Hong Kong

A Society in Transition

I.C. Jarvie

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780415175623
• eBook ISBN: 9781136234330
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This is Volume IV in a series of six on the Sociology of East Asia. Originally published in 1969, the aim was to fill the lack of sociological studies of Hong Kong at the time.

Part One

General Sociology of Hong Kong

Jack M. Potter, Ph.D. (Calif.)

Assistant professor of anthropology in the University of California, Berkeley

J. W. Hayes, M.A. (London)

A Senior Administrative Officer of the Hong Kong Government

Ronald Ng, B.A.(HK)

Completing research on a Ph.D. on Rural hand Use in Hong Kong

Judith Agassi, Ph.D. (London)

On the research staff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

H. J. Lethbridge, BSc.(Econ.) and BSc.(Soc.) (London)

Senior lecturer in sociology in the University of Hong Kong

Joseph Agassi, Ph.D. (London)

Professor of philosophy in Boston University

I. C. Jarvie, Ph.D. (London)

Associate professor of philosophy in York University, Toronto

I

The Structure of Rural Chinese Society in New Territories¹

Jack M. Potter

1 Introduction

Rural Chinese society in the New Territories is of intrinsic interest in its own right as the rural dimension of the Colony of Hong Kong—one of the most distinctive and fascinating societies in the world. The New Territories is also of great interest to students of China because it is one of the few remaining places where traditional Chinese villages and towns still exist in a state approximating their traditional pre-Communist forms.

At present, most social science interest in China is devoted to understanding and interpreting the social revolution that is occurring on the mainland. This is necessary and proper but in our attempts to understand the changes taking place within contemporary rural China we have been handicapped by our appalling ignorance of many important aspects of traditional Chinese rural society. We still know little about kinship and lineage organization in the villages; we know almost nothing about social and economic organization in the market towns and cities; and we have only a vague understanding of the intermediate social, political, and economic networks that bound village to town and towns to the wider society.² These are only a few items on a list that could easily be expanded. This unfortunate situation is made even worse by political conditions which at present and for the foreseeable future make first-hand social science research in China impossible.

Given these circumstances, it becomes apparent how valuable Hong Kong can be as a laboratory for the study of traditional and modern pre-Communist Chinese society. The great value of the Colony as a social laboratory is that it contains almost all the elements in the traditional society—from lineages, villages, and market towns to urban social and economic organizations of all kinds. Not only is it possible to study each of these social institutions separately, it is also possible in Hong Kong to study their interrelationships as parts of a total on-going social system.

Of course, Chinese society in contemporary Hong Kong is different in many respects from Chinese society on the mainland prior to the Communist Revolution in 1949 and in any case would be representative of only the Cantonese brand of Chinese culture. Nevertheless, if reasonable allowances are made for these limiting and special circumstances, much valuable information can still be obtained in Hong Kong that can not only further our understanding of traditional Chinese society but can also serve as a baseline for studies of Communist China. Since most research on Communist China must rely on documentary sources and refugee interviews, pilot studies on selected aspects of Chinese society in Hong Kong would enable us at least to keep one foot in contact with basic Chinese social and cultural reality—something which is sometimes lacking in contemporary studies of Communist China.

My purpose in this article is to present a brief overview of the major aspects of Chinese social organization in the villages and towns of the New Territories. This discussion must necessarily be limited to a general sketch because of space limitations. The reader must be forewarned that this paper is based mainly upon field work experience on one large and relatively ‘progressive’ Cantonese lineage near the market town of Yuen Long. Social conditions probably vary a great deal in other areas of the New Territories and among the Hakka and other non-Cantonese ethnic groups. I do believe, however, that the information presented in this paper is generally true of most of the indigenous Cantonese village population in most areas of the mainland section of the New Territories.

2 The new territories

The new Territories comprise the mainland portion of the Colony between the city of Kowloon in the south and the Sham Chun River in the north. Also induded are several hundred islands of various sizes that lie in the waters immediately adjacent to the Colony. In 1961, the New Territories as a whole contained a population of about four hundred thousand and included a land area of approximately three hundred and sixty-five square miles.³

By far the largest part of the New Territories, both on the mainland and on the islands, is mountainous and not suitable for agricultural purposes. The eastern half of the mainland section, which includes Tai Po District and the Sai Kung Peninsula, is extremely hilly with village settlements found only on small alluvial plains near the coast and in small inland valleys. The soil in this area is not as deep or as fertile as soil in the northwestern part of the New Territories around the towns of Yuen Long and Sheung Shui where most of the villages are found. The richest agricultural region is in the Yuen Long Valley.

The original inhabitants of the Colony are four in number: Cantonese peasants; Hakka peasants; the Tanka or ‘Boat People’; and the Hoklo. The Tanka and the Hoklo are both seafaring fishing people who live most of their lives on the water. One of the major differences between the two groups is that more of the Hoklo have settled ashore. Together they numbered about forty-five thousand in 1961.⁴ The Boat People have probably inhabited the South China Coast from time immemorial, long before the settlement of this area by Chinese from the north.

Most of the original inhabitants of the New Territories were Cantonese and Hakka peasants.⁵ The Hakka are a Chinese minority group from north and central China who are linguistically and culturally somewhat distinct from the Cantonese but, like the Cantonese, are primarily agriculturalists. The Hakka either entered the New Territories later than the Cantonese or else they lost out in the competition for the best land because they now inhabit the poorer mountain regions of the eastern half of the New Territories. They are in almost exclusive possession of the Sai Kung Peninsula and are the dominant group in the areas surrounding the market towns of Tai Po and Sha Tin. There are also Hakka settlements in the eastern part of the Yuen Long Valley around the Tai Mo Shan foothills.⁶

Although Chinese influence had been present in Canton much earlier, Cantonese peasants probably did not begin to settle this southern outpost of China in great numbers until early in the Sung Dynasty. At present, the Cantonese own most of the best agricultural land in the northern and western sections of the New Territories. Over the centuries since Cantonese settlement first began in this area the New Territories has gradually been settled by peasant farmers from elsewhere in Kwangtung Province. The Cantonese have traditionally been the dominant group in the area.

