying Lung Wai near the Yuen Long Old Market at a very early date. I was told by its head of branch that many more lived in Zhongshan county. Some of the descendants of San-Fung, a son of Wan-Guk, also had settled elsewhere. I was told that most of them live in Kat Hing Wai, but some had moved to Tong Fong near Ping Shan. The ritual handbook for Ching-Lok's ancestral hall had a special provision for the descendants of San-Fung, which said that they had moved to Naam Tau, in a street outside the city wall. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 337 The Jau and Wong Temple also used to house spirit tablets to "heroes". The tablets (three in total, without names) were moved to the Yau-Leun Tong from the side altar in the temple about 50 years ago because they were siu-yan (“small people”), and it was unseemly to house them in the same temple as the two great men (daai-yan). As mentioned before, villagers agreed that the “heroes” were those who had died in fighting (da-saat) between Kam Tin and its enemies. Kam Tin has quite a number of other temples. There are the Man-Cheung Temple and Hung-Sing Temple in Shui Tau, and the Tin-Hau Temple in Shui Mei. Many of the other villages, e.g. Kam Hing Wai, Tai Hong Wai, Kat Hing Wai, Tsi Tong Tsuen, and Wing Lung Wai, which do not have “standard” temples, have a san-teng, a house with an altar for a spirit tablet for about ten popular temple gods. The gods of some of the vanished temples, which include a Yeung-Hau Temple and a Bou-Dak Chi in Shui Mei, and the Hung-Fan Taam Temple of Shui Tau, are still worshipped in the jiu festival, as are the gods of two nunneries, in Shui Mei and Tai Hong Wai respectively, which no longer exist. These temples and nunneries hold tablets or images of some 20 different gods, if we are to include the Earth God for temples, and Wai-To for Buddhist establishments. The other 18 include the popular temple gods Yeung-Hau, Tin-Hau, Bak-Dai, Man-Cheung, Gwun-Yam, Gwaan-Dai, Hung-Sing, the God of Wealth, Gam-Fa, Taai-Seui, the Dragon King, and the Buddha. The Bou-Dak Chi housed spirit tablets for Jau and Wong. There is not much information about this other temple dedicated to Jau and Wong, but it was worshipped probably only by the villagers of Shui Tau, where it was situated. Fui-Sing, and Fa-Gung Fa-Mou are probably respectively responsible for success in imperial examinations and the health of children. Hoi-Saan Suk-Lou is a title found in some other local temples as well, and represents the earliest settlers of the place. Hong-Wong is a title that I have not seen elsewhere in the New Territories. The titles of localized gods found in most of the Kam Tin villages include the God of Earth and Grain, the Water God of wells, and the Earth God for the gates of the walled villages. There are, in some of the villages, a Tree God and Earth Gods for bridges and for the gate to a complex of houses. In addition, there are Ngau-Wong and Pun-Gu, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 339 but moved the Dei-Jong Wong inside the Buddhist hall instead."7 After the building of the Buddhist hall two of the nuns were added to the managers of the trust, and since then the Dangs did not have much to do with the nunnery except that the related ritual associations go annually to worship at the charitable grave. B. Household and village worship Everyday worship is local and is mainly performed by women. Such is the case of a family of Tsi Tong Tsuen who gave me information on this point. This family seldom worshipped in any temple. For weddings they worshipped at the Mau-Ging Tong ancestral hall, where the head of the family also went when he was small for the annual worship, and to get his shares of the ritual pork. This he no longer does, having stopped a few years ago. In some years he also joins the ancestral grave worship in Tsuen Wan. On Ching Ming and Chung Yeung his family went to worship their own near ancestors. On festivals his family worshipped at Tsi Tong Tsuen's shrines to the Earth God and the God of Earth and Grain and the place for the Well God. I was able to talk with some of the older women. One Tai Hong Wai woman born in the 1910s told me that ordinarily her family worshipped at home. They went to neither the Jau and Wong Temple nor the Hung-Sing Temple. They had no share in the Hung-Sing Temple. They did go to the Daai-Wong Temple at Yuen Long, early in the first month of the lunar calendar, but it is the business of their men only: the temple belonged to their distant ancestor. Similarly, an elderly Kat Hing Wai lady told me that Pak Wai Tsuen (i.e., Shui Tau and Shui Mei) people worshipped at the Hung Sing Temple. I have witnessed part of a waan-san (“thanksgiving”) ritual in Kat Hing Wai, which took place at the san-teng. I was told that for impromptu religious activities such as divination, some of the Kat Hing Wai women went to a temple at Tai Shue Ha [which is, as far as I know, not otherwise of interest to the Dangs of Kam-Tin] and some went to Ling-Wan Ji. They went to the Jau and Wong temple mainly during the jiu, and the temples at Shui Tau and Shui Mei were for their respective villagers alone. A san teng was probably considered to be of central importance to its village. When I walked with an elder to his house we passed the san-teng of Tai Hong Wai. He explained to me that it was the wai-jyu, and he compared its status in the village to that of the most senior and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 340 respected person in a family. I found in Wing Lung Wai that the households take their turn to take care of the incense and lamps of their san-teng. It probably plays an important part in major celebrations: in Tai Hong Wai I noticed that wedding deui-lyuns couplets had been put on both the san-teng doors and the village gate. Of a similar status were the places for the Gods of Earth and Grain, where communal worship (jou-se) is held once or twice a year. In addition, there is the hoi-dang ceremony for the new born children of the village. In the case of Tai Hong Wai, Kat Hing Wai, and Wing Lung Wai village-level collective worship includes a jiu. It is held once in seven years at Tai Hong Wai, once in five years, at Kat Hing Wai, and once in ten years at Wing Lung Wai. The Tai Hong Wai case is probably representative. The rituals are simpler than the one for Kam Tin as a whole, and lasted only two days and one evening. The main feature is the offering of paper clothing to hungry ghosts. 