RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1964 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/qz20zx09r PENG CHAU 81 The first ancestor came from Po Kat in Po On, then San On, district. He settled not far from the anchorage and the shops nearby, and the family flourished there for several generations, farming most of the cultivable land and planting an extensive forestry lot.29 But the position had changed for the worse by 1899. At the land settlement which followed the British lease, though the LUIs were credited with owning house land, four and a half acres of paddy fields, and nine and a half acres of dry cultivation and vegetable land on Peng Chau, all except their houses were mortgaged to different persons without hope of return.30 When my informant was a boy, the LUI houses were in a broken-down condition. They also owned a lot of land on the Lantau coast opposite Peng Chau, but much of this too was mortgaged by the end of the century.31 The CHUNG family are said to have been the next arrivals. According to old Mr. CHUNG, his great-grandfather, who was the family's first ancestor to live on the island, came together with his son, a boy of ten. Consultation of the grave tablet, which is dated 1834,32 shows that he probably arrived in Peng Chau in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, not long after the LUIs. He came from his parent village of Tin Liu Ha in the Lam Tsuen Valley near Tai Po in the present New Territories. In 1899, the family still owned very little land of its own on Peng Chau, having, besides houses, only one-third of an acre of dry cultivation, but they held the mortgages of nearly nine acres of the LUI land, including most of their paddy fields.33 The family farmed their own and the mortgaged land, but, as I have said above, fishing was their chief concern about ten years before the British lease, another seeming "irregularity" which warns against the assumption that our local communities have separate characteristics and perform distinct functions which do not overlap. It was very likely Mr. CHUNG's grandfather's success at sea which enabled him to loan money to the LUI family and so gradually obtain their land; and the lack of land which made this family concentrate on the sea in the first place. Another family of Hakka settlers are the LAM ✯ clan who came in the mid-nineteenth century. According to family tradition, three brothers who were operating a pawn-shop in Shum Chun Market were "squeezed" by yamen runners when a murder... ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1976 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q 168 DAVID FAURE and others from Sai Kung over the mountains past Mau Ping and Wong Chuk Shan to Siu Lek Yuen and the Shatin area. To the north, there were ferries from Kei Ling Ha to Tai Po Market.21 Sai Kung was therefore conveniently located in the centre of local trade routes to Tai Po, Kowloon, Shatin and via Hang Hau, also Shaukiwan. It was an ideal location for a market in the region. Mrs. Kong Lei San Kiu, who married into Lung Mei Village, used to farm, raise pigs, and cut firewood. When a pig had been fattened to a hundred catties, she carried it into Sai Kung with some assistance, and sold it to the butchers. Sometimes she carried firewood into Kowloon, and sometimes into Sai Kung. If she carried it to Sai Kung, she sold it to shops which in turn sold it to the boat people. She would buy oil, salt, and sundries to take back to the village.22 Many other villagers, like Mrs. Kong, also sold pigs and firewood in the markets in order to buy daily necessities. The fishermen also came to Sai Kung, but many did not have to come personally for there was a wide collecting network working for the shops. Mr. Chan Kei Shang of Yim Tin Tsai, who used to work in the two teams of fishing boats known as the “ku-tsai” in the village, used to salt his fish and send them by the ferries to Sai Kung. These ferries were operated by Hakka people from Sai Kung Market, and they sold the salt fish for the fishermen. For some time, Mr. Chan Shau of Pak Tam Au worked on a Mr. Kong's boat selling rice, oil, salt, and biscuits to the boat people. Fish-mongers with their own boats also came from Tai Po and Kowloon, and collected fish directly from the fishermen.23 Villagers obtained their supplies on credit. Nam Shan villagers, for instance, shopped regularly at Kwong Tak Lung in Sai Kung Market, and they were given credit for such daily necessities as rice and sugar. They paid for their supplies by selling grass to the shop, which was used as fuel. Piglets were also obtained from the shops on credit, and when fattened, the pigs were re-sold back to the shops. Fishermen also relied on credit for their supplies. Mr. Cheung Ming Shing from Leung Shuen Wan purchased his fishing equipment from Saam T'aai, and his food supply from Saam Shing, both of Sai Kung Market. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1977 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/np198x23n 179 Among smaller villages, arrangements for co-operation often extended beyond the village itself. Hang Hau and nearby Seung Sz Wan, for instance, were closely involved in each other's celebrations. When there were celebrations in one village, members of the other village could come without invitation.44 Inter-village co-operative arrangements of one sort or another were sufficiently strong for most of the smaller villages to identify themselves as being parts of permanent village alliances. Tai Mong Tsai, Tai Po Tsai, Shek Hang, Tit Kim Hang, Tam Wat, Wong Mo Ying, Ping Tun, and She Tau formed the Paat Heung (Eight Villages); Nam Shan included also Fu Yung Pit, Kak Hang Tun, Keng Pang Ha, and Lung Mei; Pak Tam Chung included Pak Tam, Tsak Yue Wu, Wong Keng Tei, Sheung Yiu, Wong Yi Chau, and Tsam Chuk Wan; and Ngong Wo, Wo Liu, Shan Liu, Tai Wan, Tso Wo Hang, Sha Ha, Nam A, Wong Chuk Yeung, Long Keng, and O Tau formed the