(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:6) (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:9)(cid:14)(cid:5)(cid:6) A Hong Kong Collection Hugh Baker Foreword by Lady Youde Hong Kong University Press 14/F Hing Wai Centre 7 Tin Wan Praya Road Aberdeen Hong Kong www.hkupress.org © Hugh D.R. Baker 2011 ISBN 978-988-8083-09-1 All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed and bound by Paramount Printing Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong, China (cid:15)(cid:16)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:6) Foreword by Lady Youde ix 19. Protection 57 Preface xi 20. Jesuits 60 1. Land 1 21. Feet 63 2. Lovers’ Rock 4 22. Funeral 66 3. Kowtow 7 23. Water 69 4. Puppets 10 24. Congratulations? 72 5. Scholar Stones 13 25. Street Trader 75 6. Daai Si 16 26. University 78 7. Customs 19 27. Ching Ming 81 8. Tree 23 28. Feast 84 9. Pigs 26 29. Pedicab 87 10. Moat 29 30. Islam 90 11. Anti-corruption 32 31. Fertility 93 12. Barrier 35 32. Lantern 96 13. Ancestral Trust 38 33. Grave 99 14. Chair 41 34. Fish 102 15. Local Government 44 35. Magic 105 16. Geomancer 47 36. Lion-heads 108 17. Duck 50 37. Incantation 111 18. Gambling 53 38. Law 114 (cid:17)(cid:18) (cid:15)(cid:16)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:6) 39. Arch 117 61. Wedding Party 184 40. Tablets 120 62. Nuns 187 41. Stake-net 123 63. Snakes 190 42. Marsh 126 64. Temple 193 43. Beam-raising 129 65. Hakka 196 44. Mud 132 66. Leadership 200 45. Birthday 135 67. Yearly Blessings 203 46. Wealth God 138 68. Dragon 206 47. Pagoda 141 69. Sun Yat-sen 209 48. Red 144 70. Fire Engine 213 49. Earth God 147 71. Taoists 217 50. Flower Boards 150 72. Zombies 220 51. Shrimps 153 73. Market 223 52. Music 156 74. Patron Gods 226 53. Heaven 160 75. Typhoon 229 54. Double Yang 163 76. Footpath 232 55. Rain God 166 77. Soy 235 56. Bamboo 169 78. Schoolgirl 238 57. Smoke 172 79. New Year Biscuits 241 58. Offerings 175 80. Dan Ger 244 59. Landscape 178 81. Charity 247 60. Mourning 181 82. Isolation 250 (cid:15)(cid:16)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:5)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:6) (cid:17)(cid:18)(cid:18) 83. Birth 253 105. Wall 324 84. Reverence 257 106. Burial 327 85. Journey 260 107. Eyes 330 86. Yin and Yang 263 108. Feuds 333 87. Kowloon 266 109. Kitchen God 336 88. Gates 270 110. Catholic Church 339 89. Soul 274 111. Actors 342 90. Picnic 277 112. Hell Bank Note 345 91. House Re-warming 280 113. Incense 348 92. Cemetery 284 114. Concern 351 93. Water Buffalo 287 115. Well God 354 94. Buddhism 290 116. Ruins 357 95. Tin Hau 293 117. Women 360 96. Hall 296 118. Rice 363 97. Village 299 119. Sojourners 366 98. Procession 302 120. Wires 369 99. Dotting 305 Endnotes 372 100. Hundred Surnames 308 Further Reading 377 101. Vegetables 312 Index 381 102. Talisman 315 103. Exhumation 318 104. Suicide 321 (cid:19)(cid:16)(cid:8)(cid:5)(cid:20)(cid:16)(cid:8)(cid:21) by Lady Youde In these times of rapid change, every day sees another link with the past broken and it is not surprising if the newcomer to the city of Hong Kong, faced with its spectacular modern architecture looming over the busy harbour and surrounded by crowds of fashionable young people equipped with every latest electronic gadget, does not at first notice the ubiquitous but inconspicuous traces of the old ways. Perhaps at the back of a shop a small gold shrine gleams in the dim light of a tiny red bulb, a dark doorstep half hides a little figure beside a scrap of red paper, and gradually more and more puzzling glimpses of unfamiliar objects begin to reveal that many traditional practices are still observed even in the busy city. As soon as visitors venture into Hong Kong’s countryside in the New Territories, they will be struck by the fact that even though life there has changed dramatically in the fifty years since the material for this book was collected, a great deal still remains to be rediscovered by the interested observer. Professor Baker’s rare understanding of Hong Kong and the New Territories life during the 1960s and 1970s comes from his unique experience of having lived for eighteen months in a traditional Chinese clan village studying their language, history and culture. There he had unprecedented access to a now rapidly vanishing vibrant and colourful way of life that he describes with sympathy and humour in these snapshots of everyday family life, taking the reader all the way from birth, through family duties and the preservation of traditions, religious ceremonies with their required food and clothing, and finally to death and the continuing obligations of looking after family members in the afterlife, many centuries after their departure. Even today hundreds of New Territories clan members who have migrated all over the world journey home every ten years to take part in the traditional and often spectacular clan celebrations held in honour of the memory of their venerated ancestors. Here in more than a hundred lively and entertaining articles and photographs Professor Baker makes it possible to recognize what still remains of the architecture, agriculture and traditional dress of this historic area and also to understand something of the unique way of life followed