49 In some cases the social unit involved in the rites for the new born and other collective rites is a lineage segment in a village and in one case a main village and its associated smaller settlements. Some villages have more than one place for the God of Earth and Grain. Shui Tau has two. The one belongs to the whole village of Shui Tau while the other one belongs only to the descendants of Gam-Tin jou, who have their hoi-dang there. Similarly, there is more than one place for the God of Earth and Grain in Shui Mei. One of them is worshipped by the Git-Sau jou people alone, who make offerings of paper clothing there at the Yu-Laan Festival. In the case of Tai Hong Wai, its jiu, and the rite for the newly born include as participants the villagers of Tsi Tong Tsuen and Tai Hong Tsuen. The hoi-dang at the Ching-Lok ancestral hall is not precisely a lineage event: only his descendants living in Shui Tau and Shui Mei take part. Besides worship associated with membership in residential and sometimes partially lineage segment units, there is worship organized by ritual associations. There are quite a few ritual associations (san-wui) in Kam Tin. Each has its landed property, which ranges from one daam-jung (about 65 thousand square feet) to about 500 thousand square feet of farm land. A share was inherited by all the descendants of the original shareholders. In some cases, one share was actually shared by a few dozen people. Some of the shares were acquired by the present holder by purchase. Worship by these associations takes place once a year, and ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 359 The offerings included fruits and cha-gwo pastries. In addition to these they burnt paper clothing for Jau and Wong, and a yellow piece of paper with the characters wing-bou-ping-on ("unremitting protection") and some yun-bou for the earth god. B. Setting up the ghost flags Early in the morning of the opening day, after the rite of Fetching Water, the ritual representatives on their own installed faan flag posts for the worship of ghosts. There were five of these posts, each set up by the ritual representatives of one gu. The ritual representatives took precautions in this rite, since it dealt with ghosts. They told each other the taboos to observe in installing the posts. One should avoid speaking people's names out loud while this was being done. It would be wise to be silent. It was said (by the ritual representatives) that those who posted a faan should be those to dismount it afterwards. Some of the ritual representatives complained about not getting red packets for doing the rite. It was not for the money, they said, but for the good fortune. These faan posts were initiated by the priests in the first Procession of Offerings. C. Inviting the gods Beside the temple gods and other localized gods of Kam Tin, gods were fetched from the Pat Heung Temple at Sheung Tsuen and the Yuen Kong Temple. These two places were included because the places, I was told by the villagers, originally belonged to Kam Tin. Also fetched was the portrait of the Heavenly Master from his altar inside the village gate of Tai Hong Wai. Generally the ritual representatives of each gu were responsible for fetching their own gods: e.g. the gods at the Hung-Sing Temple and Man-Cheung Temple were fetched by the ritual representatives of Shui Tau. There were special arrangements for the gods important to the Kam Tin Dangs as a whole, and gods from outside the heung: (1) Ritual representatives no. 1 to no. 5 went to Ling-Wan Ji, as well as to the temples of Yuen Kong and Sheung Tsuen; (2) All 60 ritual representatives went to fetch the Heavenly Master from Tai Hong Wai; (3) The Head ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 363 They now entered Tai Hong Tsuen. They first worshipped at the san-teng. The party worshipped at a well of Tsi Tong Tsuen. Next they worshipped at Lai-Gaan Tong, and then at an altar for the God of Earth and Grain. They made offerings at the spot where Gau Ga Chyun used to be. Then they proceeded to Wing Lung Wai, where they worshipped first at an altar of the God of Earth and Grain, then at the village gate, then the san-teng, and finally at the ancestral hall of Gwok-Yin Jou. The procession turned back and went to worship at the altar for the God of Earth and Grain of Shing Mun San Tsuen, a village of outsiders who moved to Kam Tin when their village, Shing Mun, was destroyed in the 1930s for the construction of the Shing Mun Reservoir. Then the procession entered Tai Hong Wai to worship at its san-teng, village gate, altar for the God of Earth and Grain and well. After this the procession went back to the festival site. The procession was received and treated to soft drinks and cakes at Shui Mei, Shui Tau, Sa Bui Leng, Ko Po, Kat Hing Wai, Wing Lung Wai and Tai Hong Wai by the local villagers. E. Procession of incense II This second procession took place on the day after the main day. It was to visit Ying Lung Wai, the village of Hung-Yi's descendants outside Kam Tin, as well as the Yuen Long Old Market and the villages in its vicinity. The other spots were included because the Yuen Long Market had once belonged to a segment of the Kam Tin Dang lineage, and they used to have landed property in the surrounding villages. The procession started at 12:40. The equipment involved was more or less the same as the previous day, but I also noticed something I had not seen before: two lanterns saying "to offer incense" and two banners saying "keep quiet" and "keep clear", and burning incense inside a "pavilion" on a table carried by poles. There were a very large number of people again, but less than the previous day. The same Dang Jik-Wai, and the headmaster of Mung Yeung School, originally from Ko Po, led the procession. 