Until its incorporation into the Colony in 1898 the New Territories formed part of Po On District of Kwangtung Province and had been an integral part of traditional China.⁷ The history of the area from 1898 to 1941 is one of gradual changes resulting from the incorporation of the rural villages and towns into the administrative and economic system of the Colony. Soon after the occupation of the area by the British, an administrative system was established which, although modified several times, has remained basically unchanged up to the present. District Offices were established in the countryside as seats of the new government and police stations were built at strategic locations to maintain law and order. A land survey was undertaken soon after 1900 to establish the ownership of all land in the New Territories for tax purposes and Crown Rent Rolls were drawn up.⁸

In the first decade of this century a rudimentary road network was extended into the New Territories from Kowloon to most of the major market towns. Later the Canton-Kowloon Railroad was built through the eastern part of the New Territories through the towns of Tai Po and Sheung Shui. Better transportation facilities stimulated commerce and trade between the rural areas and the urban sector of the Colony and the market towns of the New Territories began to grow and prosper around this time. In the half-century between 1898 and 1941, the government made some attempt to improve the schools in the New Territories and some progress was also made in improving other social services for the rural population but real progress along these lines was not to occur until after the Second World War.

The Japanese occupation of the Colony during the war, from 1941 through 1945, was a traumatic experience for the villagers of the New Territories and the populaton of the Colony as a whole. During this period the Colony suffered a general economic collapse with severe shortages of food and other goods of all kinds and many business establishments were forced to close their doors.⁹ The villagers, according to their own testimony, suffered severe economic hardships during these years and many were close to starvation when the war ended and the British once again regained control of the Colony in 1945.

During the occupation period, the social structure and cultural patterns of the villagers of the New Territories were ‘shaken up’ to such an extent that they were made susceptible to the rapid and far-reaching changes that were to occur in the post-war years.¹⁰ Although most of the refugees from China were initially absorbed by the urban areas of the Colony, the New Territories has certainly not escaped the impact of post-war developments. Extensive and far-reaching changes have been brought about in the economic and social patterns of the New Territories by the refugee influx from the mainland and the economic development of the Colony in the past fifteen years.

Since 1949, many refugees from the mainland have settled in the New Territories on small plots of land which they rent from the older village inhabitants.¹¹ These refugee farmers build small wooden shacks on their land and make their living growing vegetables for the expanded urban market. Some of the newcomers have established poultry and pig farms and many of the truck gardeners supplement their agricultural income by raising pigs and chickens on the side. The refugee farmers have been economically quite successful and at present their wooden houses dot the countryside between the traditional peasant villages.

During the last fifteen years, and especially in the last decade, the excess population from the now overcrowded cities has begun to spill over into the New Territories at an ever-increasing rate. Many lower class Chinese from the city are moving into some of the older villages which are conveniently located near transportation to the cities and near the market towns. Some of these outsiders have found employment in the rural towns but most of them leave their families in the village and continue to work in the city, establishing a suburban pattern of living. Most of the men reside more or less permanently in the city near their place of work and visit their families in the country only on weekends or on the major Chinese holidays, depending on the nature of their employment. The move of urban residents to the countryside has been popular because living conditions in the country are better and more economical than in the overcrowded city and because primary education for the children is much cheaper in the village schools.

Recently, industrial and commercial firms from the city have begun to set up small plants and factories in the rural areas of the Colony to escape the high rent of the cities and this has increased employment opportunities for the rural population. Industry and commerce have stimulated the development of better transportation facilities and this has contributed to the economic development of the rural areas and the expansion of the rural market towns. At present, road networks are being extended into once isolated rural areas and with the road networks eventually go electricity, a piped water supply, and bus service, all of which have led to much improved living conditions for the villagers. Many villages are now connected to the city and towns by frequent and inexpensive bus and taxi service and some of them now even have telephones and street lights. Since the war modern elementary schools have been established in almost all the rural villages and many public and private middle schools have been built near the market towns making education to the middle school level much more common than before the war. Medical facilities, both government and private, have also been greatly improved.

Due to all of these factors—outsiders resident in or near the villages, improved transportation to towns and cities, and improved education and other social services—the New Territories since the war has undergone a process of rapid social, cultural, and economic change which has begun to alter fundamentally the traditional rural social patterns.

3 Market town-Village relations

In addition to the several hundred old-established villages, the scattered homesteads of the refugee vegetable farmers, and the fishing villages along the coast, the New Territories also contains several large market towns and numerous smaller markets. On the south coast not far from Kowloon is the new industrial centre of Tsuen Wan. Although there was some industry in Tsuen Wan before the war, it was mainly an ordinary country market town complete with the usual traditional Chinese business establishments. Since the war Tsuen Wan has been transformed into an important industrial centre and now contains several factories, a large shopping district, and many apartment buildings for the factory workers. With a current population of over sixty thousand, Tsuen Wan has almost become a small city. Other market towns in the New Territories are Yuen Long on the northwest plain which in 1961 had a population of over thirty-three thousand; Tai Po on the east coast with a population of...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Series page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Tables
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• Part One General Sociology of Hong Kong
• Part Two The Role of Savings and Wealth among Hong Kong Chinese
• Part Three Specific Socio-Economic Problems of Hong Kong
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects