A Ballad Of Pak Tam Chung

By Patrick Ng

Hakka folk of Sheung Yiu
Hailed from Guandong’s Danshui, farther afield
In the days of yore
Wedlock united clans of different locales -
“Sense of place” came to the fore
In how the union was known by all.
Settling in Pak Tram Chung, the Hakka
Were amicable with the seafaring Tanka.
Radios were to the latter a boon
Only since the early sixties, in case of typhoons. (10)
Batteries were bought from Sai Kung bazaar
(Transmission really ranged that far)
As the then colonial government
Needed to make various announcements.
Pak Tam Chung was humid and hot.
And in summers past, grandma’s lot
At night was to fan children to sleep
After which her own slumber wasn’t deep
As smothered inside stuffy mosquito nets
With no plumbing or electricity just yet (20)
The weather was the be-all and end-all
Rustics were at nature’s beck and call.
Solace in religion was sought
And Roman Catholicism coexisted with folk faiths
As villages of different persuasions wrought
A rural chapel, also shrines of another spiritual way.
Sai Kung was the Catholic fathers’ earliest base
In Hong Kong, where, in Cantonese, they presented their case
So, Yin Tin Tsai island had its old chapel, bearing witness
To a history of worship and church largesse (30)
Flour and schooling for fisher folk-poor, but good Catholics nonetheless.
In village life, strife was rare -
Save bickering between mother and daughter-in-law;
And gambling troubles for me there.
Gossip filled the leisure hours-jaw-jaw
About weddings and funerals, the usual fare.
A corpse would be buried for years five or seven
After which the bones-“gold” in local jargon -
Would be exhumed and to an urn transferred:
An umbrella would be held over the grave when it occurred. (40)
“Pray, time to get up” would be intoned
Air and sun would dry the spread-out bones
Before consigning of “gold” to a new, portable home.
Dry-soil burial-plots were deemed premium,
To ensure an eventual clean-picked outcome.
Of course, “Feng Shui” plots were keenly sought -
Except by the Catholic clan of Sheung You, who had a Christian God.
“Ching Ming” in late Spring was not observed-
Though “Chung Yeung” was when dog and chicken meat were served
To filial progeny honouring their ancestors. (50)
Chickens roamed everywhere in the outdoor quarters,
Odour of avian feces was the order of the day,
Droppings for fertilizer would be scooped up and saved;
Ash at the stove would be mixed with human “produce”,
Pre-eminently eligible for a similar use.
Daily regimen entailed rising before the sun did,
Supper at five, and eight would mandate sleepy eyelids.
Babbling brooks in the vicinity,
Would be used to do laundry;
Men would take their baths there - (60)
But for reasons of modesty,
“Bath enclosures” womenfolk would require
Indoors, to where they would retire.
Soap bars were available at the bazaar,
Bathwater was heated at the stove in winter,
Firewood would be turned to cinders –
As collectables from the hillsides thither.
A single village school, “Pui Choi Primary”
Educated children in the vicinity;
But for education at secondary level, (70)
To Kowloon or downtown Sai Kung they had to travel.
Public health was overseen
By Springtime’s government vaccination teams;
Diseases were treated by folk experience -
The Chinese herbal deliverance.
Big-bus service commenced in the fifties,
Servicing the section from “Yau Lei Store”
To the pier in Kowloon City;
Public light bus was to follow, a decade later,
What is now “Wong Chun Chun Thai Restaurant” it did reach, (80)
To closer ties between Kowloon City and Sai Kung it did cater –
Goods were traded, such as animal feed,
Between the two townships, to meet a mutual need,
Many Hakka settled in Kowloon City,
Also Chiu Chow traders, prominent in rice commodity;
Commerce besides in poultry-farming and agricultural produce;
Also kerosene, and stoves for its use.
Cordial business relations between Chiu Chow and Hakka,
With Cantonese serving as their Lingua Franca –
Transport links had enabled the brisk barter. (90)
Further back in time, things were far grimmer –
Wartime tumult saw determined local guerillas
Struggle against Japanese occupiers
Who, once, Sheung Yiu village commandeered
For barracks, though control of Sai Kung wasn’t keenly sought –
With an implacable hostile populace, a war was better not fought
Over land of limited strategic import.
The will of the occupiers was lukewarm
In Sai Kung, where even the then colonial Governor
Had briefly hid, in the wake of the invasion storm - (100)
Sir Mark Young had the support of the “East River” Militia,
Whose spirit was, decades later, to be memorialized
In stone at a calmer, scenic Tai Ming Tsai.


(February 11, 2004)