363 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 366 The procession soon turned back without entering the village. By now, I noticed, the team had grown to more than 100 young men. They moved towards Kat Hing Wai. On the way they turned the paper image to "shine on" an alley opposite the food stall at the market, and the paths leading from the main road to Tsi Tong Tsuen and Tai Hong Tsuen. Beside the alley was a shop, where a few women fled when they saw the King of Ghosts facing them. Then the same "shining on" procedure was repeated at the other spots they passed on the way to Wing Lung Wai: the path leading to Tai Hong Wai, the path leading to the Tung Tak School of Shing Mun San Tsuen and a place on the other side of the road. Partly for fun, the young men did the same to the two doors of the Jockey Club betting centre, "to influence the outcome of bets". The procedure was also applied to the village gate of Wing Lung Wai and a spot opposite the gate across the road. Then the procession turned back and proceeded to Tai Hong Wai, where some of the men in the team shouted, "tell people to keep clear and shut their doors". Some of the younger men added, "thank you for your co-operation". I had the impression that they were talking like that partly for the fun of being in command. The procession went back to the main ritual area after "shining on" the village gate of Tai Hong Wai. G. Renewal of the jiu This took place in the morning after the final main rite of Grand Offering to the ghosts, after the Taoist priests had performed the brief purification rites at the individual households. It took place at the temple of Jau and Wong, the two main gods of the festival. To their altar was escorted the image of Gwun-Yam, the other patron god of Kam Tin. In the preparation for the rite an elder explained to a younger ritual representative that this rite is to heui-ping-on, to beseech the gods for well-being, giving a promise that in ten years' time another celebration will be held. Only the no. 1 to no. 15 ritual representatives (which was in accordance with the traditional rule) and the priest participated. The priest chanted a eulogy and the invocation for blessing. H. Sending off the gods This took place after the end of the Opera performance period. I overheard previously the villagers telling one another that those who fetched a god should send them home afterwards in this rite. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h san wui Sap Pat Heung -|- A sau宿 sau-choi 3 sek Zi Seui 瑞 seui-jeun-si :: Sha Tau T Sha Po 沙埔 Sham Chun 深圳 Sheung Che 1: Sheung Tsuen Sheung Shui 1: Shing Moon San Tsuen Shun Fung Wai MAN Si-Daan MILL sing-bui Sing-Ngok ! siu-cheng Siu-Geui siu-yan 小人 sona 嗩吶 Song 柒 Sou-Lau Yun VTMN Tin-San toi-wai 枱圍 Tong Fong #† tong Tsi Tong Tsuen Tsiu Keng 蕉徑 Tsuen Wan # Tung Tak 通德 Tung Tau Tsuen Tung Fuk Tong Wa Bou 華寶 waang-mei (?) waan-san Wa-Gwong #* wai wai-jyu Wai-To 韋陀 Wang Toi Shan Wan-Gaan S Wan-Guk Wan-Yu H wing-bou ping-on *RTE Wing Lung Wai 永隆圍 Wing-Sau 永壽 Wong E Wong Loi-Yam E wong-gu Wudan Shan 武當山 suk-jing wui-bei Suk-Leun #KA Sung-Gok Taai-Seui Taai-Yut Jan-Yan AZHA wui Tai Shue Ha AMF Tai Hong Wai Tai Hong Tsuen 泰康村 Xin'an A Yam Tai Kiu 火樾 Tai Mo Shan 1 Tai Po Tau 大埔頭 yamen 衙門 yan-hau A Yau-Leun Tong yau-saan Tim-Kau Yeui銳 Ting-Jing NVI yeuk # Ting-Sam Tin-Dei-Seui-Yeung Tin-Hau G Tin-Gwun Chi-Fuk X Yeung 楊 Yeung-Hau A yi * Yi-Chung Wui 371 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 373 Many Dangs attributed the deceased worshipped in their Altar for Heroes (Ying-Hung Chi) and those buried in the big grave known as yi-chung to the battle with the British in 1898. We found that the number of "heroes" for whom paper clothing were ordered for the jiu of 1955 is only 2 more than the 1895 figure, i.e. only two can be attributed to the 1898 incident. See also Law and Lau (1985) about this dispute. 19 According to this informant the Dangs married villagers of Lam Tsuen, Tai Hang, Sheung Shui and places like Sha Tau across the border. Other Tangs who discussed the point included Tuen Mun and Gak Tin, a place of the Wong surname, also known as Fuk Tin, across the border. 20 Another stone inscription dated 1786 recorded a similar case. Although it has been cited by many scholars as another rent dispute case that involved the Dangs of Kam Tin as the landlords, I cannot find any of Dangs whose names appear in the inscription in other documents. 21 In Kam Tin Historical Documents, vol. 2. 11 The original expression is that the villagers were the diding of the Dangs. Diding refers to tax on land and persons. 73 See also Kamm (1977:213-214) on other similar disputes. 24 See Cheng (n.d.). 25 Besides the formal names that appear in local documents and present-day road signs and maps, many of these villages had other names that were used in everyday conversation. 10 Formal names Kam Hing Wai Kat Hing Wai Pak Wai Tai Hong Wai Wing Lung Wai According to the jiu festival record of the year. "Nickname" Gaak Seui Yun Fui Sa Wai Laan Bak Wai Taan Wai Sa Laan Mei 27 Tanaka (1985:935-7), quoting A Gazetteer of Place Names in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, Hong Kong, pp. 172-173. The original expression was "Tai Hong Wai and Tsuen" and probably included only the part of Tai Hong Tsuen whose residents were considered Tai Hong Wai people. 20 Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 2. 30 See the account dated 1966 in the Si Kim Tong genealogy. 31 According to a descendant of Fau-Ng. The genealogical relationships among the ancestors he gave may be wrong. 32 Ying Lung Wai is part of Shap Pat Heung, the group of villages which was involved in several disputes with the Kam Tin Tangs. It seems that the Ying Lung Wai Dangs join the Kam Tin Dangs only in the jiu festival and the worship at the Mau Ging Tong ancestral hall. I have not heard anything about its position in the disputes between Kam Tin and Shap Pat Heung. 33 Sung (1974:168) says Tai Hong Tsuen. This is my interpretation. 34 Ditto. 35 Siu-Geui, with his father and others, made a new stone inscription for the grave of the wong-gu in 1483. Kei-Fong's will is dated 1562. (See the genealogy in Kam Tin Historical Documents vol. 1 for both.) Kai-Wa was born in 1494 (See inside text of his spirit tablet, ================================================================================ 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 36 Table 2: Some Jiao Festivals celebrated in Hong Kong in the 1980s Community A B C D E F G H Cheung Chau 1 3 M H V גון 1989,1990 E Cheung Lung Wai 10 5?