Shap Heung (Ten Villages). The Paat Heung had a joint school in Tai Mong Tsai; the Pak Tam Chung villages jointly worshipped the Great King earthgod near Sheung Yiu; the Shap Heung had its joint school in Tai Wan, and used to maintain collectively the T'in Hau Temple at Wong Chuk Yeung (now ruined). The larger villages, e.g. Ho Chung, Mang Kung Uk, Sha Kok Mei, Nam Wai, Tseng Lan Shue, and Pak Kong, were apparently not parties to such alliances, but regarded themselves as forming complete units in themselves.45 Inter-village disputes were not common, but there were some long-standing ones. Sha Kok Mei disputed with Nam Shan over tree-cutting rights. Nam Wai and Ho Chung fought over a quarrel that had started when the cows of one village damaged the crops of the other.46 Festivals and customs The major festivals in the village were the New Year, and the T'in Kei (birthday of Nui Woh, the Earth Goddess), Ts'ing Ming (spring worship at the ancestral graves), Dragon Boat, Tsat Tse (Seven Sisters), Mid-Autumn, Double-Ninth (autumn worship at the ancestral graves), and Tung Chi (winter solstice) festivals, the temple festivals of the local temples (in this area Ch'e Kung, T'in Hau, Koon Yam, and Hung Shing), the festivals of the local ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1980 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/kh04md207 206 DAVID FAURE annum. The Yung Sz Ch'iu account books from Hoi Ha (see footnote 8) show that it was 30 percent, and that as a rule, interest was seldom successfully collected in full. 20 Mr. Chau T'in Shang 3.6.81, Mr. Tse Kw'an 16.11.80. Mr. Lau K'in Tsun of Ha Yeung (Int. 17.7.81), who managed the Kwong Shing general store at Hang Hau before the War, remembered that he bought oil and rice from the Nam Pak Hong, and had to send his goods to Hang Hau via Shaukiwan. 27 Mr. Hoh King 27.5.81 described the shops making rice wine in conjunction with pig raising, the dregs from the wine being used to feed the pigs. The beancurd maker was Loi Lei, see int. Madam Laai Hung Tai 8.5.81, the owner's daughter. Of course, the markets also provided the hawkers who went regularly to the villages. Mrs. Lau 14.6.81 remembered the fish mongers who took fish from Seung Sz Wan to Ha Yeung, and the hawkers who came with sweets and items of clothing. 28 Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81 for years operated a boat that carried lime and firewood to Kowloon. His father was in a similar business. In the 1930's, Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81 had a junk that took orders from shops in Sai Kung for purchases from Hong Kong. Mr. Lei P'aang Kei collected fish in Sai Kung directly from fishermen to be sent to Kowloon. He had formerly worked for Saam Shing, and started this business on his own when Saam Shing collapsed in the 1930's (Int. Mr. Lei P'aang Kei 12.5.81, 19.5.81). Mr. Chan T'in Po 12.5.81 from Yim Tin Tsai used to send his fish to Sai Kung Market and employed women to carry them into Kowloon, paying 40 cents for approximately 40 catties. 29 In addition to references already cited, see Ints. Mr. Hoh Shang 20.6.81, Mr. Tse Shui Kam 24.6.81, Mrs. Mo née Cheng 28.6.81, Mr. Lau 16.6.81, Mr. Leung Yung Hei 16.6.81, Mr. Lok Shang 21.5.81, Mrs. Yung née Wan 2.7.81, Mr. Shing Uen Wan 10.7.81, Mrs. Tsang née Shing 14.7.81, Mr. Ng 15.7.81, Mr. Lau 17.7.81, Mr. Yau Yan 22.7.81. 30 Mr. Wong Kam Tai 20.7.81 remembered Shing Woh general store, owned by the ancestors of Mr. Shing Mau Kwong of Mang Kung Uk, that collected fish for various shops that made salt fish, a shop that made wine, owned by a Mr. Lau, a stationer's owned by a Mr. Chan, and a small shipyard that removed barnacles from boats, owned by a Mr. Po. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 31.7.81 remembered that the Maus of Pan Long Wan had a general store there, the Shings of Mang Kung Uk had two shops, both called Shing Woh. 31 Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81, Mr. Lei Shiu Yam 8.5.81, Mr. Chan Tsz K'eung 28.5.81, Mr. Hoh Taai 10.6.81, Mr. Hoh King 27.5.81, 5.6.81, Mr. Chau T'in Shang 3.6.81, Mrs. Lei née So 20.6.81, Mr. Lei Yau 13.11.80. 32 Mr. Lei Yiu T'ing 23.6.81, Mr. Lei Shiu Yam 8.5.81, Mr. Lei P'aang Kei 12.5.81, 19.5.81, Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 8.5.81, 15.5.81. 33 For background see Hong Kong Government, Administrative Report 1914 D (Harbour Office), p. 6, Hong Kong Government Gazette August 3, 1914. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang referred to this in relation to the growth of Saam Shing and T'aai Shing in int. 8.5.81. 34 Ts'ui Mau Fung was not a shop-keeper, but a land-owner who lived in Sai Kung. He was not involved in the kaifong (int. Mr. Lei Shiu Yum 8.5.81). On Chan Pak T'o, see int. Mr. Yau T'aam Shang 15.5.81. According to Mr. Chan P'aang Hing 29.5.81, he was the teacher of Chan Ue Kwong's younger brother Min Ue. 35 Mr. Chau T'in Shang 18.5.81, 3.6.81. ================================================================================ 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 213 Name (and village) Dates interviewed Mr. Chan P'aang Hing (Ho Chung) 29.5.81 Name (and village) Mr. Lok Foh Kau (Pak Kong) Dates interviewed 20.6.81 Mr. Cheung T'o (Ho Chung) 29.5.81, 15.6.81 Mrs. Lei, née So (Nam Shan) 20.6.81 Mr. Chung (Kau Sai) 3.6.81 Mr. Hoh Shang (Nam Shan) 20.6.81, 24.6.81 Mr. So T'in Loi (Kau Sai) 3.6.81 Mr. Lok Kau Kei (Pak Kong) 20.6.81, 26.6.81 Mr. Lei Chi Hei (Sha Tsui) 5.6.81 21.7.81 Mr. Cheung Ts'oi 20.6.81 Mr. Lam Kaap Shau (Tai Po Tsai) (Tai Long) 8.6.81 Mr. Wong (Shan Liu) 20.6.81 Mr. Cheung Ming Shing 8.6.81 Mrs. Lau, (Leung Shuen Wan) 21.6.81 Mr. Lok Tsau On Mr. Tse Koon K'au (Pak Kong) (Tan Ka Wan) 9.6.81 Mrs. Tse (Pak Kong) 21.6.81 Mr. Tse Wing (Sha Kok Mei) 9.6.81, 20.6.81 Mrs. Kong Lei San Kiu (Lung Mei) 21.6.81 Mr. Hoh Taai (Ko Tong) 10.6.81, 21.6.81, 22.6.81 Mr. Lo Koon Mooi (Long Mei) 23.6.81 Mr. Cheung Kin Wa 10.6.81 