Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [5]
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EARLY INHABITANTS
Hong Kong has supported human life since at least the Middle Neolithic Period (c 4000–2500 BC). Artefacts uncovered at almost 100 archaeological sites in the territory – most of them along the winding shoreline, including a rich burial ground discovered on the island of Ma Wan in 1997 and three hoards on the west coast of the Tuen Mun peninsula – suggest that the inhabitants of these settlements shared similar cultural characteristics to the people who lived in the Pearl River Delta. The remnants of Bronze Age habitations (c 1500–220 BC) unearthed on Lamma and Lantau Islands and at about 20 other sites – as well as the eight geometric rock carvings that can still be viewed at various locations along Hong Kong’s coastline – also indicate that these early peoples practised some form of folk religion involving animal worship.
Other finds indicate Hong Kong’s Stone Age inhabitants enjoyed a relatively nutritious diet of iron-rich vegetables, small mammals, shellfish and fish harvested far offshore. Early Chinese historical records refer to the diverse maritime peoples in China’s southeastern coastal area as the ‘Hundred Yue’ tribes. Some of the prehistoric inhabitants of Hong Kong might have belonged to these tribes.
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THE FIVE GREAT CLANS
Hong Kong, along with the Yue tribes in Guangdong, was incorporated into the Chinese empire during the Qin dynasty (c 221–207 BC). Archaeological finds from the following centuries showed that Hong Kong came under the influence of Han culture as more Han settlers migrated to the region. The discovery of coins and pottery from the Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25–220) on Lantau and Kau Sai Chau Islands and at several important digs, including a tomb at Lei Cheng Uk ( Click here) in central Kowloon and So Kwun Wat southeast of Tuen Mun, attests to this.
The first of Hong Kong’s mighty ‘Five Clans’ – Han Chinese, whose descendants hold political and economic clout to this day – began settling the area around the 11th century. The first and most powerful of the arrivals was the Tang, who initially settled around Kam Tin (tin means ‘field’). The once-moated hamlet of Kat Hing Wai (wài means ‘protective wall’; Click here), which is probably the most visited of the remaining traditional walled villages in the New Territories, formed part of this cluster.
The Tang was followed by the Hau and the Pang, who spread around present-day Sheung Shui and Fanling. These three clans were followed by the Liu in the 14th century and the Man a century later.
The Cantonese-speaking newcomers called themselves bún-day (Punti), meaning ‘indigenous’ or ‘local’ – something they clearly were not. They looked down on the original inhabitants, the Tanka, many of whom had been shunted off the land and had moved onto the sea to live on boats.
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AN IMPERIAL OUTPOST
Clinging to the southern edge of the Chinese province of Canton (now Guangdong), the pen-insula and islands that became the territory of Hong Kong counted only as a remote pocket in a neglected corner of the Chinese empire.
Hong Kong’s first recorded encounter with imperial China in the 13th century was as brief as it was tragic. In 1276 the boy emperor, Duan Zong, was forced to flee to Guangdong as the Mongols swept aside the remaining army of the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279). Duan Zong and his younger brother, Bing, sought temporary refuge in Hong Kong. Duan Zong died a few months later. After Mongol ships defeated the tattered remnants of the imperial fleet in a battle on the Pearl River, a loyal Song official jumped into the sea carrying Bing, in an act of martyrdom, putting an end to the Song dynasty.
The Punti flourished until the struggle that saw the moribund Ming dynasty (1368–1644) overthrown. The victorious Qing (1644–1911), angered by the resistance put up by southerners