(*2) A P V S 1988 Fanling 10 3 A P VC S 1980, 1990 E Ha Tsuen 10 5 A P a sm 1984 E Ho Chung 10 5 A P vc m 1980, 1990 E Kam Tin 10 5 Kat O 7 in th A P vc sd 1985 E 57 F T V מן 1980,1986 E Kau Sai 1 — F T V M 1981 E Kau Lau Wan 7 فرا 3 F T V In 1980,1987 E Lai Chi Wo 10 5? A Р vc sm 1983 E Lam Tsuen 10(*1) 5 A P а sm 1981, 1990 E Leung Shuen Wan 2 1 F P? ve m 1980 E Lin Fa Tei 5 3? Lung Yeuk Tau 10 5 in Nam Luk Yeuk 10 رکرا 5 > > > A Р ve m 1982,1987 T A Р VC s 1983 E A P А sm 1983 E Pak Kong 10 ? A P V m 1980 E Sha Kong Wai 7 ? A P v Π 1981, 1988 T Shek O 10 3 A H/P a m 1986 01 Sha Tin 10 4 A P а sm 1985 E Tai Hang 5 3 A P VC S 1985,1990 E Tai O 30 ? A/F/M T ve m T/03 Tai Po Tau 10 5 A P VC s 1983 E Tai Wai 10 4 A P vc sm 1987 02 Tap Mun Alliance 10 3(*3) F T а M 1980,1990 03 Tin Sam 10 4 A P vc sm 1986 02 Tuen Tsz Wai 10 3 A P vc sd 1986 02 Wang Chau 7 ? A P vc sm 1981,1988 T Wang Chau Yuen Long از هم 3 ? F T V m 1986,1989 T 10 5 M P V M 1983 E ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 37 NOTES TO TABLE 2 A = yearly cycle claimed B = celebration period (one-day, three-day, five-day), (refers only to main rituals started from the ritual “Qi Tan” [Opening of the Jiao) and ended with the "Da You" [Great Offering]) C = predominant occupation of the community == market town D = spority ethnic groups: E P → Punti Cantonese H T = Takka :. = Tanka =Territorial type: บ = village VC = village cluster local alliance 1: = Descent type: S = single-lineage sc = single-lineage dominated H = single-lineage village, multi-lineage community m = multi-surname in one community year celebrated -- Sources: Either seen by myself JE = from beginning to end, e = only partially. recorded in other scholars' work [0], or provided by villages or Taoist priests [T]. OI 02 —— 03 = Chan, "Jiu festival** see note 37 Tanaka, Village Festival, 99, 816 Note: *1 In fact, it is held every ninth year, as the year of celebration is counted into both the outgoing and incoming decade. *2 Photos taken on 1989.3.10. A poster was written Cheung Lung walled-village of Ping Kong Tsuen village, ten years' once Taiping Qing Jiao". The notice recorded the Year Mu Wa (1988). *3 This alliance include the following fishing villages in the northeastern part of Hong Kong: Tap Mun, Kau Lau Wan, Sham Wan, Wong Wan, Kat O, Sam Mun Tsai. See Tanaka, Village Festival, 99, 816. Page 60 Page 61 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 39 Kat Hing Wai and Wing Lung Wai terminated their own independent Jiao but continue to participate actively in the Jiao of the whole Kam Tin community. Still others, like Tai Wai and Tin Sam, celebrate their own Jiao festivals on the one hand but also participate as members in the Jiao celebrated by the Sha Tin Kau Yeuk (Sha Tin Village alliance). Reasons such as the Japanese occupation or economic recession given by villagers themselves cannot explain the diversities found in the New Territories. All villages experienced the Japanese occupation. With regard to economic constraints, a community like Ping Shan, though as prosperous and powerful as Kam Tin and Ha Tsuen, stopped the celebration for some unknown reason. Therefore, the continuity or discontinuity of the Jiao festival depends on the effectiveness of the festival's communal structure and organization. In Lam Tsuen, the Jiao festival is a means to reconfirm the roles of its alliances (the Luk Hap Tong [Lui He Tang] “Hall of the Six [Sc. Village Clusters] United"). In Kam Tin and other single lineage communities, the Jiao plays an essential role in re-establishing the structure of the segmented lineage as well as in re-confirming membership in the branches. The question of whether Jiao festivals will survive after the 1997 take-over is in fact a question of whether or not there is a need to preserve such a tradition in the community. NOTES Liu Zhi-wan, "Taiwan Taibeixian Zhonghexiang Jianjiao Jidian" Bulletin of the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica 33 (1972): 135-64. Tanaka, Issei, Chugoku Kyoshon Saishi Kenkyu: Chihogeki no Kankyo [Village Festival in China: Background of Local Theatres] (Tokyo: Tokyo Univ. Press, 1989), 799. Some fishing villages in Hong Kong like Kau Lau Wan, Tap Mun and Kat O name their Jiao festivals "An Long Qing Jiao" meaning the Jiao celebrated to pacify the earth dragon. Tanaka claimed that originally "Qi An Jiao" was celebrated only when there was need to pray for peace (Ibid., 799). However, evidence in Hong Kong, at least, shows that the festival is celebrated in a regular cycle. The shortest cycle is the Jiao of Cheung Chau where it is celebrated yearly. The longest is Sheung Shui and Shuen Wan where the Jiao is said to be celebrated once every 60 years. In some fishing villages in the New Territories, it is celebrated once every two or seven years. A five-year cycle is also practised in some agrarian communities like Tai Hang. However, a ten year cycle is the most popular in agrarian communities. Nonetheless, the method of counting also differs from one community to another. For instance, Lam Tsuen claims to celebrate the Jiao once every ten years but they actually celebrate it once in nine years. Their Jiao festival was celebrated in the following years: 1963, 1972, 1981, 1990. Mr. Cheung Chi-fan (Zhang Zhi-fan), JP, and Mr. Chung Chi-leung (Zhong Ji-liang), interviewed by author, Lam Tsuen, Dec. 1, 1990. According to Dean, about 80,000 Chinese yuan was spent on the Jiao in a village in Zhangzhou, Fujian in 1986. See ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 no Kankyo [Village Festival in China: Background of Local Theatres] (1989). The Jiao festivals studied by Tanaka are as follows: Communities Year Cheung Chau 1979 1979, 1983 Recorded in 1981:74-99 1985:227-302 Ha Tsuen 1981 1985:199-226 Hung Hom, Kowloon *1 1978-80 1981:771-780 Kam Tin 1985 1989:915-996 Lam Tsuen 1981 1985:359-528 Leung Shuen Wan, Sai Kung 1980 1981:99-113 Lin Fa Tei *2 1967 1985:558-572 Lung Yeuk Tau 1983 1985:609-720 Sha Tin, Kau Yeuk 1985 1989:1041-1112 Sha Tin, Tai Wai 1987 1989:977-1040 Sha Tin, Tin Sam 1986 1989:1040 Tai Po Tau 1985 1985:121.131-138 Tuen Tsz Wai 1986 1989:817-913 Yuen Long 1983 1985:139-198 43 *1: From the context, this festival, held on the 14th of the seventh moon, can be best seen as a ghost festival organized by the Hoklo dialect group. *2: Tanaka did not attend this festival. Analysis of the festival was mostly based on the 1967 account collected by H. Baker. See map for the location of places. JH Tanaka, Ritual Theatres, 5. 班 Tanaka, Lineage and Theatre, 11. 