Mrs. Wan, née Lau (Sai Kung Market) (Nam Shan) 21.6.81 Mr. Ue (Mang Kung Uk) 14.6.81 Mr. Kong Hei (Lung Mei) 21.6.81 Mrs. Ue (Mang Kung Uk) 14.6.81 Mr. Wong (Tam Wat) 22.6.81 Mr. Shing Ip On (Mang Kung Uk) 14.6.81 Mr. Sung Kw'an (Tit Kim Hang) 22.6.81 Mrs. Lau (Ha Yeung, near Seung Sz Wan) 14.6.81 Mr. Sung (Tit Kim Hang) 22.6.81 Mr. Lau Hing Lung (Pan Long Wan) 16.6.81 Mr. Uen Chan Wan (Ta Ho Tun) 22.6.81 Mr. Lau (Pan Long Wan) 16.6.81 Mr. Sham Kin K'eung (Hung Fa Tsun) 23.6.81, 1.7.81 Mr. Leung Yung Hei (Hang Hau) 16.6.81 Mr. Lei Yiu T'ing (Pak Kong) 23.6.81 Mr. Lei Kau (Pak Kong) 23.6.81 Mr. Lei Kan (Wo Liu) 19.6.81 Mr. Wong Ts'ing (Nam Shan) 23.6.81 Mr. Hui Lam (Cheung Sheung) 19.6.81 Mr. Lei Faat (Kak Hang Tun) 23.6.81 Mr. Wong (Ko Tong) 19.6.81 Mr. Chan Shau (Pak Tam Au) 19.6.81 Mr. Cheng Yung (Uk Tau) 23.6.81 Mr. To (Ko Tong) 19.6.81 Mr. Lau Lui Faat (Pak Kong Au) 23.6.81 Mr. Wong Shek (Ha Yeung, near Ko Tong) 19.6.81 Mr. Tang (Wong Mo Ying) 23.6.81 ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 112 A HOKLO WEDDING VALERY M. GARRETT During one of our many visits to Sha Tau Kok with Roger, my Hoklo-speaking assistant, to seek out traditional Chinese clothing for the Hong Kong Museum of History, we learned that a wedding would take place on Tuesday, 24th May 1988, for one of the families living in the squatter area of Yim Liu Ha. This is a district within Sha Tau Kok populated by approximately 3,000 Hoklo people who were due to be transferred to new blocks of rural housing during the latter part of 1988 onwards. We were advised to arrive early, and so at 9:30 am on the appointed day we made our way through the village. It was easy to spot the home of the bridegroom, a hundred yards down one of the narrow streets, for around the doorway was draped a narrow length of red cotton, while in the centre, hanging from the lintel, was a freshly cut leg of pork. This was the home of Mr. Lee Sau Choy (李壽財), aged 29, who lived with his parents, three younger brothers, and two younger sisters. His parents were former boat people who had come ashore and settled in Yim Liu Ha some thirty years ago, although his father had continued to go to sea until fairly recently. Mr. Lee worked in Fanling as a fireman, and it was near there, at Kwan Tei, that his bride lived, Miss Lai Miu Han (黎妙嫻), aged 27 and a locally born Cantonese. The marriage had already been registered in Tai Po, and the question of dowry settled. This had been in two parts: the first was a sum of money paid directly to the bride's family of several thousand dollars; the second part consisted of some gifts of gold jewellery given to the bride which, combined with the bride's family's gift of jewellery, would be brought back to the bridegroom's home that morning. Inside the house, on both the left and facing right wall, was hung a blanket known as hei-pei (喜被). Upon each blanket was stitched a cut-out double-happiness character in silver paper, with dragon and phoenix painted on it. Above the character on the blanket on the left-hand wall were stitched two rows of four $500 notes, while ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 113 on the right side were stitched six $1000 notes. On either side of the characters were strips of red paper with gold inscriptions wishing the young couple health and good fortune, from the various family members who had contributed the money. Outside in the street female relatives and friends of the groom were busily cleaning cooking utensils and preparing for a feast. Other women were practising banging the gong and dancing in step, in readiness for the 'Dragon Boat' dance they would perform. Although the Hoklo people in Yim Liu Ha have been settled on land for more than four decades they still retain many of their customs originally performed on water. Instead of the bridegroom being transported by boat to worship and to fetch his bride, on land he is carried along in a procession called pa lung sung (扛龍船) by pairs of women pretending to row a dragon boat. These women are gaily dressed in matching pairs with straw hats decorated with plastic flowers and paper tassels. Round their necks they wear collars embroidered and sequinned with nine Chinese characters symbolizing good fortune: up, down, in, out, double happiness, then the same ones repeated around the other side. At their waists they wear aprons in the same colour as the collar, and each woman carries a yellow painted stick to resemble an oar. Often the family will possess its own set of wedding attire, made by a clever seamstress within the family, but in this case the whole set had been borrowed from another family. At 10 am the procession was ready to leave the groom's home. The women formed themselves into four pairs, with one at the front to bang the gong, and another older woman at the back carrying a fan, with her left trouser leg rolled up above the knee, who was said to represent the tail of the dragon. Then, at a given signal, the women set off at a steady pace, moving in a rhythmic rocking motion to suggest the rowing of a boat. They were followed by two men who formed the head and back part of the Chilin, while behind them walked the band banging a large gong and clashing cymbals. Then came the bridegroom and his best man, both wearing Western suits of the latest fashion, with the groom in white shirt, maroon cummerbund and matching bow ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1987 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/rx919b522 114 Tie. The best man held a black umbrella over the groom, draped with a strip of red cotton: although it was not raining, bad spirits may have been about and it is common Chinese tradition to protect those about to be married from harm befalling them. The procession reached the temple of Ma Jo (#), the Hoklo name for Tin Hau. This is the main temple in Yim Liu Ha. The women redoubled their rowing efforts and the Chilin cavorted and stretched as the groom and