Bulletin Number Four 1984

system in 1905 and the fall o f the Qing Dynasty in 1911, the study o f eight-legged texts and classics was no longer the stepping stone in one's official career. The status o f the traditional private schools was naturally affected. Some people then preferred modem-type schools to the traditional. Moreover, w ith the introduction o f British rule and administra­ tion, more roads and railways were built, resulting in the growing contact o f the New Territories w ith urban Hong Kong. Not only was it more convenient for students to attend schools in Tai Po and Kowloon then, but also more job opportunities were made available. The more adventurous villagers looked for jobs in the urban areas and some o f them even became seamen. Others found employment in the nearby construction sites. These jobs were better paid, and attracted even the private school teachers. Finally, we have also found book collections o f some village teachers o f the 19th-20th century (the biggest collection consists o f three hundred copies and belonged to Yung Sze-Chiu o f Pak Sha O in Sai Kung). It is interesting to note that the collections include not only the traditional texts and classics, but also titles on foreign history and geography and even texts in traditional three-character style propagating revolutions. Moreover, from their diaries we discover that they were quite erudite and knowledgeable, and were very much concerned w ith national and world affairs. We may conclude that these village scholars were not pedantic at all but were quite receptive. The study o f Sai Kung and its experiences du ring W orld War I I The traceable history o f Sai Kung D istrict begins in the 18th century. Cut o ff from the main trade routes in the eastern New Territories, Sai Kung villages were very much in the backwaters o f the Xin'an prefecture. The magistrate governed from the county seat at Nantau, but the officials hardly ever visited the villages. The villages were le ft to conduct their own affairs. Development o f Sai Kung came in two stages. From the early 18th century to the mid-19th, population increased steadily, and its early residents were mostly fishermen. The second stage o f economic development began in the middle o f the 19th century and continued un til the Second World War. Reasons for this development were many. First, since the opening o f Hong Kong as a port, Sai Kung had more frequent contacts and closer connections w ith the island o f Hong Kong, especially Shaukiwan. The fishermen found in the island a larger market for their fresh and salted fish and their cash income was greatly increased. Secondly, the arrival o f the British and the growing contact o f the New Territories w ith urban Hong Kong provided the people o f Sai Kung w ith more job opportunities. Some villagers were recruited as seamen by foreign shipping companies. Foreign remittance came to be a regular source o f income and not a few returned w ith savings. Thirdly, after the New Territories was leased, land registration instituted by the Hong Kong Government further benefited the villagers. Originally, the Lius o f Sheung Shui and the Tangs o f Lung Yeuk Tau, as registered land-owners, collected rent in many places in Sai Kung. When the lands were registered by the Government, the Lius and the Tangs lost their collection rights and the Crown rent collected by the Government was usually smaller than the former rent and for many villagers, this meant an increase in income. The village in the New Territories was organized primarily on two sets o f principles, the lineage and the territorial. lineage relationships were centred on the ancestral hal l s, the ancestral graves, the genealogies, and lineage trusts. Territorial relationships were founded on arrangements made for the worship o f territorial gods, at the earthgod shrines, or at the community temples. In large single surname villages, territorial relationships could often be subsumed under lineage relationships, but in Sai Kung, none o f the larger villages was a single surname village. The arrangements for village organization in Sai Kung therefore centred round the worship o f Ch'e Kung, T'in Hau and the Earthgod, etc. and ta tsiu (festival to thank the gods and feed the ghosts) was an activity in which all related villages participated. Occupation o f Sai Kung by the Japanese began on 10th December, 1941. According to a villager's recollection, it was around three o'clock in the morning that the Japanese soldiers banged on his door and forced him to take them to Kowloon. He successfully escaped after reaching Lei Yu Mun. On its way to Kowloon, the Japanese army looted the villagers. A fter the Japanese came the bandits, who took away all the residents' valuables and demanded protection money from the villagers. The only government in Sai Kung in the very turbulent months immediately after the coming o f the Japanese was the Sai Kung Market Chamber o f Commerce. It was recognized by the Japanese Government as the wei-chi-hui ( 維持會）， and had little formal authority and no m ilitary power. Therefore it was quite ineffective against the bandits, who even burnt its office several months into the occupation. 19 ACADEMIC/CULTURAL EVENTS