40 fbid., i-ii. 41 Tanaka, Village Festival, i-iij. 42 Faure, David, The Structure of Chinese Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Oxford Univ. Press, 1986), 81. 4.3 Segawa, Masahisa, "Daa Chiu: matsuri ni arawareru Hon Kon no mura no sugao” [Da Jiao: facets of villages in Hong Kong as shown in the festivals] Kikan Minzoku Gaku Ethnography Quarterly 33 (1985): 21-35. 14 Segawa, Masahisa "Ta-tsiu [Da-Jiao], feuds, and village alliances: the case of Pat Heung" (unpublished manuscript, 1991). 45 Choi, Chi-cheung, “Chi o urai ekibyo o harau taihei shinsho" [Jiao festival: to wash: the land and remove illness] Kikan Minzoku Gaku 40 (1987): 90-105. 4 40 Choi, Jiao festival", 1046. 47 Choi, "Kinship", 147-149. 4# Though Tanaka wrote that only a few communities in the New Territories celebrated the festival during his seven and a half years' observation (Tanaka, Lineage and Theatre, 608), we are still unclear as to how many communities continue to celebrate it. For instance, the Cheung Long Wai case was not mentioned by any informants. It was known only by an occasional visit to the village. A likely source is the Police since theoretically every festival celebrated in Hong Kong has to receive permission from the police for security measures. The district offices in the New Territories are another source of information. Certainly there were in the past other celebrations which have now ceased for one reason or another (e.g. at Sha Tau Kok, Shuen Wan and Ta Kwu Leng). 49 Segawa, "Daa Chiu', 35. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1990 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299 TABLE 1: VILLAGE WARS IN THE HONG KONG AREA 279 Antagonist Lo Wu Antagonist Tsoi Uk Wai Date Source Comment 18.36 Above Over control of landing place Lo Wu Wong Pui Ling 1856-75 Ahove Ta Kwu Ling Wong Pui Ling TRGON Hase 1989 Sheung Shui Wong Pui Ling VERSOS Baker 1967 1979 Sheung Shui Ho Sheung Heng long-term Baker 1966 Over control of landing place Over control of river-crossings. 23 dead on TKL side alone. Hero shrine. Over control of irrigation systems San Tin Ping Kong 1851 Kam Tsin Baker 1966 1968 San Tin Ping Shan 1851 Baker 1968 Hero Shrine Shup Pat Heung San Tim Ping Shan 1851 Watson 1982 Over control of ferries Ha Tsuen Baker 1968 Sha Tseng Pok Tau Kong 185.3 Krone (above) Po Kat neighbours 1853- Above Sheung Shun Fanling long-term Ping Kong Fanling Baker 1966 Over control of market Earthwall on border Ho Sheung Heung Long Yeak Tho Fanling long-term Oral Par Fleung ?Kam Tia Tinid 19 Hero Shrine Sheung Tsuen Wang Tei Shan 2nud (19 Oral Lam Tsuen Hero Shrine Tsuen Wan Shing Mun Tsim Sha Tsui neighbours Tai Wai Cheung Sha Wan Keng tam 1862-4 1862 mid-late c19 Haves 1983 Hero Shrines Hayes 1983 Paure 1986 Hero Shrine Kak Tin Shek Pik Sha Lo Wan נִי Hayes 1983 Pui O San Tsuen Pui O La Wai 1930 Hayes 1983 Kam Tin Ping Shan Chan 1989 Heroes worshipped Pat Heung Kam Tiu Ping Shan long-term mid c19 Chan 1989 # [Baker 1966 = "The Five Great Clans of the New Territories", H.D.R. Baker, Journal. Vol. 6, 1966, pp. 25-49; Baker 1968 = H.D.R. Baker, Sheung Shui: A Chinese Lineage Village, London, 1968; Baker 1979 H.D.R. Baker, Chinese Family and Kinship, London 1979; Faure 1986 = D. Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories, Hong Kong, 1986; Hayes 1983 = J.W Hayes. The Rural Communities of Hong Kong: Studies anet Themes, Hong Kong. 1983; Watson 1982 = Rubic S. Watson "The Creation of a Chinese Lineage: The Teng of Ha Tsuen, 1669-1751", Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 16(1). 1982 pp 69-108; Chan 1989 = "The Tangs of Kam Tin and their Jio Festival", Chan Wing-hoi, Journal, Vol 29, 1989. pp. 302-376.] ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1992 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qf85tx75x 169 family in the present generation and after: Our ancestors first came to live in Tsuen Wan about 235 years ago [1740]. Two brothers came from Chik Sek Market of Shi Kwan Tong sub-district (heung) of Hoi-fung County to Lai Chi Kok in Kowloon. Later, one brother moved to Sha Tsui (Yeung Uk Village), Tsuen Wan. Our founding ancestor was first buried on Tsing Yi Island, but because the authorities wished to develop that part of the island into a dockyard his remains were reburied in a formal grave at Fa Shan, Tsuen Wan. His wife was, and still is, buried at Hau Tei of Chai Wan Kok, Tsuen Wan. It has been found that both these ancestral graves have ever brought good fortune to our clansmen.” This letter was sent in response to my enquiry about the settlement of the lineage in Tsuen Wan. I had not realized it would be a catalogue of information on founding ancestors and their graves, ending in the statement that the graves were responsible for the flourishing condition of the lineage today! Alarm and Indignation at Official Notices Sometimes, there were more direct examples of the kind, originating in the posting of official notices on site. When old graves on Tai Mo Shan were being inspected and registered by our land staff in 1980, notices were posted which were guaranteed to upset their owners. One of the many affected parties, the Tang clan of Wang Toi Shan Village in the Pat Heung, sent in a very strongly worded letter to the Office: We refer to your notice posted at the ancestral graves of our Tang clan at Sze Fong Shan, Tai Mo Shan summit, stating that the burials were in violation of public health regulations. Descendants of the clan called an urgent meeting at which it was resolved to make strong objections. The Tang clan are indigenous villagers of Wang Toi Shan in the Pat Heung, and have a history [of settlement there] which is older than the Hong Kong Government. The ancestral graves in question date back to more than a century ago, and were repaired in the 31st year of Kuang-hsu [1905], as shown by the tomb inscriptions. The prosperity of our clan is attributed ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 189 APPENDIX 2 Shops in Sha Tau Kok Market. 