best man went in. After making obeisance to the god, they came out, bowed and lit incense at the little shrine opposite the temple, all the while to the deafening accompaniment of gongs and cymbals. Firecrackers were set off and after a further brief visit to the temple, the procession continued on its way to the shrine of the earth god, To Dei Gung (±‡A) at the beginning of the village. Two of the rowers were now carrying small branches of kumquat leaves with which they flailed the air. The Chilin pounced and postured, incense was burned as a sign of respect, and the god offered food from a basket of carefully arranged chickens and other tasty morsels. The bridegroom and best man bowed to the god, more firecrackers were set off, and the procession reformed to return to the house, taking with it the basket of food. The proceedings so far had taken about an hour, and all felt entitled to a rest. Then at 11:30 am, the procession resumed as the bridegroom prepared to leave the village to collect his bride from Kwan Tei. This time he was carrying a bouquet of artificial pink roses to give to the bride. The women rowers had increased in number: the drummer at the front now wearing a funny hat, while of the eight in the middle, two pairs were wearing aprons while two pairs were not. These were followed by the woman representing the tail of the dragon, and then by a "fortunate" woman whose parents were both living and who had several children. She was carrying a round rattan sieve with pomelo leaves, cypress leaves, and two pieces of ginger root, traditional emblems of marriage, long life, and fertility. After this came the Chilin, the band, and the groom and best man with the umbrella. They stopped briefly outside the temple and the earth god to ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h 334 Bui Leng village was established in very early days, “even earlier than Kam Tin". But the building of Yau-Leun Tong had destructive effects on its fung-sheui. After the rise of the Dangs the Sa Bui Ling villagers became their ha-fu. I have talked with a 64-year-old Mr. Chan, who was the oldest person in this village. The villagers were originally of three surnames: Chan, Yeung and Yun. The Yuns have left no descendants. The villagers had established Sa Bui Leng at the same time as the Dangs established their settlement. The Dangs had taken measures to prevent the prosperity of this village. They built three ancestral halls (chi tong-jai), i.e. Yau-Leun Tong, and two others, which used to be at the site of the present playground, and dug a pond which had only been filled up to build the cinema some ten years ago. The combination had bad impacts on the fung-sheui of Sa Bui Leng and the Chans suffered a serious decline. Therefore some of them had moved to Tai Kiu, a small village in Yuen Long. Before the war, the Chan family had grown rice on fields rented from a wealthy Dang and one of the jous of the Kam Tin Dangs. Mr. Chan stressed that the family farmed land rented from the Dangs, they did not work for them. There are indications that at least for the last hundred years, the Sa Bui Leng people were accepted as equals by some of the poorer Dangs. The Chan family was a member of the Yi-Chung Wui, a ritual association which drew its members mostly from the poorer Dang villagers of Kim Tin, since at least the time of his great grandfather. I also discovered that Mr. Chan's wife was a daughter of a Tai Hong Wai Dang. V. WORSHIP The supernatural world was very real to the villagers. It is still so to many of the elders. A Mr. Dang who had spent his youth in a trading firm on Hong Kong Island told me that in the old days when the area was less densely populated, one often encountered ghosts. Now that there were more people one rarely saw ghosts. I have heard something similar from a younger Mrs. Dang. The belief in the reality and power of the gods is strong too. It is, above all, manifested in the villagers' behaviour in the jiu festival. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1989 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h deui-lyun dim-dang Wif ding-hau T`LI Dongguan 東莞 dong-ji Dung Ping Guk 東本局 faan Fa-Gung Fa-Mou (EAEN fa-paai TEMP Fau-Ng ởH Fong 兒 fong fong-jeung Fu Qing (47 fu 伏 Fu-Hip gwan-ma 郡馬 Gwok-Yin Gwong-Yu K Gwong-Yu Tong Gwun-Yam #E Gyun 銷 Ha Tsuen 厦村 Ha Che 下崟 haang 坑 ha-fu F Hak-Sa ha-yan FA Hei-Ye 起野 heui-lok Heung heung Fui-Sing !! Fung Yuk-Daan MƒU!! Gaai-Yut gaam-sang Gai-Jau # heung-on Ho fil hoi-dang EH hou 號 Hung-Fan Taam gam-taap Gam-Tin Gaozong h Gau Ga Chyun **† hung-jeuk FL Hung-Ji 孔子 Hung-Ji 洪贄 Hung-Sing # Hung-Yi 洪儀 geui-yan git-jing #7 Git-Sau gu l Guangdong MAC Guangzong 光宗 guk 榖 gung-chou Y gung-sang Gwaan-Dai BNR Gwai-Ting gwai-waan (?) Gwai-Wong E gwan 棍 Gwan-Haak 7K Gwan-Leung R jaap-fo 雜貨 Jai Baak-Fu Jan 鈞 Jan-Ting Jau M Jau-Man B jau-tung 州同 Jeung Hoi Jeung 張 Jeung-Luk A jeun-si 進士 Jiangxi 江西 Ji-Ga Tong #18 2 Jik-Gin jiu BE Page 369 ================================================================================ 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-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 155 to the front of the school building, to double the defences of the bridge, probably some time in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 27 The building of the gun-towers, the school, the Man Mo Temple and Meeting Hall, and the communal grave, is evidence for the prosperity and vitality of the town, and the village society in which it was set, in the later nineteenth century. By 1904, the market had about doubled in size, and in the number of shops operating, from its situation fifty years earlier. From its foundation in 1830-1835, in fact, the prosperity of the town seems to have increased steadily until 1898, with the only check being the very temporary set-back of the Taiping attack. The Market and the New Frontier The leasing of the New Territories to Great Britain in 1898 was traumatic for the villagers of the Sha Tau Kok area. The line originally proposed for the new frontier would have run along the Sha Tau Kok River from source to sea. This would have put two of the eleven village alliance areas of the Shap Yeuk into China, the market and the other village alliance areas into the New Territories. This was unacceptable to the Chinese authorities, who were unwilling to allow so significant a place as Sha Tau Kok to become part of the area administered by Britain. Eventually it was agreed that the frontier should run along the Sha Tau Kok River from the source down to the Sha Tau Kok bridge, and then be diverted from the bridge down the centre of the bridge access road to the sluice at Yim Liu Ha, then in a straight line to the sea, and thence east along the high-water mark to the mouth of Mirs Bay.* This line was drawn very close to the northern and western edges of the market. As such it isolated the market from the rest of Chinese territory; its only access was either over the bridge, which was half in Hong Kong, or through Hong Kong territory, or by sea through Hong Kong waters. In the late nineteenth century, China controlled imports and exports through customs regulations, enforced by the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service. By the drawing of the frontier where it eventually was, the normal, day-to-day trade of Sha Tau Kok market suddenly found itself * See Map 4. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 175 Opposite the saltpans, on the bund, each saltworks had a small hut. These were used to store the salt before it was carried to Sham Chun. They also functioned as retail shops; villagers wanting to buy salt bought it here, not at shops in the town. There were also several lime-burners, making lime from coral dredged from Mirs Bay, operating in the Yim Liu Ha area. 65 The most important building in British Sha Tau Kok in the 1920s was the Railway Station. This was the terminus of a narrow-gauge (2 foot) railway which linked Sha Tau Kok and the main-line station at Fanling, and which operated from 1912 to 1928. While it was slow, expensive and uncomfortable, it nonetheless linked Sha Tau Kok more effectively with the outside world than had ever been possible before, when every traveller had to make a long and weary journey by sea and mountain pass. The Station was built immediately on the frontier. When traders started to migrate across the frontier, it was the hawkers, with no overheads, who moved first - they moved to the area around the Station and its forecourt. Most hawking in Sha Tau Kok was carried out here from about 1925. When the railway was dismantled in 1928, following completion of the motor road from Fanling in 1927, the hawkers moved to the area at the end of the road - a permanent market hall for them was built nearby as part of the San Lau Street development in 1933-1934. Before 1925, hawking had taken place mostly in Wang Tau Street - vegetable hawkers using the upper part, near Upper Street, and fuel hawkers the lower part, near Lower Street and the gambling house. Itinerant cooked-food sellers (mostly selling noodles), and villagers selling things like brooms, bamboo poles, etc. were also found here. But most of them moved to the Station forecourt in about 1925. The only sizeable shop in British Sha Tau Kok before 1925 was the main town carpenter's in Tsoi Yuen Kok. This shop had moved there from Upper Street a few years before 1925, mostly because of the need for more space for its timber stores and saw-yard. The rest of Tsoi Yuen Kok was used for market gardens, where vegetables were grown for sale in the town. What did the town look like in 1925? Photographs are few and unrevealing. There is, however, one short description of the town at this date: ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 180 the town would bring baskets of vegetables to sell retail on street in Wang Tau Street. Some sold their vegetables at Yim Liu Ha - even before the hawkers started to migrate across the frontier there was some trading here. The saltworkers had no fields, and had to buy all their food - since there was about 100 of them, this represented quite a market. Usually, those villagers trading vegetables with the saltworkers at Yim Liu Ha would exchange their vegetables for salt, which they then hawked around the villages away from the market. One or two villages specialised in this vegetables and salt trade. Yet others specialised in exchanging vegetables for fish (usually the poorer quality, or broken, fish), which they then hawked around villages away from the market. The villages further from the market found the vegetable trade difficult, and they usually did not take part in it. Their specialty was fuel. The villages near the market had cut all the trees in the vicinity of the village, except for the untouchable Fung Shui groves, long before, and they were seriously short of fuel as a consequence. The remote mountainside villages of the Shap Yeuk area, however, still had plenty of wood, but were usually short of cultivable land. The economy of these villages depended, essentially, on exchanging firewood for rice. Village women would leave these villages at day-break, carrying loads of about 75 catties of wood, cut and dried, and prepared to suit the particular needs of the specific market aimed at. The boat-people required wood cut into very small and even billets, to fit the tiny stoves on board their boats. The saltworkers needed wood cut to larger sizes to feed their furnaces and stoves. Individual villager or shopkeeper households needed wood cut to medium sizes. Individual fuel-selling villages tended to specialise in one or other of these markets. The best-placed fuel-selling villages, those whose wood reached the market first, tended to sell their wood in whole loads, 75 catties at a time. Those who reached the market later tended to have to sell their wood retail, catty by catty, originally in Wang Tau Street, later from the Railway Station forecourt. It was the custom that, if someone bought a whole load of wood, then the seller had to carry it all the way to the buyer's house, no matter how far from the market. Individual seller villages tended to develop a close relationship with individual buyer villages and households - often buyers would look out for sellers they knew, and order a load of fuel for the next market day. As with vegetables, so villagers who sold fuel to the saltworkers or fishermen sometimes exchanged their wood for salt or fish, which they then hawked through the villages away from the market. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 184 preoccupied with the fuel trade to have any spare time to enter the carrying trade. Especially in the 1930s, one of the biggest coolie trades was smuggling, although it was of significance earlier as well. Villagers smuggled their own purchases back over the frontier (the bridge carrying the footpath over the border river near the Sha Tsui temple was a commonly used route, as it was not continuously guarded by the Customs), but bulk smuggling (mostly of sugar, kerosene, tobacco, and also opium) was organised by the shops in the market, especially the tobacco dealers. These treated their trade as any other carrying trade, with village women being hired ad hoc to carry loads to customers across the frontier, or across the lines to Sha Yue Chung. Most village women active in the coolie trade took part in this smuggling business. The society of the market at Sha Tau Kok was entirely dominated by the local Hakka of the surrounding villages. The Tanka - the boat people - were, as always, regarded as somewhat second-class, even though their presence was essential to the economic success of the town. The perceived inferiority of the boat-people may well be the reason that few of them lived in the market at Sha Tau Kok: they preferred to live at Kat O, a few miles off-shore, outside the Shap Yeuk area. Even more regarded as second-class, however, were the Hoklo saltworkers. These groups of workers, living for the term of their contract away from their families in their miserable huts on the saltpans, had no status at all. Of the total population of the town, perhaps as many as one fifth were saltworkers (assuming five workers per salt-works). The Hakka villagers owned the salt-works, but left them entirely to the contract overseer and his hired staff, so long as the rent was paid. No-one remembers the names of any of these salt-workers, nor can anyone remember any marriages between local Hakka or Tanka girls and these Hoklo labourers. The villagers kept away from them, and their only contact was the exchange of fuel or vegetables for salt at Yim Liu Ha. The salt-workers were important to the economy of the town, but they were treated as being the very bottom of the social scale. At the other end of the social scale were the teachers at the Tung Wo School. The Shap Yeuk elders had wanted to ensure that the district had at least one first quality school, and had consequently built the school to ================================================================================ 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 No. Name of Shop 191 Address of Shop Name of Owner Village of Owner Source Comments Tobacco 67 Guesthouses 68-71. WIS C C '3 or 4" guesthouses See below under "Others" Basel missionaries. 1859 Opium Divan 72 WIS Lunie-burners 73-74 Yin Lou C C Ft.L Oilers 75 = } WH C groceries 76 77 仙 78 利 79 SE B 1 or 2 limekilns Lockhart's Report, 1899 sweets and small ) these may be two of B ) the guesthouses B J B ) HO ... B ) nothing is now 18 W B } remembered about 82 87 K 4 B > these shops B } #4 ¥ } Prostitutes 85-96 Row neat City C LS Saltworks 97-115 - Yon In EL C Hawken C WIS Punti girls from City Offered opium to clients HL workers from Swabue, sold salt retail Detail of works in Block Crown Lease Fish, meat, vegetables, cooked food (including noodles), handicrafts fuel. Also at Yim Liu Ha E NOTES See G A C Herklots, The Hong Kong Countryside, Hong Kong, 1951, pp 86-89 for tigers and leopard on Ng Tung Shan, and the Hsin An County Gazetteer (1819 Gazetteer, ch 3. Chung Lap Pao Edition, 1979, p. 45) for tiger, wild boar, and deer in the area 2 1688 Hsin An County Gazetteer, ch 3, 127 A salt commission was established at Nam Tau (Nantou) just outside the present borders of Hong Kong, probably in the Nan Yueh period, in the second century BC This was later divided into 4 commissions, probably during the Nan Han period (tenth century A.D) Of the 4 Nan Han commissions, the Kwun Fu commission certainly covered the Mirs Bay area in the Sung; the headquarters of the commission were moved temporarily from Kowloon City to Tip Fuk (Deep Fuk) on the east coast of the Bay in 1163; and probably did so from the establishment of the commission The borders of Tung Kuan County and its predecessors bent round to include just the coastal strip of Mirs Bay. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 198 commodities + The boat-building and repair sheds at Sha Tau Kok had entirely disappeared, with great loss of life. Special encouragement [from a relief fund] was given to the boat-builders at Sha Tau Kok to start all over again. "The Customs Station at Sha Tau Kok was destroyed in this typhoon - see Jiulonghaiguan Bamen Dashiji, op. cit., sub anno. In the 1945 aerial photograph, it can be seen that far fewer than half of the buildings in the old market were still standing; the site had been, effectively, abandoned even for residential purposes. Since the War, all vestiges of the old market have been removed for development, and nothing whatsoever now survives of it. - 47 Papers Laid Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers (Sessional Papers), 1900, "Report on the First Year of Brush Administration of the New Territory, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor” (No 15 of 1900), p. 257; 1901, "Report for the New Territory for 1900, Laid before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor" (no 28 of 1901), p. 6; Administrative Reports for the Year 1933, App. J, "Report on the New Territories for 1933", p. J3. In 1937, the Coronation was celebrated with electric light displays in Sha Tau Kok. Administrative Reports for the Year 1937, App. J, "Report on the New Territories for the Year 1937", p. J11. 49 A party from the Basel Mission stayed in a "totally comfortless guesthouse" in the town in 1859, Jahresberichte der Basler Mission, 1859, and a noodle shop "at the entrance to the market" is mentioned in 1882 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-16, Nr. 45). 49 Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-2, Nr. 46 (1853), Doct. A1-16, Nr. 45 (1882), Jahresberichte der Basler Mission, 1859. "I do not like taking a house in a market, for you always find wicked types there - thieves, opium smokers, gamblers - festering together and leading to predictable outcomes." In 1859, Sha Tau Kok was the only market where the Basel missionaries had attempted to set up a station. Between 1899 and 1902, the District Officer was very concerned about the huge amount of gambling going on at Yim Liu Ha, with over 300 arrests in 1901, but this dropped away to "almost nothing" later, after the gambling house became available in Sha Tau Kok. Paper Land Before the Legislative Council of Hongkong, printed by Noronha & Co, Government Printers, (Sessional Papers), 1901, "Report on the New Territory for 1901, Laid Before the Legislative Council by Command of His Excellency the Governor", App. 6, p. 20; 1902, App. 2, p. 342-344; Orme's Report, op. cit., para. 41, p. 49. 50 The route is described in 1848 (Der Evangelische Heidenbote, March 1848); 1853 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-2, Nr. 44; see P.H. Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op. cit.); 1858-1859 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-4, Nr. 11; Jahresberichte der Basler Mission, 1859; and Jahresberichte der Rheinischen Missionsgesellschaft, 1859); 1863 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-5, Nr. 5); 1884 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-19, Nr. 35); and 1893 (Basel Mission Archive, Doct. A1-27). * 1688 Gazetteer, ch. 3 passim; 1819 Gazetteer, ch. 4, Chung Lap Pao edition, 1879, p. 51. The 1688 Gazetteer specifically mentions several of the roads over the shoulders of Ng Tung Shan (b. 1); the road from Sha Tau Kok to Shu Yue Chung (this is probably the implication of the mentioned there) - this is the "official road" from which the village of Kwun Lo Ha (Guanlouxia, "Below the Official Road") takes ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1993 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/66833t302 1850-1911, op cit 71 See P H Hase, "Sha Tau Kok in 1853”, op cit 72 The largest shops were Kwan Tau (144) the household goods shop (Nai Wai, Niwei, in Luk Heung) 2 Wang Hap (Z) the household goods shop (Yung Shue Au) 3 Kwong Yue (M) the grocery (Fung Hang) 4 Yuen Tai (54) the grocery (Tong To) 5 Sam Lung ( ) the grocery (Wo Hang) 6 Yan Hong (10) the grocery (Yim Tin) 7 8 Cheung Ding (FL) the fishmonger (Kwun Lo Ha, Guanlouxia, in Luk Heung) Wa Shong (4) the fishmonger ("Sha Tau Kok" probably Sha Lan Ha) 9 10 Tak Ding (120) the tobacconist (Luk Keng) 11 Tsui Cheung (4307) the silversmith (Tsai Muk Kiu) 12 I San Cheung (1) the tailor and cloth dealer (Yim Tin) 13 San Lung (954) the tailor and cloth dealer - the largest shop in the market - (Au Tau, Aotou, in Luk Heung) 14 Tung Yue ( ) the carpenter (Sau Hang, Xuokeng, in Luk Heung) 15 Jung Hing ([]) the carpenter (Sha Tseng Tau, Shajingtou, Luk Heung) 16 Cheung Sze (12) the boatbuilder (Sha Tau Kok Sha Lan Ha) 17 Sze Fong Ting (P44) the gambling house (Wo Hang) 18 Nung Sang Tong (WE7) the doctor (Yim Tin) 19 Wo Hing Tong (ABU) the pawnshop (Yim Tin) Thus, of the largest shops, five were owned by Luk Heung people, four by Yim Tin Yeuk people, two by Wo Hang Yeuk people, two by Sha Tau Kok (Sha Lan Ha) people, two by people from the Thi Tin Yeuk (the area south-west of Sha Tau Kok across the sea, around Luk Keng and Nam Chung), and one each by people from the Hing Chun Yeuk (around Lai Chi Wo), Kuk Po Yeuk, and Sam Heung. Thus, in 1925, not only were the largest shops all operated by people from the Shap Yeuk area, but ownership of these larger shops was spread around most of the Yeuk areas of the Shap Yeuk. The Basel missionaries make it clear that the shops in the market in 1853 were also all owned by people from the surrounding villages see P H Hase, “Sha Tau Kok in 1853", op cit 71 See J W. Hayes, The Hong Kong Region, 1850-1911, op cit for the places of origin of shop-keepers at Tai O and Cheung Chau, and J W Hayes, The Rural Communities of Hong Kong, op cit for those at Kowloon city. D Faure, loc cit gives details on those at Tsuen Wan and Sai Kung. The fisher ports in the Islands (Tai O, Cheung Chau), and, to some degree Sai Kung on the mainland, had the largest percentage of non-indigenous shopowners, but Sha Tau Kok had fewer "outsider" shopowners even than Tsuen Wan. 74. A contact from Tsat Muk Kiu village, for instance, said that she would go to the market with her wood, sell it, buy what she needed in the market, and return home, passing on her way home the women from Wang Shan Keuk still carrying their wood. ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 75 market towns can be, as noted above, identified by their imbalanced populations, as can villages specialising in incense pounding, stonecutting, and salt-working (Yim Liu Ha, and perhaps Tsing Shan and Tsing Shan Po in Tuen Mun) Some fishing villages (especially Kau Sai) show what is probably a seasonal population imbalance, with the male population boosted by the temporary presence of "foreign" fishing vessels at the Census date. In all these cases, as with the market towns, the opportunities for wage-paying employment must have led to a certain degree of temporary male immigration into the village in question. Some other villages may have been "industrial" in 1911 without this being so clearly confirmed by oral evidence as in these cases. Thus, Sheung Wo Che in Sha Tin was the site of the Sha Tin Railway Station; the excess males recorded here, with the nearby Pak Tin and Wang Pok, may have been working on the construction of the railway. However, when all the urban and industrial villages are discounted, there remain numbers of villages with excess males where there seems little likelihood of immigration, and where some other factor or factors must be at work. A number of very poor villages in the eastern part of the New Territories have more males than are to be expected. It may be that some of these villages were just too poor to pay the fees required to let their young adult males emigrate, and equally too poor to arrange marriages for them until there was land available for them to inherit. On the other hand, a number of very wealthy Punti villages, especially those in the Sheung Shui plain (including Loi Tung, Lung Yeuk Tau, Ping Kong, with others at just below the 56% cut-off point) also have high male-female ratios. The reasons for this are unclear. It may be no more than a particularly strong unwillingness to report unmarried girls in these villages. J.L. Watson, however, has shown that some at least of the wealthier Punti villages had a “bachelor sub-culture”, in which poorer members of the lineage tended not to marry, but to drift into a society of bachelor clubs centred on the lineage self-defence force. This system, in which unmarriageable poorer lineage sons were nonetheless given a positive role in local society, may have induced higher than average male-female ratios in such villages; emigration was not the only option available to the excess males.13 No evidence of such a “bachelor sub-culture” seems to exist for the ================================================================================ RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊 | RAS-1996 https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/3n209j641 77 Appendix I Villages with Low Male: Female (Less than 47%) Population Ratios, 1911 District Village No. of males Total population Age of males N San Tong Po 15 47 31.9** N Ngau Ha 6 16 N Sam Tam Lo 1 6 33.3** N Mo To Hang 2 6 33.3** N Ko Tan 8 21 38.1** N Tsiu Keng 15 43 34.9** N Wo Hop Shek 21 48 43.8 N Sheung Tan Chuk Hang 43 102 42.2 N Ping Che Yuen Ha 27 61 44.3 N Tai Po Tin 25 56 44.6 N Fung Wong Wit 39 84 46.4 N Lo Shue Ling 98 209 46.9 N Lei Uk Tsuen 41 94 43.6 N Chuk Yuen 18 44 40.9* N Tsung Yuen Ha 39 85 45.9 N Muk Wu 81 174 46.6 N Luk Keng 182 484 37.6** N Yim Tso Ha 18 47 38.3** N Shek Kiu Tau 37 98 37.8** N Ma Tseuk Ling Tai Long N 47 125 37.6** N Ha Wo Hang 20 46 43.5 N Sheung Wo Hang 66 160 41.3 N Nam Chung 175 443 39.5* N Wu Kay Tang 152 348 43.7 N Lin Ma Hang 165 423 39.0** N Ha Wang Shan Keuk 199 516 38.2** N Ha That Muk Kiu 16 43 37.2** N Kau Tam Tso 27 76 35.5** N Kai Keuk Shue Ha 13 42 31.0** N Fung Hang 47 108 43.5 N Kuk Po San Wai 61 143 42.6* N Tong To 56 126 44.4 N Shan Tsui 47 104 45.2 N Kong Ha 162 367 44.1 N Pok Wai 63 135 46.7 N Tai Che 100 225 44.4 ST Ngau Kok Wo 7 18 38.9** ST Tsung Tau Ha 3 8 37.5* ST 3 9 33.3** The table has been reconstructed for better readability while maintaining the original content and order. The column headers have been inferred as "District", "Village", "No. of males", "Total population", and "Age of males" based on the content. ================================================================================ 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 179 Stewart II Lockhart. Report on the New Territory during the First Year of British Administration, Hong Kong Sessional Papers, 1900, p. 251 Brum, op cit. p.94 12 David Faure, The Structure of Chinese Rural Society: Lineage and Village in the Eastern New Territories (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 100 Interviews: "Uncle Lau" (age: 73), Lam Che, Jun 18, 1991; Cheng Man Yim, op cit.; the Tung Chung Public School, Jan 24, 1991; K'ung Chuo-Yim (age 56), Ma Wan Chung, Jul 11, 1991; Headmaster Mui Wen Hsi (age 50), the Tung Chung Public School, Jun 6, 1991; Tseng Jung Wu (age 53), Ngat Au, Jun 28, 1991 14 Interview of Lo Ch'uan Mei (age 82), Shaek Mun Kap, Jun 22, 1991 15. Ha Wan Yee, "Tung-chung-hsiang te min-chien tsung-chiao hsin-yang chi ch'i han-tung," Unpublished Graduation Thesis, History, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991, p. 4 Sessional Paper, 1911 (Hong Kong: The Government Printer), p. 103 (38) 17 Interview of Teng Ch'iao (age 66), Ha Mei, Jun 26, 1991 18 Interview of Teng P'ei (age 61), Ha Mei, Jun 18, 1991. According to her story, the Teng's ancestral hall was damaged by the Japanese, and since then the lineage has failed to raise money for its reconstruction. San Tau's Hsiehs also lost their genealogy as well as medical books to the Japanese, according to the interview of Hsieh Ch'i, op. cit., Jun 21, 1991 19 Interview of Huang Wu (age 80+), Village Head of Tai Po, Aug 12, 1991 20 Interview of Cheng P'o, op cit. 21 Faure, op. cit., pp. 70-71; Marjone Topley, "Chinese Religion and Rural Cohesion in the Nineteenth Century,” HKBRAS, Vol. 18 (1978), pp. 9-43 22 Interview of Tseng Jung, op cit. 23 Ho, op cit., p. 5 24 For details of the ceremony, see Faure, op cit., p. 71 25 C.K. Yang, Religion in Chinese Society. A Study of Contemporary Social Functions of Religion and Some of Their Historical Factors (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), pp. 11-12, 99 26 For details of the chan festival, see Faure, op cit., pp. 84-86; David Faure, "Hong Kong and China in the Village World,” HKBRAS, Vol. 24 (1981), pp. 76-79; Tanaka ================================================================================