1925 = (WTS = Wang Tau Shek), UP = Upper Street, LS = Lower Street, OS = Old Street, SLH = Sha Lan Heung (= Fish Laans) TYK = Tai Yuen Kok, SH = Sam Heung LH = Luk Heung, WH = Wo Hang, YT = Yim Tin, YSQ = Yung Shue O, FH = Fung Hang, TT = Tong To, ST = Shan Tsui, HL = Hoklo, KLH = Kwun Lo Ha, LK = Luk Keng, JMK = Jat Muk Kiu, LL = Lai Long, AH = Au Ha, SNT = San Tsuen, NC = Nun Chung, SC = Sham Chun, STK = Sha Tau Kok A = in 1894 Shan Tsui Tablet, B = Cheung Shan Kwu Liu Tablet, C = in Oral Evidence, D = in 1906 Budd's Pool Tablet * = The largest shops) = in 1920 No. Name of Shop Address of Shop Name of Owner Village of Owner Source Comments General Stores 1 WTS Sold saws, bowls, plates, pottery, ropes, nails etc 4 LA ABC JAWN MHL WTS C C YSO BCD Donated Bell to Wu Shek Kok Temple, 1922 PL Pottery Basel missionaries, 1853 (A)BCD Occupied lower floor of gun lower Probably donated to 1898 Tai Po YSO TH BC BC Kwong Fuk Bridge sold gram, pig slaughterer, winemaker etc Pawnshop fli THI PS H YT 7 Growery X* W WTS WTS 12 I WTS China BCD sugar dealer, etc WTS + WH BC r 1 WTS $1. TTC) ABCD IS ST BC IS 7 WH AC pig slaughterer, winemaker etc 1HI WTS ΥΠ BC [4* Other Goods 15 16 FEE # WTS China BC THI IS THE C 20 AC winemaker. grocer. etc Basel missionaries, 1853 winemaker baker, probably connected with ↑ FI 21 22 ze aza夤èsa a 4 WH C dogmeal WTS SIK BCD baker Lishmongers 20 FHC WTS THE BC WTS BC ƒ SLET SI BC נו 23* SLET YT BC main donor, 1894 واع 24 26* Aumal 01 临 WTS China вс THI SETI LA BC SLEE SIK ABCD SLET! BC IS IT C = WIL C ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 200 not have been written at all 58 See the plan and cross-section of a typical 1853 Sha Tau Kok shop unit, taken from the drawings and descriptions of the Basel missionaries, in P.H. Hase, "The Alliance of Ten", in D. Faure and H. Siu, eds, Down to Earth, op. cit., and see also P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. 59 D. Faure, A. Ng, B. Luk, eds, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 262-280 60 The Hong Kong Museum of History has a set of Po Tau equipment 61 Julonghaiguan Barman Dashiji, op. cit., sub anno. 62 P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit. 63 The Tai Po to Sha Yue Chung Ferry was also deeply involved in this trade. In 1939, the Customs came to an agreement with Tsang Sang, the leader of the guerrillas controlling the eastern side of Mirs Bay, that the Customs would treat as duty-free goods anything imported through Sha Yue Chung for the guerrilla fight against the Japanese, but, while this trade was, therefore, not smuggling, it still faced major problems from Japanese attack. 64 Papers laid before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, 1899, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers, (Sessional Papers), "Extracts from Papers relating to the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong. Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor: Extracts from a Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart on the Extension of the Colony of Hongkong" (No. 9 of 1899), p. 190, notes this boatyard as a significant business in 1898. 65 "Report by Mr. Stewart Lockhart" (Sessional Papers, 1899), op. cit., p. 189 66 For the Sha Tau Kok Branch Railway, see R.J. Phillips, Kowloon-Canton Railway (British Section). A History, Urban Council, Hong Kong, 1990, pp. 84-93 67 A. Macmillan, Seaports of the Far East, London, 1925. I am indebted to Mr. J. Lanham for drawing my attention to this description. 68 For the first two of these tablets see Faure, Ng, and Luk, Historical Inscriptions of Hong Kong, op. cit., Vol. 1, pp. 262-280, and Vol. 2, pp. 376-379. The third is unpublished, and is now at the Hong Kong Museum of History. 69 A further, small, boatyard was at Kat Om in 1912: see Oime Report, op. cit., para. 76, p. 55 70 See, for instance, details on shops in Sai Kung in D. Faure, "Saikung, the Making of the District and its Experience during World War II", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 22, 1982, pp. 161-216, on Tsuen Wan in D. Faure, "Notes on the History of Tsuen Wan", in Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. 24, 1984, pp. 46-104, and on Cheung Chau in J.W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1994 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zk522640g 185 be a stone or brick fireplace in which paper money and other paper offerings are burned. Occasionally a Tai Wong may be dedicated to a particular deity, such as at Pak Kung near Sai Kung which has its Tai Wong dedicated to Tin Hau, protective goddess of fishermen. A large village may have its own Tai Wong, but it may sometimes be shared with other neighbouring villages of the same lineage, as occurs with the Lam Tsuen villages. The Paak Kung shrines, of lesser importance, are more simply built, often no more than an "archway" arrangement of stones upon a flat rock, with perhaps wooden boards on which paper scrolls are pasted. In any village there would normally be several Paak Kung. The village of Pat Heung, for example, has around ten Paak Kung and earth god shrines. In some cases, especially with the lesser ranked Paak Kung, the shrine may be the tree itself and is only marked by the presence of joss-sticks and porcelain cups for rice wine offerings, sometimes on a flat stone at the base of the tree. Examples of such tree spirit shrines may be seen by the large banyan trees behind Sheung Ling Pei, and the enormous camphor trees, Cinnamomum camphora, behind Sha Lo Wan, both on north Lantau. In both cases, the surrounding fung shui woods were felled by the Japanese during the Occupation in the Second World War, with the exception of these trees, which are now venerated for having "saved" the village. The camphor tree at Sha Lo Wan is one of the biggest in the Territory, with a girth of over seven metres. In the New Territories, the fung shui tree par excellence is the banyan, Ficus microcarpa, which symbolizes longevity, fecundity, and perseverance in the face of adversity. Apart from its natural resilience in the face of typhoons, the ability of the tree to survive in an environment where wood has been at a premium is explained by Ng (1983). "Its wood is gnarled and so cannot be used as timber, it will not flame and so cannot be used for firewood. Its very lack of useful properties ensures its invulnerability and survival. It is often favoured as a single fung shui tree, when it becomes the home of a local tree spirit and is given great respect and provided with offerings, so that it often appears to be a form of tree worship. The "grandfather" tree at Kuk Po is an example. Sometimes the fame of a particular tree-dwelling earth god extends beyond the locality of the village. Near the village of Lam Tsuen, a venerable banyan is claimed to have a spirit which is especially efficacious. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 73 The Basel missionaries make it clear that this feature of domination of the local market towns by males whose families remained resident in the village was normal in the mid-nineteenth century. In their description of Sha Tau Kok Market, from 1853, they say: The owners of these shops and stalls [in Sha Tau Kok Market] do not live in the town, but in neighbouring villages, and only come here for business and trade, or have it conducted by a substitute/manager. 102 Clearly, male-dominated towns, with shopkeepers living apart from their families in the village, are a long-standing feature of the region. The practice of young men leaving their villages for temporary residence in a town was, therefore, not a new one in the early twentieth century. The society, heavily dominated by temporarily resident young adult males, that sprang up in the city in the early decades after the foundation of Hong Kong as a port, was not either novel or a reaction to the foreign nature of the city, but was a practice with deep local roots. Obviously, the men in the market towns would often have their families within a half-day's walk away, while the city was, for most of them, more distant, but the essential factor in both cases is a widespread social acceptance of young villagers temporarily leaving home to seek fortunes away from their native village. The close link between market towns and high male:female ratios is sufficiently strong to allow this factor to be used to differentiate between towns in being, and towns not yet established. Tap Mun's 66.4% males, for instance, differentiates it from Kat O, with its 54.5%. Similarly, Ha Tsuen's 67.4% males differentiates it from Kam Tin, with no significant village higher than 55%. Kat O and Kam Tin may well have had small periodic markets in 1911, and perhaps one or two shops, but they were not yet towns. Hang Hau's 67.9% of males also marks it as a town in being in 1911. Another clearly differentiated group, again as noted above, was the specialist industrial villages, although in them, usually, the male-female ratio, while high, was less than that in the market towns (this does not hold true for the industrial villages ringing the City, as perhaps is not to be considered surprising, and also does not hold true for villages with quarries). Ferry villages, and suburban villages outside ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 Tai Hang Tsz Tong Tsuen TP 29 77 37.7** Tai Hang Chung San Wai TP 52 112 46.4 Tai Hang Fui Sha Wai TP 47 117 40.2* Sha Lo Tung TP 120 307 39.1* Fung Yuen TP 60 133 45.1 Ha Hang TP 40 97 41.2* Shuen Wan Tseng Tau TP 21 48 43.8 Shuen Wan Tung Tsai TP 14 43 32.6** Shuen Wan Po Sam Pai TP 70 156 44.9 Ting Kok TP 301 669 45.0 Shek Tau Pai TP 25 56 44.6 Ko Tong TP 34 80 42.5* Tai Tai TP 12 35 34.3** Pak Sha Au TP 52 117 44.4 Nai Tong Kok TP 19 48 38.8** Kam Chuk Pai TP 39 93 41.9* Yeung Shu Long I 5 13 38.5** Kau Lung I 2 6 33.3** Mau Tat I 23 69 33.3** Upper Tung Oi I 18 44 40.9* Lo So Shing 30 75 40.0* Luk Chau 16 54 29.6** Tai Ping I 49 113 43.4 Pak Kok 15 52 28.8** Tai Wan 52 113 39[+] Wang Lung [?] 17 50 34.0** San Tsuen I 61 133 46.2 Luk Tei Tong I 23 76 43.4 Leung Uk I 46 104 44.2 Kau Pa Kong SSP 73 165 44.2 Pak Shue Long SSP 61 151 40.4* Aberdeen Old Village HKI 74 164 45.1 Aberdeen New Village HKI 45 98 45.9 Hok Tsui Wan HKI 15 39 38.5** Villages with severe shortage of males (43% or less) * Village with extreme shortage of males (39% or less) ** ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 Appendix II Villages with High Male: Female (More than 56% Male) Population Ratios 1911 81 Village District No. of males Total population Age of males Liu Pok Shek Wu Hui 136 237 57.4 Lo Wu 37 56 66.1** Tai Tau Tong 8 18 44.4* 100*1 5! 91 56.0 Tsung Pak Leng N 105 184 57.0 Yin Kong N 21 35 60.0+ Tiu Keng Wan N 38 56 67.6 Sau Hang N 25 42 59.5* Ma Wat Wan N 28 49 57.3 Wan Shan Ha N 38 66 57.6 Loi Tung N 107 191 56.0 Kuk Po Lo Wai N 140 247 56.7 Hung Shek Mun N 49 87 56.3 Wu Chau Tong N 28 48 58.3 Sha Tau Kok N 14 14 100** Yim Liu Ha N 29 47 61.7+ Ngong Ping ST 7 9 77.8** San Tun ST 77 109 70.0** Pak Tin ST 2 3 66.7** Wang Pok ST 8 9 88.9** Sheung Wo Che ST 70 100 70.0** Chek Mei Ping ST 70 122 57.2 Shek Wu Wai YL 37 56 66.1++ Tung Tau Yuen YL 26 38 68.4** Kak Hang Yuen YL 16 25 64.0** Lei Uk YL 32 48 66.7** Sha Kong Miu YL 5 6 77.4** Yuen Long Market YL 458 559 81.9** Tong Fong 83 148 56.1 Sha Kong YL 5 6 83.3** Kong Tau YL 26 46 56.5 Ha Tsuen Shi YL 120 178 67.4** Wang Che SK 4 5 80.0** Wu Lei Tau SK 6 9 66.7** Yau Ma Po SK 24 31 77.4** Uk Cheung SK 4 6 66.7** Hang Hau SK 262 387 67.8** Mau Fa Tsuen SK 28 47 59.6* ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 83 Tin Wan HKI 67 [[| 60.4* Ma Kong HKI 7 7 100** Chung Hom Kok HKI 10 10 100% = Lan Nai Wan HKI 4 4 100** To Tei Wan HKI 53 54 98 [*1 Tar Tam Tuk HKI 52 76 68 4*! Tong Po HKI 17 18 94.4*** Deep Water Bay HKI 8 8 100 A Kung Nam HKI 161 269 59.9 Shaukerwan НKІ 4317 5908 73.1** Fu Tson Fat HKI 361 585 61.7* Ma Shan Ha HKI 458 742 61.7* Sai Wan Ho HKI 650 876 74.2** Tsai Tsz Mui ΗΚΙ 193 297 64.9** Ma Tau Kok k 145 212 68.4* San Shan k 117 180 65.0** To Kwa Wan k 766 1072 71.5 Shek Shan k 178 277 64.3** Hok Yuen k 789 1272 62.0* Tai Wan k 61 97 62.9* Lo Lung Hang k 178 204 87.3* Wong Nai Yue k 168 250 67.2** Fo Pang k 126 180 70.0** Tai Shek Kwu k 47 70 65.7** Ho Man Tin k 272 470 Fuk Tsuen Heung k 610 861 57.9 70.8** Sz Wo Tong k 258 451 57.2 Wau Chau Tsan k 85 130 65.4** Ap Liu 270 391 69.0** Tin Liu Tsuen SSP 253 337 75.1*1 Chu Liu ssp 84 142 59.2 Cheung Sha Wan SSP 496. 653 76.0** Sheung Chu Liu SND 35 54 64.8** Lai Chi Kok ssp 144 173 83.24* Sai Kok ssp 309 508 60.8* Kowloon Tong SSP 113 185 61.1* Muk Kung Hom NSD 42 62 67.7** Shek Kip Mei SSD 50 72 69.4** Sham Shui Po $52 1028 1577 65.24* + Villages with severe excess of males (more than 60%) ** Villager With extreme excess of males (more than 64%) Fully developed parts of Hong Kong Inland and Kowloon excluded ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x Kwangtung, is treated as the First Ancestor of the Nga Tsin Wai clan. His eldest son was in turn born in 1102, but the Nga Tsin Wai descendants stem from the fifth son, who can hardly have been born much before 1120. Nine further generations are recorded in the Tsuk Po. The fifth of these was a sixth son. Assuming a 25-year generation gap for those ancestors born as the first, second, or third sons, and a forty-year generation gap for the sixth son, the eldest son in this ninth generation must have been born about 1370-1385. There were five brothers in this generation, who must have been born within the period 1370-1400. Ng Kui-hau fled from Nam Hung in the disturbances of 1126-1127, when the Northern Sung collapsed in the face of barbarian invasion. He went to the safety of Canton City where he lived until his death in 1158. Six of his seven sons moved away from Canton, five to establish descent lines in various places in central Kwangtung, and one to settle in Annam. The fifth son, Ng Jui (42) from whom the Nga Tsin Wai Ngs descend, settled in Tung Kuan, at Ng Ka Chung (4, "Creek of the Ng Family”). One of the sixth generation descendants of Ng Jui, (Ng Chung-tak, the eighth generation Clan Ancestor), born about 1290-1300, moved from Ng Ka Chung to “Kowloon”. The recent revised Tsuk Po states that he settled at a place called “Kwun Fu Sz Nga Tsin Tsuen”TM 1775, "The Unwalled Village in front of the Kwun Fu Yamen". Ng Chung-tak's third, but only surviving son, Ng Shing-tat, is considered the Founding Ancestor of the Nga Tsin Wai clan. He cannot have been born much before 1320-1335. The old Tsuk Po does not say that either Ng Shing-tak or his father settled in Nga Tsin Wai, merely in “Kowloon”; presumably implying that the family were then settled here and there in the open fields rather than in a village as such - presumably in that Nga Pin Heung where the Chans had already been settled for nearly two hundred years by the time the Ngs moved there. A date somewhere in the middle of the fourteenth century is the most likely for the Ng clan to have settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area, in Ng Chung-tak's old age (the Tsuk Po has a reference to Ng Shing-tak bringing his ancestor's bones to "Kowloon": this may refer to his mother's remains). The date remembered by the clan as the foundation date of the Tin Hau Temple, 1354, is almost exactly the period when the Ngs are most likely to have settled in the Nga Tsin Wai area, and the establishment of the temple, or whatever this date ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1999 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x 92 Do villagers really believe in tun fu? How many of the New Territories' villagers really believe in tun fu? Earlier, it was mentioned that the Pat Heung villagers were paid $600,000 to stage their collective tun fu ceremonies. Brian Jenny, Government Director of Audit, in November 1994 wrote in his report that, during the 1980s, amounts paid annually by the Government (on account of feng shui disturbances) varied between $500,000 and $950,000. In 1990, the Government paid $1.1 million, in feng shui compensation, to the villagers at Ha Tsuen so that ceremonies could be held (Hong Kong Standard; 1990). The fall in the purchasing power of the dollar over the years must be taken into account when interpreting these figures. When the British took over Hong Kong they promised the Chinese that Qing laws would be retained and local customs respected (Endacott; 1958, 38, 40, 41). Certainly a large number of festivals, customs and much culture have been retained. To some degree, because of lack of restrictions during the colonial period, there was limited hostility towards the British (Cheung; 1999, 573). Other ex-colonial powers could perhaps argue that this easygoing affinity, which developed between the Hong Kong Chinese and their rulers, was not always in the interests of the Colony. For example, the compensation paid to villagers to hold tun fu ceremonies, could have been put to better use. But returning to how many villagers really believe? A small group of elderly women that the Author spoke to, sitting in the sun near a tun fu pot at Shui Tau Village, in the Kam Tin District, said that when work first started on improvements to the Kam Tin River the villagers did not intend doing anything. But people started falling sick and several died. It was decided then to hold a tun fu ceremony.12 'Did the elderly ladies believe in tun fu?' 'Well, people stopped falling ill and dying,' they replied, 'so of course we had to believe.' That is as good an argument for believing in tun fu as any. Nevertheless several retired civil servants, both British and Chinese who have worked in the New Territories, some as District Officers, ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-2001 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/zg651950g 262 Cemetery. Tsun Wan Christian Cemetery Tsuen Wan 1912 Hau Pui Loong Cemetery Ma Tau Wat 1913 Removal of last graves was ordered 1948. *Chinese Permanent Cemetery Ap Lei Chau Cemetery Aberdeen Ap Lei Chau 1913 1014 Removal of all urns was ordered 1949. Chinese Christian Cemetery New Kowloon 1919 Inland Lot No. 5 Location not known. Kowloon Cemeteries Ho Man Tin 1921 Cemeteries were split into *Race Course Fire Memorial and Cemetery So Kon Po four 1930. Completed 1922. Christian Chinese Cemetery Stanley 1924 *New Kowloon Cemetery No. 2 Ngau Chi Wan 1928 Erected for the Little Sisters of the Poor. *Castle Peak Christian Cemetery Castle Peak Earliest graves: 1928 Roman Catholic Cemetery Kowloon Cemetery No. I Ho Man Tin 1930 Ho Man Tin 1930 Erected for European Protestants. Kowloon Cemetery No. 2 Ho Man Tin 1930 Erected for Chinese. Kowloon Cemetery No. 3 *New Kowloon Cemetery No. 5 *Song Him Tong Sung Chan Wui Kei Tuk Kau Fan Cheung Ho Man Tin 1930 Erected for Muslims. Diamond Hill 1931 Fan Ling 1931 *Cheung Chau Chinese Christian Cemetery Cheung Chau 1931 *Tao Fung Shan Christian Cemetery Sha Tin Earliest graves: 1931 *Tai O Cemetery Tai O 1932 New Stanley Cemetery Stanley 1933 New Kowloon Cemetery No. 6 Shek Kip Mei 1933 Intended for European Protestants, details not known. *Sai Kung Catholic Cemetery *Chinese Permanent Cemetery *New Kowloon Cemetery No. 7 Sai Kung Tsuen Wan Hammer Hill 1934 1935 1935 Extension was approved 1941, Extension might have been renamed *Hammer Hill Urn Cemetery Hammer Hill 1938 New Kowloon Cemetery No. 8 later. ================================================================================